Iraqi Plumbing

The following post might be of questionable taste - so for some I might encourage you to skip this entry.

By large measure, the worst part of this deployment is the plumbing situation. It is so bad that I'd gladly pee in a water bottle or on a scorpion rather than use the sauna that is the port-a-john. Even with the clutch ability to "use it standing up" - it is not the highlight of my day. Previously, I've made mention of my brilliant plan to get air conditioning into the latrines (nice Army word). In recent weeks I have tried to push the issue; however, I continue to be met with resistance. I mean it is so bad that everyone monitors their food intake for the amount of potential blockage. As an interesting aside, a MRE works wonders for about three days. Who knew that a trip to the head takes off about five pounds? Back to the subject at hand, the time has come for me to think of other wonderfully brilliant ideas, because as a higher ranking official commented, "there will be no more discussion on the issue." Very well then.


The strangest part of the whole deal is that the port-a-johns are fairly clean and ten times better than the native ways. Attached are pictures of the typical bathroom. Yes, these bathrooms are in use. At any rate, you can see the toilet, a tap that dispenses water of worse quality than egg water, and an urn looking thing that holds water. The urn thing is what they use to wipe their hands when they are finished. No need to go into detail on that. I'll insert a friendly reminder not to shake a native of F-Town's left hand. The overall idea is that once you are finished you turn on the water and flood the toilet to encourage the deposits away. In turn, this will spark a conversation of what does away mean? I'll just say that away is equivalent to the distance to the street. So subtly I'll remind people not to walk in the puddles on the street.


I figure . . . I'll keep eating an MRE once or twice a week.