Army Iraq life?

Question

I was wondering what the schedual for a soldier in iraq is? What time do they get up? go to bed? eat breakfast? lunch? dinner? When do they have free time to use the computer? Go to the gym? Exercise? Whats life like at one of these army bases like Camp Diamond Back? Do they have church on sunday? Do they get days off?

Thank you

Answer 1

Okay, I will tell you about my husband's daily life as a soldier in Iraq. Some nights he will get 3 hours sleep, other nights he will get 10 hours sleep. He eats breakfast, lunch and dinner at normal times. He goes to the gym after he eats dinner. I would say on a normal day, he is done working by 5 or 6 PM. He has "private" internet in his room. We talk almost EVERYDAY before he goes to bed and also sometimes in the morning. He hasn't really had a day off yet, but he does get a lot of opportunities to sleep in.

I would say at the particular FOB that he is at, he lives a pretty "normal" life, apart from when he has to do patrols, or at least that's what he tells me!

Answer 2

I will let you know what a friend of mine has during a daily week.

These are all different as some people are sent on missions outside the wire and some stay in but here is the schedule for someone that is at the base in Iraq

Wake up at 530 get ready for PT, PT from 600-700, Shower, Eat breakfast, Work at 800 until 2000, Eat Lunch at some point in the middle usually around 1200, Off at 2000, Dinner, Bed, wake up and repeat.

Now some units don't have set PT and they have time to go to the gym, some units don't work the 12 hours a day, some work more, you have 1 day off a week if that, some units don't have days off some do. Some work nights, some days. PT for some units is mandatory with Unit, and all have some time to exercise as they still have PT tests. Church they have, probably have to get time off from your unit for that, i don't know my friend is not religious. Some bases you can have internet in your room for a price, and then you can have a personal computer and chat online when you aren't working. Some united have computers in their offices and you can check email there but a lot of sites are blocked. I hope this helps.

Answer 3

Groups of soldiers have different jobs to do and their schedule will vary accordingly. Giving out specific times and locations for anything is bad OPSEC.
My husband is on a schedule where he runs missions every afternoon or evening, depending on what he needs to do. He eats when he can, sleeps when he can, gets to the phone center rarely more than once a week and to the computers not even once a month. The last time he was there, he lived on candy bars, Slim Jims and energy drinks because he was never off work when the DFAC was open. Soldiers doing work outside the wire usually don't have time for the gym, they get their exercise in the field.
When he comes home for R&R in a couple weeks, it will only be the third time he's had a day off since Thanksgiving, and neither of those two days were Thanksgiving or Christmas. In fact, his truck hit an IED Thanksgiving night on patrol.

Answer 4

I wasn't in Iraq but was deployed twice overseas, and let me tell you this: In the Army there is only a set schedule when your in garrison (At home base). The rest of the time it is little sleep, long hours, lots of training and deployments. It is hard work and if you have any doubt in your mind, just don't go. I was there and probably shouldn't have been. The leave is the best part because you get 1 month a year for leave, and combat veterans get 6 months to a year off.