Holidays In Iraq

Holidays in Iraq and in Afghanistan are pretty much the same as any other workday. The various companies I have worked for did nothing very special. In fact sometimes we even forget there is a holiday.

In one case, our manager would not let us have any Christmas decorations. At least the military decorates their dining facility so we get to see various decorations there when we eat.

Apparently the companies who hire civilians to go to the Middle East, both American and foreign, really do not care about their employees' morale. I guess they figure they are paying their employees well and it just does not matter if they are happy or not. If one goes home they will just find another to train.....

However, the military usually goes all out for the holidays as far as the defac (dining facility) is concerned. The defac is normally decorated with appropriate items associated with each particular holiday. That is one good thing about the United States military. Our country cares about our troops (no matter what the Democrats tell you) and understands that a happy employee will do a better job. Employee morale is so very important.

In addition to the decorations, the 4th of July would also have games, fun runs and other things. Barbecues and steaks, the smell of charcoal in the air, and ice cold sodas. For the 4th, as often as I could, I would order in steaks to throw on the grill for our guys while I was in Iraq and running a store.

The holidays in Iraq would have special food associated with that holiday. But this is mostly because in Iraq, we ate our food at the military defac.

Thanksgiving was usually the largest. This was the meal that more people went to eat, even more than Christmas dinner. I can remember standing in line for an hour to get the Thanksgiving meal.

And if you were at the right base at the right time, you got a big surprise when President Bush and various members of his administration would show up during the holidays in Iraq to serve you! Unfortunately, I did not get that kind of surprise but maybe this year in Afghanistan......

Other than this, the holidays are pretty much the same. Missions continue. Insurgents try to blow us up. We send them to allah. Just another workday, just doing our jobs....

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