Did Murtha say the troops lived in palaces?

Which palace, this palace?
Army to return Saddam palace complex to Iraq
10/5/2005

TIKRIT, Iraq — The U.S. Army is returning Saddam Hussein's most elaborate presidential complex, a sprawling network of 136 buildings overlooking the Tigris River here, to Iraq's government.

Although the palace may have fared better in American hands...
Palace transfer reportedly gave keys to looters

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On Nov. 22, the top U.S. military and civilian leaders in Iraq handed over Saddam Hussein's most lavish palace compound to the safekeeping and control of the new Iraqi army and government, in a ceremony whose intended symbolism was as impossible to ignore as the military brass band.

Or this palace?
Hurry Up and Wait
Among the rear echelons in Iraq
by Max Boot 03/20/2006, Volume 011, Issue 25

I write these words, for instance, while sitting on a patio at one of Saddam Hussein's palace complexes in Baghdad, now part of sprawling Camp Victory adjacent to Baghdad International Airport. The weather is perfect (about 70 degrees, with a light breeze), the water in the man made lake is lapping gently against the patio, and the beige-stone Al Faw Palace (now the headquarters of Multi-National Corps-Iraq) looms majestically in the background. The stillness is interrupted only by the occasional thwup-thwup-thwup of a Blackhawk flight.

Who would expect such a moment of bliss in the middle of a war? Yet there were several such pleasant interludes during a week spent hopscotching around U.S. installations in central and northern Iraq. For all the hazards of duty in Iraq--and make no mistake, every Humvee or helicopter ride risks disaster--I discovered that troops (and their visitors) can enjoy considerable comforts while on base.

Yet no matter how luxurious the base, the specter of death is never far off, whether in a random mortar or rocket attack, or in all the facilities named after soldiers killed in action. (To take only one of countless examples, Forward Operating Base Gabe in Baqubah, home of the 1st battalion, 68th Armor Regiment--itself named for a slain soldier--has a physical fitness center named after Specialist Isaac M. Nieves, who died on April 8, 2004.) Even the tranquility of the patio at Camp Victory was broken in the early evening by a haunting memorial service for a sergeant slain a few days earlier.

Life ain't easy on base

"I've never worked as little as a 12-hour day yet," one sergeant told me. Eighteen-hour days seem to be the norm, and days off are unheard of. (Soldiers do get a couple of weeks of R&R in the rear or back home in the middle of a one-year deployment.) In many units, one soldier will be sent to fetch lunch from the DFAC (dining facility) so that everyone else can continue working. Others skip lunch altogether or gobble a PowerBar on the run.

One colonel, a brigade commander, told me that the only break he gets comes when he gets his hair cut. I believe him--after all, we were conducting our interview at 10 p.m., and he was still in the office. "If you work 18 hours a day, seven days a week, and you don't drink alcohol, it's amazing how much you can get done," a senior general joked.

No alcohol? That's right: No booze is allowed at U.S. bases in Iraq; troops have to make do with nonalcoholic beer. This abstinence policy is prompted by the desire not to offend local sensibilities even though many Iraqis are happy to take a drink themselves. Given how common pre-combat drinking or drug-taking was in centuries past (think of the rum ration), the U.S. armed forces today may field the soberest soldiers ever sent into harm's way.

For intelligence specialist Amber Fisher, life in Camp Victory was no picnic: She's enjoying life in Verona after year in Iraq

Her 12- to-14-hour days in Camp Victory were "fast-paced and overwhelming." Ms. Fisher worked every day and didn't even take a two-week leave during her stay. She didn't want to experience the sadness she witnessed in those who returned from leaves and had to become re-accustomed to life in Baghdad.

Ms. Fisher said she became used to the nightly mortaring outside the camp -- earsplitting from inside the trailer in which she lived with five other soldiers. "Imagine sleeping at 3 a.m. and there would be an explosion that would shake the trailer so loudly, it would be deafening. Lights would fall from the ceiling. We had several windows blown out," she said. By the time a team went out to investigate, they would find only the tubes from the rockets.

American troops have lived no bucolic, lackadaisical lifestyle in Iraq, whether they're in a palace or not. As for Murtha's call to limit American troop deployments to one year, here is some history:

During the two months that the Battle of the Bulge was fought, 80,000 Americans died. My grandfather survived the battle, which began for him after only two months rest from the battle of the Hurtgen Forest.

33 months - The average length of active-duty by U.S. military personnel during WWII. My grandfather served 53 months; from May 1941 - October 1945.

16 months - The average time U.S. personnel served overseas during WWII. My grandfather served 33 months: November 1942 - August 1945.

Supreme Sacrifice 292,000 - The number of U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines killed in battle in WWII. The 39th infantry regiment, 9th Infantry Division, in which my grandfather served, suffered a 251% casualty rate.