Most of the thousands of soldiers on Tallil Ali Air Base walk or take buses or ride in the back of 5-ton trucks to get where they are going on a post that stretches across dozens of square miles of sand and rock. A few hundred soldiers and airmen ride bicycles. Senior maintenance soldiers get 'Gators: four-wheel-drive golf carts made by John Deere and other manufacturers.
Senior officers, sergeant majors, commanders, and many garrison staff soldiers get SUVs. For Explorers, Chevy Suburbans, GMC Yukons as well as full-size crew-cab pickup trucks by the big three American automakers. The SUVs are the real status symbols around post. SUVs fill the parking lot of the DFAC for each meal near the end of the dining hours when the senior officers eat.
The SUVs are either light silver or white--colors that reflect rather than absorb the heat of the Iraq summer. Hybrids and high-mileage cars may be the cars to own back at home--at least for those of us who live in cities, but here a white or silver SUV is the vehicle to drive.
This is a little unrelated to your post, but it made me think of you-- Comedy Central's fake pundit Stephen Colbert is in Baghdad this week, doing shows for servicemen and -women. Last night he debated against himself about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and Stephen 1 said to Stephen 2 something like, "How's your wife?" Stephen 2 replied, "She's fine-- I left her with a friend..." (Wait for it...) "...do you know Jody?" I cracked up and thought of you. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 06/10/2009 News and Personal dispatches from the front and the home front.
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