thedrifter
08-27-07, 06:26 AM
Iraq Diary: No Showers, No Toilet, No Problem
By Noah Shachtman
Wired News
August 26, 2007
The Marines of Fox Company, 1st Platoon, literally don't have a pot to **** in. Staying in a makeshift police station at the northeastern end of Fallujah, they fill bottles instead - and load up plastic "wag bags," draped around netted toilets, when they need to turn around. Marines sleep on cots, eight to a room. Shaving means staring into a Humvee mirror. Communication with the outside, non-military world is basically impossible. There is some kind of jury-rigged shower, allegedly. I haven't been able to figure out how it works.
But despite all that - and despite a diet that consists almost entirely of MREs and junk food, sent from home - the Marines here "have it good," according to Howard Kraemer, the Platoon's 1st Sergeant. After all, at least some of the rooms have AC. "Try sleeping out in tents, in 130 degrees," he says. Kraemer, a lanky native of the Annapolis area, has been in the Marines since 1991. He's served in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq, twice. He also spent three years as a drill instructor. So he's got some idea about Marine life - and about Marine morale. When non-commissioned officers like him say Marines that have it good, Kraemer contends, the troops tend to believe it. And when those NCOs ***** -- well, the Marines believe that, too. There's evidence of that here, in a converted schoolhouse, ringed with concertina wire and concrete barriers. The guys here seem pretty happy despite the less-than-luxurious conditions, and despite the fact that many of them have been deployed to Iraq once, twice, even three and four times before.
Other factors come into play, of course. Fallujah, after years of serving as Iraq's little corner of hell, has been quiet for the last two months. The last major insurgent attack was back in April. So there's at least some sense of accomplishment. And unlike the Army, Kraemer points out, the Marines keep their tours of duty relatively short - 7 months or so - and don't make it a habit of extending those tours, over and over again. These guys feel like they're making progress, and they know when they're heading home.
One thing that doesn't seem to matter all that much: the political debate over the war back home. At least, not directly. Don't get me wrong. The Marines here hate the idea of politicians who supposedly support the troops, but hate the war. "****es me off," says Lance Corporal Robert Lamica. "They don't understand. We enlisted after 9/11. We want to be here." But as far as morale, "it doesn't really affect me" - despite what some politicos would have you believe.
Remember, Kraemer says, that to these Marines, Ramadi -- the nearest town to the west -- feels a continent away. "What's happening on Baghdad might as well be another planet." To say nothing of politics back at home.
But families hear the news of body counts, and to them, they all happen in one place: Iraq. It depresses them - which, in turn, can make it tough on the Marines.
There's a cure for that, though. The Simpsons. Rescue Me. Command and Conquer. Alice in Chains. Akon and Eminem.
Just about every Marine here has a laptop, an iPod, or a Playstation Portable. And those digital amenities seem to keep these guys up, even when the more traditional comforts are gone. Come nighttime, when the Marines are in their cots, everybody is plugged in to something. Some of them - like the guys taking fingerprints for the new, biometric ID cards here - even watch digitized anime on their laptops as they tell Iraqis to put their hands on the scanner. A pile of men's magazines sits behind them. Which help a whole lot, too. "Any little piece of home," Lamica says. Then he and a buddy turn back to a recent issue of Stuff, and picking one which girls of Vegas are the hottest.
Ellie
By Noah Shachtman
Wired News
August 26, 2007
The Marines of Fox Company, 1st Platoon, literally don't have a pot to **** in. Staying in a makeshift police station at the northeastern end of Fallujah, they fill bottles instead - and load up plastic "wag bags," draped around netted toilets, when they need to turn around. Marines sleep on cots, eight to a room. Shaving means staring into a Humvee mirror. Communication with the outside, non-military world is basically impossible. There is some kind of jury-rigged shower, allegedly. I haven't been able to figure out how it works.
But despite all that - and despite a diet that consists almost entirely of MREs and junk food, sent from home - the Marines here "have it good," according to Howard Kraemer, the Platoon's 1st Sergeant. After all, at least some of the rooms have AC. "Try sleeping out in tents, in 130 degrees," he says. Kraemer, a lanky native of the Annapolis area, has been in the Marines since 1991. He's served in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and Iraq, twice. He also spent three years as a drill instructor. So he's got some idea about Marine life - and about Marine morale. When non-commissioned officers like him say Marines that have it good, Kraemer contends, the troops tend to believe it. And when those NCOs ***** -- well, the Marines believe that, too. There's evidence of that here, in a converted schoolhouse, ringed with concertina wire and concrete barriers. The guys here seem pretty happy despite the less-than-luxurious conditions, and despite the fact that many of them have been deployed to Iraq once, twice, even three and four times before.
Other factors come into play, of course. Fallujah, after years of serving as Iraq's little corner of hell, has been quiet for the last two months. The last major insurgent attack was back in April. So there's at least some sense of accomplishment. And unlike the Army, Kraemer points out, the Marines keep their tours of duty relatively short - 7 months or so - and don't make it a habit of extending those tours, over and over again. These guys feel like they're making progress, and they know when they're heading home.
One thing that doesn't seem to matter all that much: the political debate over the war back home. At least, not directly. Don't get me wrong. The Marines here hate the idea of politicians who supposedly support the troops, but hate the war. "****es me off," says Lance Corporal Robert Lamica. "They don't understand. We enlisted after 9/11. We want to be here." But as far as morale, "it doesn't really affect me" - despite what some politicos would have you believe.
Remember, Kraemer says, that to these Marines, Ramadi -- the nearest town to the west -- feels a continent away. "What's happening on Baghdad might as well be another planet." To say nothing of politics back at home.
But families hear the news of body counts, and to them, they all happen in one place: Iraq. It depresses them - which, in turn, can make it tough on the Marines.
There's a cure for that, though. The Simpsons. Rescue Me. Command and Conquer. Alice in Chains. Akon and Eminem.
Just about every Marine here has a laptop, an iPod, or a Playstation Portable. And those digital amenities seem to keep these guys up, even when the more traditional comforts are gone. Come nighttime, when the Marines are in their cots, everybody is plugged in to something. Some of them - like the guys taking fingerprints for the new, biometric ID cards here - even watch digitized anime on their laptops as they tell Iraqis to put their hands on the scanner. A pile of men's magazines sits behind them. Which help a whole lot, too. "Any little piece of home," Lamica says. Then he and a buddy turn back to a recent issue of Stuff, and picking one which girls of Vegas are the hottest.
Ellie