Welcome To Al Asad, Where John Kerry is a Popular Guy (updated)

Alas, I am not staying here in the desert paradise, but I'm heading out to a FOB within the next week. In true Marine Corps fashion, it is not the one to which I had planned on going. The good news is that it should only be for two or three months. I will give more details about that in a subsequent post. I should have many of the same amenities there, the most important of which is an Internet connection!

Thanks to everyone who is visiting this site (38 hits since yesterday!) and especially those who respond. I answer each and every e-mail I get, so don't be afraid to write! Just be patient as it may take me a while due to uncontrollable circumstances.

*** Original Post 10/13 ***

“Kerry 4 Prez” - “You idiot! We’d have four more years of a Communist for president, just like Clinton” - “He’s a coward” - “No he’s a veteran just like us”

This is one example of the “dialogue” I’ve seen written in several of the porta-johns here in Iraq, but more on that later!

Compared to Camp Victory in Kuwait, Al Asad Air Base, Iraq is a veritable paradise. I am currently living in “Tin Can City,” a cluster of small trailer-like buildings called “cans,” each of which houses two people. I am in a “double wide” with three other majors. I have a lot in common in many respects with one of them, and I hope to develop a close relationship. We all get along great and it’s been fun to have some camaraderie without too much “oohrah.” None of us really wants to be here, but we’re making the best of it.

The amenities here are pretty good, considering we’re in a combat zone. There are 6 "comfort trailers" nearby with hot showers and toilets (unfortunately these are not operational), and porta-johns everywhere. There is a large chow hall that serves good food three times a day, including fairly fresh fruit and vegetables. Most of the prepared food (sodas, chips, bottled water, etc.) comes from Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, but it’s good. The chow hall is contractor run, presumably by Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, awarded many no-bid contracts), and employs people who are not Americans but not Iraquis. I am curious what nationality they are – before coming here, I had read about KBR hiring Pakistanis and Indians to work here rather than locals, which caused a big flap.

There is also an exchange (store), a movie theater, and a “local market” where Iraquis sell local stuff, presumably. I have yet to visit that. There are also 2 or 3 gyms and a swimming pool! The pool is being repaired and will supposedly be operational soon. That is good news (if I stay here) because I hate running and don’t have my bike.

It would be good to stay here, and there is a chance that I will. I may still be sent out to a Forward Operating Base (FOB); I should find out where I’m going this evening.

About those porta-johns! I have never seen political commentary in one before, but there are several I’ve visited that have “vote John Kerry” and “Bush is a misleader” type graffiti. It’s reassuring to see that not everyone here is a right-wing zealot. After seeing the signs on the soda machines in California, I wasn’t sure (see previous post, “Traveling in the Belly of the Beast”).