[Chat] I'm now working in a palace

[william.schlegel at us.army.mil]

I'm back in the loop and will be answering e-mails like before. We are now working in a building that is part of one of Saddam's palaces. The walls and floors are covered with marble and there are crystal chandeliers everywhere. The furniture that is left is really ornate, but not all that well constructed. We understand that it was built in a hurry in 1998. The grounds would be beautiful if maintained. The biggest building sits on a partial island in the middle of a man-made lake. 

Unfortunately, the bathrooms do not work and we have to use "homemade" portajohns - 55 gallon drums cut in half with a seat on top behind a curtain.  The "doo" is burned out each day with diesel fuel.  We now have make-shift showers where me pour 5 gallons of water in an overhead container and then turn a valve to get the water to spray down through a real nozzle.  I'm still sleeping in a tent, but at least we have windows and I have a marble floor in front of my cot (slabs from the palace grounds).  Meals are again MREs!  However, we expect to have hot food again within several weeks. plus mail and laundry service.

Watch the news tomorrow and you may see the place, since the Secretary of Defense is speaking from here.

More later!
 
Brad