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wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams - |
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Posted on 01/11/2004 7:31:52 AM PST by Pikamax
January 11, 2004 G.I.'s Enjoy Plush Respite of Iraqi Army By ERIC SCHMITT
AGHDAD, Iraq — Behind tall concrete barriers and rolls of razor wire, the United States Army has converted a former officers' club of the Iraqi Republican Guard into a little oasis for weary G.I.'s.
The sprawling complex here in the heart of Baghdad has been stripped of its portraits of Saddam Hussein and its Baath Party trappings. It now serves as the First Armored Division's version of a five-star hotel for as many as 100 soldiers at a time who are lucky enough to get a three-day, two-night pass. More than 1,800 troops have stayed there since it opened as a hotel in mid-October.
Called Freedom Rest, it offers a sauna, an outdoor swimming pool, a 100-seat movie theater, weight rooms and 24-hour food service with a menu that includes T-bone steaks and lobster. In the renovated marble lobby, uniformed attendants sweep up cigarette butts and serve cold drinks beneath glass chandeliers.
"It's a great escape from getting mortared," said Sgt. Xochitl Barragan, 27, of Fort Worth, as she emerged dripping from the huge pool, where air defense and engineer specialists had just finished a splash contest off the 10-meter diving board.
The Army has long provided rest and recuperation escapes to improve morale for troops on extended assignments. With most soldiers in Iraq now pulling yearlong tours, the Army has undertaken one of its most ambitious programs ever to keep soldiers' spirits high.
Nearly every sizable base in Iraq offers soldiers fully equipped gyms, military stores and Internet cafes. Big-tent cafeterias run by Kellogg Brown & Root put elite university dining halls to shame. Near the First Division's headquarters at Baghdad International Airport, Burger King has opened an outlet that has become one of the fast-food chain's most successful restaurants in the world.
Each Army division in Iraq has its own version of the Freedom Rest hotel, converting some of Mr. Hussein's former palaces to R & R duty or shipping troops to luxury mountain lake resorts in northern Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I do that routinely at any bar I visit.
No Walmarts, yet? :')
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wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." - John Adams - |
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Not me. :^)
The sprawling complex here in the heart of Baghdad... serves as the First Armored Division's version of a five-star hotel for as many as 100 soldiers at a time who are lucky enough to get a three-day, two-night pass.
Called Freedom Rest, it offers a sauna, an outdoor swimming pool, a 100-seat movie theater, weight rooms and 24-hour food service with a menu that includes T-bone steaks and lobster. In the renovated marble lobby, uniformed attendants sweep up cigarette butts and serve cold drinks beneath glass chandeliers.
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Baghdad oasis for a few deserving Soldiers.
A woman from Texas who's a Sergeant and whose name is Xochitl Barragan...just damn...and the turban boys are wondering why they're getting their asses kicked...
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