This picture is of my co-worker Pat. He is an American but made a poor choice to snooze around me with a camera. He's been in Iraq in the summer before and told me they wear those headcoverings to keep their skin from blistering off in the 140 degree sun. Sounds like a good idea to me!! At least we'll get to ease into the summer.
Well, Camp Victory Sports Oasis happens to be the name of the big DFAC or chow hall here. There is a smaller one called the Coalition Cafe over by our tent city, but we usually go to the big one because it is closer to our work trailers. Both chow halls are surrounded by blast barriers and are guarded by about ten armed (locked and loaded) soldiers with full kevlar and flak vests checking ID cards and patting down all the Iraqis and other folks that don't look like Americans. Once you get past the first set of guards, you head over to the door that is used for DOD contractors and other civilians. Guarding that door today was a young soldier who I look forward to seeing there. As you are walking up to him, he always has a huge smile and says with the cadence of an auctioneer, "Welcome to the Camp Victory Sports Oasis the finest dining facility in all of Iraq have a wonderful dining experience and a wonderful evening ma'am Hoooooah!" Well, what else can you say to that but Hoooah? Anyway, I'd love to get a picture of him but he'd probably yell at me to keep moving, so I'll have to find him outside of the chow hall setting.
It's funny seeing the mix of people here while eating. Some of the young soldiers look no older than my sons Tommy and Andy. I saw a group of them sitting in a booth, six in a booth for four. You could tell they were inseparable. It was cool and sad all at the same time. Then you see the old guys, some are National Guard (my favorite patch on one rifle butt was "One Weekend a Month, BullS#$%!) some are the older contractors that the guys at Fort Bliss called the CW Vets, meaning civil war! Anyway, lots of women soldiers and us contractors, but I'll save the being a woman here thing for another post. Goodnight!!
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