CAMP VICTORY, KUWAIT - "The Things They Carried" was the title of a well-known Vietnam war reminiscence by Al Santoli that told the story of the war by describing the things the soldiers carried. Almost a year after deployment to Kuwait and Iraq, the tales brought home by soldiers of the California National Guard are among the things they carry. They carry other things, too. Laptop computers. Cell phones with expensive overseas "minutes plans." An endless succession of liter bottles of "Haji" water, mineral water bottled in Gulf states. Kool-Aid and Tang to flavor the water. Of course, DVD movies...
