Lifestyle in Baghdad

So the living conditions are really comfortable here considering that we are in a combat zone. I live in a trailor. There's 3 rooms to a trailor 2 people to a room. It's alot better than when I came here last. I live in a tent with up to 16 other girls for six months. There are bathroom trailors with flushable toilets and warm showers with access 24/7. The bathroom trailor is about 50 yards away so it sucks when you wake up in the middle of the night needing to go pee. It's one of my comforts of home that I miss, having the bathroom 10 feet away from my bed. The dining facility is opened 4 times a day. It's all you can eat food. So you never go hungry here but it's the same old same old. At least we don't have to eat MRE's at all. You can even tell what day of the week it is by what they're having for dinner. It's one of those survival skills we learn in the desert.
So we have a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. Now for the Luxuaries. We have a gym on base that is 24 hour access. No membership fees required. There's a Post Exchange where we can do all the shopping we need. It seems to have a lot of stuff, but none of what you want or need. A movie theater that may not play the most up to date movies but it's there for your enjoyment. A phone center and internet cafe. Fast food resturaunts. Taco Bell, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, Cinnabon, Popeye's Chicken, Mr. Green Beans Coffee. It's a no brainer that I pick the D-Fac to eat at but sometimes I have to fall back on these reliable sources to be open if I happen to miss chow because of the work I do. There's a Library somewhere. I don't know. And then there's an MWR building where you can go to with different events every night. Like domino tournaments, spades, and Salsa nights. They try there best here to the morale up.
I keep pretty busy here. Sometime I partake in some of these luxuries in my off time, but mostly sleep or read a book.
The thing that first came to mind when I saw what it was like over here is that they really bulid this place up. You see where a good portion of this War money is going to. And all I think is that America is never leaving this place. So a tid bit of information that I can give you no matter if you're Republican, Democratic, Liberal, or whatever. No matter which politican says that if they get into office they'll pull all the troops out of Iraq, know that they are full of shit. They're just trying to say whatever they can to get your vote. So if you're relying on the at one statement please reconsider. This place has been built up to be the biggest U. S. Embassy ever. Oh and also they maybe pulling troops out now, and I see it as a morale booster for Americans. But don't think that they have any plans to continue pulling troops out. I say this because I see more and more trailors and tents being put up for living purposes. We get access to the news over here. But I stop listening to it. I feel like the media is very distorted and I hate hearing about all the bad that's going on over here and how they report very little about what good is going on here.
I've had the same thoughts that alot of you have had. There's alot of days where I wonder why the hell are we all over here. I wish I had the answer. But since I've been over here I have also seen the acts of violence go down. I've been given information that makes sense to what the U.S. wants to accomplish. It looks like a huge mess, and it is. I'm pretty low on the food chain to know exactly what the intentions and the goals of our leaders are. But I hope beyond hope that they are doing it for the good of everyone. But who really knows?