Election takes a back seat to duty in Iraq

[unhappycamper]

Election takes a back seat to duty in Iraq
By James Warden, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, November 6, 2008

BAGHDAD

The election results altered life very little for most soldiers at Forward Operating Base Falcon just outside Baghdad.

Most soldiers caught the results when they stopped by the dining facility for meals and then continued with their daily patterns.

Pfc. Michael White left for a patrol in Baghdad’s Bayaa district at 6 a.m. Wednesday, a short time before Barack Obama was declared the winner of the presidential election. White didn’t think the results would come back so fast, so he didn’t think much about it before he headed outside the wire.

"I just woke up like any other day, got in the vehicle and headed out," said White, a soldier in Company D, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment. "It’s like ‘Groundhog Day.’ "

Falcon’s dining facility opened at 3 a.m. to allow people to watch the results, but cafeteria workers from outside the country and news media outnumbered soldiers until breakfast at 5:30 a.m.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58657