a beautiful photo....in honor of dtb,neverteasit and the other vets on the board...

[neverteaseit]

Terry the pool was already in place, Anaconda has one also. Most of these bases were in existence prior to us arriving. Yes expansion does occur at the major ones. But in the end Iraq will have them all. Now that may be 2 years or 10 who knows. Burger King, Pizza hut, Taco Bell, Subway, MacDonalds in Kuwait, Wild bean Cafes exist all across Iraq. Aafes operated and Hadji employed. These places anymore will basically travel with the troops.

 

[Terryray]

the msnbc article does metion that the olympic size pool was there before US took it over.

but viewing the pictures does give a false impression, sorry about that.

my buddy said "Mortaritaville" has two swimming pools inherited from the Iraqis.

and above picture of the Burger King in trailer doesn't look all that permanent to me...

but you see the point folks are making----spending all this money on bases might be deeds speaking louder than words. It certainly does seem that way to the Iraqi people, and that is not good.

 

[neverteaseit]

No need for apologies. Yea I think alot of the media gives a false impression of it. Were not building swimming pools with tax payers dollars, at least not to my knowledge. They talked about all of the concrete needed well that is being used to re-enforce many of the bases and the housing areas to protect them from mortars. Most still have hesco barriers filled with dirt or sand. The amount of conrete used is huge in building these walls. I think any amount spent is worht saving soldiers lives, if we are gonna live there may as well try to make it as safe as possible. But i see your point.

Yes the fast food joints nearly all are in trailers. It something Aafes has been doing and many of the soldiers like it. I never really ate there much. But its a place to go that gives u a lil glimpse of what is back home somewhat.