Stationed in Iraq
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Fireworks display seems mild to Guardsmen stationed in Iraq

By Henry Cuningham
Military editor

JALUBA, Iraq - Combat engineers from Raeford yelled "fire in the hole'' Sunday night as they set off fireworks, and a cheer arose from a blacked-out Camp Cobra as a Fourth of July spectacle lit up the starry sky.

Booth said he would rather be at home with a steak on the grill and a better fireworks show.

The soldiers made do with the best that was available at the camp, which goes dark at night due to the threat from the surrounding communities.

"You make the best of what you've got,'' Booth said.

Soldiers of the 30th Brigade Combat Team tried to find ways to celebrate the Fourth of July in the middle of their yearlong deployment to Iraq.

It was intended to be a relief from a daily life in which guardsmen are threatened by mortar attacks at the camp and roadside bombs while driving.

The 1st Battalion of the 252nd Armor, which has its headquarters at the armory in Fayetteville, is the primary unit at the camp, where the main flagpoles fly the flags of the United States, Iraq, North Carolina and Ohio.

During the afternoon, soldiers played games - volleyball, tug of war and marksmanship contests - before dining on hot dogs and hamburgers for supper.

The menu included ice cream from Iran, apple pie from the United States and watermelon from Iraq.

Capt. Dean Davis, 41, of Lumberton, wiped the sweat from his reddened face after he and other officers cooked for the soldiers.

"This is just a Fourth of July celebration to bring a little bit of the United States over here,'' said Davis, who is the battalion's logistics officer and drives a truck for UPS at home.

"It was plenty hot,'' Davis said. "I bet I lost 10 pounds this afternoon.''

Psychological operations reservists from California blared 1980s music from loudspeakers mounted on top of their Humvee. Normally they would be using those speakers to put out messages to control crowds or disseminate safety information to Iraqis.

Around sundown, loudspeakers from a nearby mosque blared the traditional Islamic call to prayer.

The desert night air turned cool and pleasant as the sun went down.

"Not getting mortared, it's a real good night,'' one soldier quipped.

Pfc. Matthew Henson, 20, a 2002 graduate of Westover High School, ate hamburgers and beans for his Fourth of July supper and reported to Guard Tower No. 7 to spend four hours scanning the Wild West landscape on the horizon for intruders. He is a tanker assigned to the battalion's Company B in Parkton.

"I miss that,'' he said, referring to the hamburger. "I needed that.''

From: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/story.php?Template=military&Story=6440586