America's North Shore Journal

The local United Service Organizations (USO) office and the Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) coordinator for 34th Red Bull Infantry Division are teaming up to create an oasis in the middle of the Basrah desert for servicemembers and civilians to escape the pressure of operations.

Sarah McConnell, USO director here, said the center, housed in a former dining hall, already has undergone a “soft opening,” meaning there are some services already available.

“We have 13 Internet stations set up already, along with 18 phone lines for people to call home,” McConnell said. “Both services are free of charge to anyone who uses them.

“We wanted to get something started for the troops here right away,” she continued. “We’re not fully functional yet, but we got the computers and phones set up so we could at least offer some services.”

It was a study in contrasts. Where FOB Adder was sprawling, FOB Kalsu was snug, and the two units were at wholly different points in their deployment. While the Soldiers at FOB Adder were new, fresh off their transfer of authority ceremony, the Soldiers of the 172nd Inf. Bde. were more than halfway done with their deployment and were getting ready to do end of tour awards. “I’m pretty set in my ways,” said Maj. John Lawrence, a Madison, Maine., native and battalion personnel officer for the 172nd Inf. Bde.

Iraq’s first notable tourist, Jonah, hated it. Belched out of a whale and stuck under Ninevah’s parching, sweltering sun, the Bible says, he cared more for the plant that shaded him than for the city he was sent to save.

Thousands of years later, it’s cliche to say Iraq is not everyone’s ideal daytrip. But in the six years since Saddam Hussein was deposed, conditions have reached the point at which tourism is now a viable industry.