Iraq: Life Support Area

In Baghdad, in the belly of a Stryker[“Iraq: Christmas 2009“: observations, images and sounds from Iraq, Christmas 2009, a series of posts by Jake Warga.]

Oh the things I’ve seen.
I shall never complain about long lay-overs again.
I have flown in a C-17 transport.
I shall never complain again of uncomfortable seats again.
I have ridden in the belly of a Stryker.

What do you get when you stick a public radio guy with a Fox TV crew in the back of a Black Hawk for a multiple re-fuel hop up to Northern Iraq?

A bumpy ride.

I saw an injured dove in Baghdad trying to be nursed back to health on a blast wall away from cats.  It had a saucer of water and feed, don’t know who put it there.  I saw a dead dove come evening.

I got a serious cold sleeping in a 20-man tent during a thunder storm, closest I’ve come to being attacked.

I am now with these 3rd Infantry Division.

3rd Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia
3rd Infantry Division
shoulder sleeve insignia

I have yet to meet someone who wants to be here.  I have met some wonderful people.

For lunch the other day I had crab legs, the desert bar is endless, burger king is everywhere. Where else in Arabia can I eat bacon and watch Fox TV on flat screens throughout a mess hall?

Ugandans hired by KBR guard entrances to buildings on bases, the Peruvians have the evening shift. They look at my passport, I don’t think they know what they’re looking for.

A papier-mâché Mount Rushmore and Statue of Liberty are in the DFAC (Dining FACility). Pakistanis do the dishes.  You’re not allowed to bring bags into facilities or wear a hat, but you are required to have a weapon. I am unarmed.  I know now the difference between an M16 rifle and an M4 Carbine.  Both are 5.56 Caliber, I don’t know what that means but I was given a pamphlet.

The military is run by acronyms. I’m staying in an LSA (Life Support Area).

It’s almost encouraged to have a bad hair cut, in this I feel at home.

I go next to JCC in Tikrit with PSD (Joint Coordination Center…Personal Security Detail), I feel important, I may be a fool.  I spend Christmas Embedded with the Chaplin…why not.  Here’s what soldiers want for Christmas (4:07):

Black hawk gunner
Black hawk gunner

Dust goes to one lung, trash burns go to the other.

Met a soldier young enough to be my daughter, I become a grandfather when she tells me about her 5yo back home.  Everyone dresses the same, it’s confusing, uniformity, conformity, camouflaged in green in a land where there is only brown.

With love from the war on terror. Pictures at Flickr.

Jake

Keffiyeh (men's head wear), on mannikin, for sale in Dubai
Keffiyeh for sale in Dubai

Text, audio, images © 2009 Jake Warga.

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