So anyone following this has figured out the obvious — soldiers in Iraq are remarkably connected. I don’t have wireless so my MacBook Air isn’t much help with the internet, but the tiny base I’m on has its own computer lab. In the housing units there are Ethernet cables you can plug into if you pay for a plan. At Baghdad airport I bought a day’s worth of wireless for $9. I got to choose the speed I wanted. All over there are opportunities to stay in touch.

It’s a bit crazy, especially when you talk to people who were here when the invasion first occurred. They got a couple phone calls a month; I’ve Skyped with my wife almost daily. I’m working on a story about it, along with about what soldiers do in there downtime. I’m not sure I mentioned this yet, but Call of Duty is wildly popular over here. I was in the Green Zone, and I saw two soldiers shooting people in front of a television screen. Does that seem strange to anyone? Kicking it in a war zone shooting digital people. What a concept!