Dave's Big Vacation: Northern Iraq Camping

I’m taking a side trip to a remote part of Northern Iraq . I’ll be here for a few weeks. We’re sharing a base with an LAR (Light Armored Recon) unit.

We’re living with 6-8 guys per tent. They installed air conditioning just before I showed up. The AC keeps it to about 90 during the day, and a chilly 70 at night. I’m finding that I really miss my hair as a warming layer for my head. The sand collects quite readily inside the tent, so I’m going to have to powerwash all my stuff when I get back.

We have 3 tents that we use as our work spaces, with a camo net providing shade for the area. The guys even made a patio area to lounge around in, including some furniture made with sandbags.

We don’t have running water or plumbing, so the toilet consists of “Wag Bags” (a military-issue trash bag that you stuff into a Ziploc bag and throw away) that you place around the seat when you sit down, or a pipe sticking out of the ground that leads into a pit.

The sink is a big hole in the ground that we brush our teeth and shave over.

The shower hut also drains into this hole, hence the cesspool collecting in the bottom. There are holes like this spread out throughout the base, and they appear to be about the right size for a Light Armored Vehicle to use as a fighting position, should we ever be attacked. Just when I got used to using water-bottles to brush my teeth, now I’m learning to shower and shave with them.

A shower hut.

The Wag Bag, complete with instructions, 10 squares of 1-ply toilet paper, and a moist towelette.

We’re lucky enough to have Iraq ’s best chow hall here, and a modest general store. Of course, anywhere there are Marines, there will be a gym, and I think this one has the old equipment from the other bases around here.


One of the other units took some more time to decorate their men's room.

All in all, for being such a remote post, the Marines here have done an excellent job of making

decent living conditions. Sandstorms roll in about every other day, which keeps the temperatures

down on those days. Overall, it’s a nice place to visit, but I’d never want to live here.