Letters from Iraq

September 6, 2007

A special report by Sun reporter Matthew Dolan and photographer Liz Malby embedded in Iraq with a regiment of the Maryland National Guard; 'Letters from Iraq' are their observations from the war zone.

Combat shower

Monday, Sept. 3: Last night a guard sat outside my shower. And he wasn't there to protect me.

He was protecting the base from me.

A water shortage at Forward Operating Base Q West recently limited showers to one every three days. Thankfully, we arrived at the desert-like base north of Baghdad shortly after that restriction was lifted.

It was replaced, however, by "combat showers" and enforced by guards.

Now you can bathe only between 5 and 8 in the morning and 8 to 11 at night. A private sits in a camp chair outside the shower trailers to unlock -- and then re-lock -- the showers during that time.

The steps to taking a combat shower are: Turn on the shower for a few seconds to get wet. Turn off water. Lather up. Turn on shower to rinse off.

Maximum time: 3 minutes.

--Matthew Dolan

Chowing down

Sunday, Sept. 2: My favorite question from a friend in a recent e-mail was simply: Do you have food to eat?

The military, thanks to contractor KBR, puts most "all you can eat" buffets to shame.

It's true that maneuver forces outside the wire often subsist on MREs, rarely getting a hot meal during a combat mission. But when they return, the selection couldn't be more bountiful.

You have to eat off plastic trays on Styrofoam plates with plastic utensils. But then the line of food starts with enough variety to rival a high-end wedding feast.

Main courses usually include a couple of meat dishes like barbecued ribs, steaks and pork loin. There's always rice and fish and usually some kind of potatoes.

But it does not stop there. The salad bar has dozens of items, and not unimportantly, decently flavorful tomatoes. Fresh fruit includes papaya, pineapple and the sweetest watermelon I've had in a while.

Separate counters offer ethnic specialties including Mexican burritos and Indian curries. The salad bar has Kimchi.

And that's not all. There's a fresh bread counter to pick up rolls for the deli line. A short-order line takes care of hamburgers, hot dogs and french fries. There's made-to-order stir-fry at night and customized omelets in the morning.

A bank of juice fountains is supplemented by coolers filled with Gatorade and sodas.