Iraq, Land of a thousand lakes. Or at least the few here at Saddams old hunting garden turned major US military instalation. Dan has already covered most the points I wanted to (damn him), but I might pipe in on a few of them again anyways.
Iraq is still mostly a shit hole. We have yet to leave our bustling, Baghdad suburban base to see the the country side, but I can imagine its not a ton better. There are quite a few trees and other vegitation here, which makes it 100% prettier than Kuwait but there is often times a hint of sewage in the air. Might be due to the fact that there is a black water tank (AKA: Shit water tank) 20 feet from our CHU. Lovely... Buttt, there is little to complain about otherwise. We have AC, decent internet, boiling hot shower water, enough food to get fat on despite not being able to drink booze, plenty of fun distractions such as an on post bowling alley, and the Haji shops.
If you like movies, and I know you do, you can by them on DVD even before they are out of the theaters. I've already bought about 5 movies and all of them are actual DVD quality. As long as you dont mind "Property of the Weinstein Co, do not distribute." popping up from time to time, you wont be able to complain. These can be bought alongside handmade silk rugs, cheap electronics, and Cuban cigars at the local Haji shops. These are shops owned and operated by some local national. Oh and the best part about the movies? 3 for $5.
Iraq is still dangerous, and aside from doing an occasional mission, our biggest problem is likely to be boredom. Thats why, as Platoon Leader of 2nd PLT (Brawlers) I have come up with the Brawler Big 3. These are my goals for the PLT while we are in this country.
1. Make that money.
-As you may know, our pay here is tax free, and most people have a reduced number or no bills (like me) anymore. So, I am encouraging my soldiers to save their money IOT be tight when they get back home.
2. Jacked and Tan.
- We will have a lot of time on our hands, and it is easy to get fat here from all the free food. Solution: make everyone work out. And since pale, jacked people look retarded, you gotta get tan too. Shouldn't be too hard in the 120 degree summer sun, and you better believe I'll be lounging outside my CHU in a spedo tanning it up for 5 minutes at a time (I'm super white).
3. Learned Doctors.
-What? Yes. That was a purposeful use of a Stepbrothers reference. Most enlisted soldiers do not have any or much college education. welll by the end of this deployment every one of these guys are hopefully going to have almost a year's worth of college credits under their belt. Almost all of our soldiers are enrolled in online college courses and you better believe I am going to be proctoring the shit out of them/ helping with homework.
If you can't really influence a third world country in a positive way and make it better like you always hoped, you might as well make yourself tight as hell for when you get home.
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