Diversions help soldiers pass the time

by Spc. Chris Chesak, B Co., Task Force 2-116 Armor

Editor's Note: The following press release was recently received from CPT Monte Hibbert, 116th BCT Public Affairs, serving in Iraq with the 116th Engineering Battalion of the Idaho National Guard. Some of the soldiers of that battalion are from the Orofino Armory.

FOB WARRIOR, Iraq - While our time here is punctuated by some intense moments, and while there are days where we run five or even six missions in a single day, there are also some days of nothing to do but wait.

Confined to our tiny patrol base (sometimes called 'Barbarian Minimum Security Prison'), these days can be arduous, unless you find something to do with your time. Nearly everyone has a laptop computer to play games (often multiplayer affairs wirelessly networked from computer to computer), watch any and every movie we can, and stay in touch with loved ones through email.

But there are a few cases of supreme video excess, such as when one soldier here logged nearly a dozen hours playing a video game about battling robots. I'm chagrined to admit that my squad once watched all three Lord of the Rings movies, nine hours in entirety, in a row. I watched the last hour of the last film standing up because my butt was so tired.

Pick-up basketball games are common on the shabby court, now that it's cool enough to play again, and recently some very cramped five-on-five touch football games were played there.

Several of us manage to regularly run around the gravel, concrete, dirt, asphalt, and occasionally rubble-strewn half-mile perimeter of our base and there are weights in the small gym.

Some here approach lifting weights with an almost religious zeal. Members of our 1st squad lift six times per week for up to four hours per day and have, on average, gained 10-15 pounds of muscle per person. Physical gains aside, it's also helped their minds as well.

"It's really what has kept us sane," noted Specialist Justin Cole. "It's the most positive way we've found to relieve stress."

To try to break away from the glare of our computer screens, my squad came up with 'No Tech Tuesdays,' where we turned off the laptops for a whole day and played actual card, dice, and board games. Some guys even read something called a 'book.'

"It was a lot of fun when we could do it," said Specialist Matthew Timmons. "The problem was that with our schedule, we kept forgetting when it was Tuesday."

Sergeant Mike Todd planted a small garden, full of tomato plants, jalapenos, three varieties of peppers, and flowers. He also cared for two existing lime and pomegranate trees.

Todd said, "It gave me something to do everyday, to go out there and weed, water, and care for them." Unfortunately though, Todd's garden met an untimely end. "I went on leave during the hottest part of the year and the plants just couldn't handle those 130-degree days. When I came back, most of them were dead."

Several of us built a climbing wall, and Sergeant Mark Haylett, a former boxing champ in the Marines, brought boxing gloves and headgear. Occasional, and often therapeutic, three-round bouts are held on our base's one patch of grass.

Woodworking is one way Sergeant Mitch Briggs passes the time. Utilizing our unit's own set of power tools; he's built cabinets, shelves, and dressers for use around the base.

"It's just a good way to go off by myself and be able to think, not to mention a way to get away from staring at the computer all day," said Briggs.

Sgt. Michael Shriver, a medieval-era enthusiast, passed an estimated 30 hours making a chain-mail head covering. He hand-turned electrical fence wire to make about 1,000 5/8-inch rings and then joined them in a four-in-one-pattern.

"It was just a nice way to use my hands and sort of let my mind go," said Shriver. "The repetition and focus it required helped the hours pass."

Members of 1st Platoon shipped over electric guitars, drums, and amplifiers and started their own band, called 'Stop Loss', after the Army's deployment policy of extending the terms of guardsmen who were approaching the end of their service.

A few of us spend time updating and writing blog websites, while others keep journals. A few more, including me, admit (or perhaps just hope) that they're trying to write novels.

And I like to spend a little of my time writing for everyone back home, hoping to convey a little bit of what our lives here are really like, even when the reality of that life is sometimes nothing more than too many movies and a sore butt.

Photos: Top--To help pass the time, Sgt Michael Shriver spent more than a full day handcrafting his chain mail coif. (Photo by Sgt. Shawn Stewart, Task Force 2-116 Armor) Middle--These small jalapeño plants are one of the few surviving remains of Sgt Mike Todd's Barbarian Base garden. Most of the plants he was raising died in the intense heat of the Iraqi summer. (Photo by Spc. Chris Chesak, Task Force 2-116 Armor) Bottom--The computer generation: clockwise from bottom left, Spc Matthew Timmons, Spc Jacob Smith, Spc Jared MacKenzie, Sgt Michael Shriver, Spc Jeremy Beans, and Spc Kris Ohlensehlen watch movies, play video games, maintain blog websites, and stay in touch with families via their laptop computers. (Photo by Spc. Chris Chesak, Task Force 2-116 Armor)