Christmas in Iraq

December 6, 2022

Advent Calendar 2022

 Christmas in Iraq

One of my most memorable Christmas as an adult had to be the year I spent Christmas in Iraq.  And for the record…it was not a white Christmas.  But I do remember that we had a nice party and we did a secret Santa with all the folks in my section.  I was the NCOIC ) Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge) of the JAG section for the 36^th Combat Aviation Brigade stationed at Camp Anaconda, Balad, Iraq.  We deployed to Iraq in August 2006, and by the time December rolled around, we all started to feel homesick and sentimental about missing our families and the holidays at home.  I was writing a blog a few times a week throughout my deployment as away of letting people at home know how I was doing and what I was experiencing here.   One particular day, a few days before Christmas I wrote: 

Well there is only two shopping left until Christmas and I know that everyone at home is stressed out about all the shopping they have to do and blah blah blah. But try to relax. It will all be over soon. Over here...Christmas is in the air and we have been getting packages from our family and donations from organizations that are dedicated to supporting the troops (even if they don't support the war.) We have so much stuff right now that we are running out of space. But the excess stuff will not be wasted. We are packing it up and bringing it around to the civilian workers who are here from countries such as India, Guyana, and the Philippines. I met one of these workers from the Philippines at the PX the other day and we met for coffee one evening and talked about his situation. He is about 27 and has a wife and 3 children at home. He has been away from his family for over a year and is not likely to see them for at least another year. He told me that he works for a sub-contractor that provides workers to AAFES (that's the organization that runs the px). According to him, the contractor gets about $3000 per month for each worker it provides AAFES. Out of that $3000...the average worker is given a measly $600 per month! With no benefits. They live in large open-bay tents with heaters and air conditioners that work only half the time. To add insult to this, the workers have to pay the placement agency thousands of dollars just for the privilege of working. The average worker has to pay $500 dollars a month for the first 6 months. Which means he or she is working for about $100 monthly until they are able to pay off what they owe the agent. Pretty outrageous huh? It disturbs me that there is so much disparity between what government pays the contractors and what is actually passed on to the workers. I think that this type of exploitation is horrible and is one of the most offensive things I have seen since I have been here. Don't ask me why I am so offended by this but I guess it's just the bleeding heart liberal in me. Before I go...I am going to do something about this. Mark my words. Some of my fellow soldiers and I are going to visit some of these contractor villages on Christmas to make sure they know that we appreciate what they are doing for us. If I can give them a little cheer...well then it will be a very happy and meaningful Christmas. I hope Christmas is as meaningful for all of you. Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we all gathered at a place called the Outer Banks, which was kind of a club house built  a National Guard unit from one of the Carolinas.  I was a nice place to gather and decompress and to have a little fun.  There wasn’t much of that in the combat zone.  But that Christmas Eve my fellow soldiers and I enjoyed a nice meal, sang Christmas Carols and handled out our Secret Santa presents.  And we even got a visit from Santa who was a friend of our boss, who got around by flying Blackhawks most of the time.  The next day was Christmas, and we had a rare day off.  Although I missed home and my family and friends, I was grateful that I had my fellow soldiers with me that Christmas.  We took comfort in the company of each other and we knew we could all look forward to 2007 because we knew we’d be home for Christmas.  Thankful, we all made it home the next year.  And though we all had Christmas at home that next year, we would always remember Christmas 2006 in the desert.