Marine Corps News: Reporter John Koopman and the 3/4 Marines during the Iraq War www.MarineParents.com

REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK
Traveling through a lunar landscape
Poor people line the road asking for a handout
March 25, 2003

On Monday, the 1st Marine Division crossed the Euphrates River -- the storied waterway and birthplace of civilization.

It's a nice little river, viewed from a bridge across the Euphrates, but it soon gives way to one of the worst places on earth.

Once lush swamp and grasslands -- until the regime of Saddam Hussein drained the marshes -- it now looks like a lunar landscape. The soil is dust, fine and flyaway like talcum powder.

And it's thick and deep, up to one's ankles in some places.

As the Marines drove hundreds of tanks, trucks and other heavy equipment over it on Monday, the air hung thick with choking dust.

Saddest of all are the people who live there, in low, mud huts. A smattering of women and children lined the road as the convoys drove by, making signs with their hands asking for cigarettes and for food.

These were once prosperous "Marsh Arabs," one Marine officer remarked, Shiites who fell out of favor with Hussein and have paid for it. They seemed happy to see the Americans. Many smiled, waved and flashed V signs.

"There's a term, dirt poor," said Col. Steve Hummer, commander of the 7th Marine Regiment. "That's what we were looking at all the way down that road."

Even after the Marines have fought battles and killed their enemies, they still take time to clean up after themselves. Truck and tank convoys frequently stop at the side of the road as a couple of Marines pick up the used ration boxes and dig a hole in the dirt to bury them.

These Marines, being primarily from Camp Pendleton in California, don't smoke much either. Those who do have been trained by California law at least not to smoke indoors. They're also not allowed to smoke at night, for security reasons. Officers like to remind the troops how Russian soldiers serving in Chechnya are killed by sniper shots to the head or neck. The Chechen sniper sees the flame of a lighter, or even a lit cigarette, and shoots in the general direction, the officers reckon.

Meals in the field have gotten much better in recent years.

Many jokes have been made about the MRE -- Meal Ready to Eat. Some say the MRE is none of the above.

But they've come a long way since the first Gulf War.

Nowadays, you can have chicken Tetrazzini, beef teriyaki, spaghetti with meat sauce. You can have Pork in Jamaican sauce with noodles, and pasta alfredo.

There are vegetarian and even kosher MREs.

They come in brown plastic bags, containing roughly 3,000 calories each. But then there's the mixed fruit, applesauce, lemon pound cake, chocolate fudge brownies, fig bars and sports power bars. Some food companies place brand-name products in there.

Accessory packs contain instant coffee, matches, sugar, salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce (a must for the chicken and noodles meal) a wet wipe and a small roll of toilet paper.

Each MRE pack contains a plastic sleeve with a chemical paper inside. The meal goes in the sleeve, add a little bit of water and it heats up automatically.

Some people get creative, adding water to pound cake, putting in some cocoa powder and voila! -- a nice pudding.

Things are less commodious when it comes to sanitation and hygiene. The Marines who left their base camp at Tactical Area Coyotein Kuwait almost a week ago have had no showers, no running water, no toilets.

At first, it bothers you. The smell, the discomfort of having to attend to one's bodily functions outside, in plain view of everyone.

After two days, it starts to matter less. Life is hectic, dirty and tiresome, and personal cleanliness becomes less of a priority. Food drops on the floor, one blows off the dirt and eats it anyway. Water bottles pass from mouth to mouth, and no one pays any mind.

But the men do try to change their socks regularly, clean their feet every couple of days with baby wipes, and, at all costs, keep them dry. That's a cardinal rule in the infantry.

The heat doesn't help, especially when wearing a chemical protective suit. The suits are lined with activated charcoal, which filters out harmful gas. Interestingly, the suits filter other gases and prevent bodily odors from escaping out of the suit, into the general breathing area of your buddies.

So while everyone's stinking pretty bad, it's not always obvious.

E-mail John Koopman at jkoopman@sfchronicle.com.