Conditions

During our journey we visited many locations, all of which showed serious signs of lower than poverty levels. One such area is close to the Syrian border. A section of this small village with its single story row style homes, or apartments, built of brick, concrete and clay, are the home to three or four families in each which includes children in a single dwelling. Litter lines the streets, along with pieces of broken buildings and glass. Although each home has been built with sanitation means, with no running water or electricity to work these systems, the inhabitants are forced to use the roof or the back yard to defecate among the animals. Those animals in most cases are to be the food for future meals. The smell can be overwhelming at times, and I can just imagine what it would smell like in the heat of summer.

Children play in the streets and alley ways among the barbed wire as this is now normal to each of them. As an American, to see this type of devastation and poverty was hard to comprehend. Granted we have our poverty at home, but at least we have the amenities of basic decent living conditions and do not allow our children to play among dangerous barbed wire.

There are successes all around this area. Some might not think so, but to the locals they are abundant. Take the water treatment plant along the Euphrates River for example. Built back in the seventies to service a large area of Iraq, but under the leadership of Saddum Hussain, we learned from the locals, this plant was never maintained and became dormant. Running water and electricity which this plant once produced, was shut down as a result of his leadership in order to maintain control over the people in the area. One must understand this man’s mindset. By instilling fear in the people of Iraq, having them at his mercy, he was able to control them. They became dependent upon him for everything from food, water, and basic necessities of life. Meanwhile he lived in complete luxury in palaces which were built on their labor. In each of his palaces which were elaborate to say the least, he had not only the basics of living, but also the best money could buy. Money earned by the people of Iraq was then bled from each of them under his leadership with his exorbitant prices for basic necessities of life.

Almost every American has an air conditioner in their homes or central air. In Iraq where the temperatures in the day can reach as high as 140 degrees, there are no such things as an air conditioner, at least not under Saddam’s leadership. We learned that air conditioners, or air coolers, cost approximately one thousand dollars under his control. The price of these same units dropped drastically to around two hundred dollars after the coalition forces took over the country. These are not a luxury to these people but a necessity of life. Still there are areas which the poverty levels are so low that families can not afford this basic necessity. With electricity still being limited in most areas, these units can not be run all day. Where there is no electricity yet, generators are run for a few hours each day in order to take the edge off the heat of the day.

The locals are not aware of the sacrifices and dedication of the men who repaired the local water treatment plant. Many knew it was American forces but still do not know who to thank. During our journey we learned it was the dedication and hard work of the United States Navy’s Seabees Units who were assigned to the dam, along with the Marine Corps guarded them while they repaired the plant along the Euphrates River. We also learned there were insurgent attacks during the time of the repairs, but they did not hinder or stop these brave warriors from completing their mission to provide the basic necessities of life to the Iraqi People. As a result of their work, this plant now provides not only running water, but electricity for the immediate area. Citizens of this area for the first time in their lives are able to enjoy some of the basic necessity of living conditions we here at home take for granted each day. This is not luxury for them, this is survival.

Still to this day many in the outer areas of Iraq, running water is still not available. The coalition forces however deliver on a weekly basis, bottle water, or trucks filled with water for many of the towns which still have no running water. We know this for a fact because we were part of a convoy which delivered this to the outer areas.

The conditions our Warriors are living under are the same as in any war or conflict. Sleeping in barrack style huts, taking showers when they can, eating MRE’s when necessary, but not all the time. Most every chow hall in country is run by KBR and although the food was good, the idea of being in a war zone and having to eat with locals and foreigners bothered me a lot. One can not relax and eat a meal without the hair on the back of your neck standing up as you are in one of these chow halls. As I observed the room at each meal I noticed many non American worker giving nasty looks at those in uniform. With their strategically sitting at tables near a large group of Warriors, I wondered how much their ears perked just waiting to gather information. This feeling of insecurity bothered me a great deal. Even though we are there to help the people of Iraq, I still did not trust those sitting around me, eating the same wonderful food we were providing them for free. One has to wonder if this is not breaking every bit of operational security rules and regulations. Are we setting up our military personnel by subjecting them to this kind of environment? A Warrior can not relax in that type of atmosphere.

There was one chow hall where I felt totally relaxed and the atmosphere was the best of all. It was the facility at one of our last locations. I guess you can say they saved the best for last for us. This chow hall was the old style eating facility which was run by a great group of Marines. Bright, cheery, colorful Artwork lined the interior walls, depicting each unit which has served the FOB since occupation. The food was the same style but in this case seemed to taste better, maybe because it was prepared by nine individuals who took their jobs serious, the Marines of the Air Wing out of Camp Pendleton, California. These individual fed us two meals a day and on a few occasions kept its doors open for us when patrols came in to late for us to enjoy a regular meal. To the staff of this wonder chow hall I thank you for saving us those wonderful meals when we came home late at night. We were all famished and really needed a good home cooked meal after being in a convoy for 16 hours. One cannot complain about any meal that is cooked with love over an open pit by people who respect you for who you are and what you do. I must say this chow hall was the best of all places we had the pleasure to eat at. Thanks Guys and Gals.