Camp Life

Rory has safely made it to his camp and is now settling into a routine. The troops work in shifts patrolling and do other ops and then have some time off to get personal chores done like laundry,phone calls etc. They are living in older Army barracks, but thankfully the units that arrived before them were able to make many improvements. The barracks do have air conditioning and private shower stalls.

The heat tends to be pretty bad at this time of the year in Iraq. So doing whatever they can to stay cool is key. The mess hall is new and the food is provide by an outside contracted service along with the standard military issue MREs (meal ready to eat).

Motor fire is a pretty constant occurrence at this camp and the troops have to be prepared to return fire at all times. However the bigger threat comes from IEDs (improvised explosive devices) that are hidden along roadsides and patrol routes in the city as traps.

They do have a PX store at this camp with a limited amount of items available for purchase and also free access to the Internet, but time is limited to 15 minute increments, and lines are usually long. So Rory many times many not be able to reply to your emails, but he does read and appreciate them!

Below are some images of Rory's camp. They are images that were shot by earlier units that were there, so they do not depict his exact living quarters, but they do give you an idea of what the area is like.



The Barracks



Mail Call




The Mess Hall





The PX Store



Some of Rory's New Best Friends



Rory says the Iraqi children are very impoverished