Holiday in a war zone

December 13, 2004

There’s a Christmas tree twinkling in the Fire Direction Center atop Camp Gunslinger’s headquarters building that is a sight to be seen.

The boys of 3rd Battalion’s Mortar Platoon lovingly call it a mortarman’s Christmas tree.

There are no needles, no tinsel, no branches and no star.

But don’t discount it. It’s awesome.

Spc. Charlie Harrison of Wynne created the mortarman’s Christmas tree over a span of six hours a few days ago using nothing more than a mortarman’s everyday tools and good ‘ol American ingenuity.

The tree base is made of empty mortar containers; its frame is an aiming tripod.

The foliage is camouflage netting. It looks good, I tell you.

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MICHAEL WOODS The mortarman’s Christmas tree at Camp Gunslinger

Atop the tree is the fin from the first illumination round fired in a combat mission from the mortar tubes on Camp Gunslinger’s roof.

The ornaments are pins from the countless 81 mm and 60 mm mortar rounds that have been shot.

Red engineer tape snakes up the tree and is tied in a neat bow around the crowning mortar fin. Candy canes dangle between the pins and blinky lights brighten the Army drab tree. Red and white striped aiming rods frame the tree on each side.

“We tried coloring frag grenades to hang, but the ink wouldn’t stick,” said Sgt. 1st Class Mitch Ingram, platoon sergeant for the battalion mortarmen.

And on the ground beneath the tree are three sets of gifts: One football, three 81mm mortars and one inert Claymore mine.

“It’s just a mortarman’s Christmas tree,” Harrison said with a smile.

The tree may sound a little wacky, but it’s a great example of how Christmas is celebrated over here. Soldiers use whatever they have to make even the most primitive places where they lay their heads a little more like home.

Gifts are exchanged, stockings are hung and cheer is spread.

There’s no eggnog and, so far, no caroling, but it’s still festive in a war zone kind of way.

Take, for instance, the shiny wad of aluminum foil I found dangling from my trailer door at Camp Taji today.

At first I thought it was trash.

Why would someone hang that from my door with duct tape?

Then I saw the note in blue dry erase marker on my message board.

“Fudge from Bravo Company.”

One of the Bravo boys left me five pieces of yummy fudge from his care package from home.

He’d wrapped it up in a ball of foil and hung it like an ornament from a long strip of tape on my door.

And it was good.

Personally, I was hesitant to join in the Christmas spirit.

About a month ago I decided I wouldn’t do anything for Christmas here. I figured it might make me homesick.

Then Christmas trees started popping up in soldiers’ rooms and hallways. Christmas music played yesterday in the Judge Advocate General staff office — the lawyers of the 39th — which went nicely with their wall of stockings. Each stocking has a name, so no one’s left out.

Boxes of artificial trees arrived every day for a while.

And about a week ago, a box arrived for me from Beth McCarty, Lt. Mike and Sgt. Pat McCarty’s mom, with a small Christmas tree that blinks with fiberoptics.

It’s a hoot!

The other day at Gunslinger, I found a plastic bag tied to our door with a card attached. In the bag was all the shampoo and conditioner I could ever want. Remember, it’s the small things that make a difference here.

The card wished a merry Christmas season.

I passed a door on the second floor of Camp Gunslinger yesterday, where a Bravo Company soldier was carefully pulling shiny wrapped packages from the plain brown box they arrived in.

Christmas is here.

What I’ve slowly learned is that having Christmas music and decorations doesn’t make this place feel further away from home, it brings a sense of calm. It brings home a little closer.

Today, I received a surprise package from four dear friends who have faithfully been meeting for our ritual cheese dip and margarita nights in my absence.

The box was crammed with funny little goodies that all made me smile, everything from silly girl magazines to a Christmas CD.

They put together what may be the best compilation of Christmas music around and titled it: “There’s No Place Like Baghdad for the Holidays, Amy’s Christmas Mix.”

It’s playing on my computer right now. Stevie Nicks is howling “Silent Night.”

Did you know Run D.M.C. rapped Christmas music? Me neither.

My favorite has got to be No. 17 on the CD: Jingle Bell Rock.

The song isn’t my favorite, but the note on my CD case is hilarious. In the space where the girls dutifully wrote who was singing each song, this song is attributed to, “Some Old Guy, maybe Bobby Helms.”

Now Tom Petty is belting out “Christmastime is Here.”

It’s very festive here!

A few trailers down, a soldier has put up Christmas lights. I figure it’s only a matter of days before a sergeant major or someone sees them and gives a lecture on proper housekeeping on an Army garrison, but they’re fun while they last.

Even the most humbug of soldiers are brightening when they get mail these days. And don’t let them kid you, packages are being ripped open immediately, warnings to wait until Christmas be damned!

I heard one soldier sum it up this way: If presents are opened as they arrive, Christmas isn’t limited to just one day. There will be Christmas every day this month, because someone will be getting a present.

It’s the little things, the fuzzy slippers — yes, I personally know of more than one soldier sporting big, fuzzy animal slippers — the singing reindeer, trees, CDs and stockings that really make a difference.

Posted by Amy at December 13, 2004 03:25 PM