I don't believe this is in violation of OPSEC and I don't believe it's already been posted, but how about a discussion on your experiences on bases in Iraq? This will definitely prepare most soldiers on what to expect, bring, and avoid.

I'll start off with LSA Anaconda AKA Balad

If you ever get stationed in Balad, you won't be dissappointed. They have EVERYTHING there plus more. Theres a huge theater that shows new releases that are the same as US releases. Theres TWO big ass PX's, and two pools. Why two pools? I have no idea. Just one of them is outdoor and one is indoor. During the summer, lots of the females like to hang out at the outdoor pool.

Most of the housing there are like trailers. I saw some tents but I dont believe they're permanent housing. They all have air conditioner and are inspected on a monthly basis.

Since Anaconda is the biggest base in Iraq, you can expect a lot of entertainment such as gym activies and MWR activities. Also, there's Burger King, Pizza Hut, Pop Eyes, Subway, Taco Bell, and some Turkish restaurant. There's also a bazaar there. The Iraqi usually likes to hussle you because some of their DVDs (ie programs, games, movies, shows) don't work. I'd estimate about 60% of them are crappy due to bad video/audio quality or doesn't work at all.

There's 4 DFACs, 2 small and 2 big. I have to admit, the two big DFACs serves some prett good food on some days, such as Mongolian night, soul food night, or seafood night.

Don't expect to see camel spiders on base since I haven't seen or heard of it's appearance. Of course you're going to want to bring some bug repellent because the sand fleas come out to play in the summer time.

Now on to the bad news. Anaconda gets mortared A LOT. It might have cool down by now but in 06-07, we used to get mortared 3-4 times in a week, and thats not a lot compared to previos years.

Since Anaconda has an airport, expect a lot of jets taking off and landing and blackhawks coming out for missions and medivac coming in. That's all I have on the top of my head. Any one else station in Anaconda/Balad can input some more.

My unit is planning to deploy to Taji, any information I can get about that base?

I left Taji a few months ago

Pros:
Good DFACs. I prefer #1 aka Cooke DFAC
large Px, sometimes it's even stocked
wireless internet
Lots of movie shops, all over post
Has an education center
Burger King, Subway, Seattle's best and some chicken place
Several places to go for MWR

Cons:
Surge housing sucks
Long lines at the barber shop
long bus ride from surge housing to get anywhere
It's a very large base

How is the danger threat in Taji? For Balad, I'd say 7/10 because the mortars usually come in pairs or triples. You can hear gunshots outside the base but it's almost nothing serious. The only thing to worry about on base were the mortars. I was a fobbit so I wouldn't know much about stuff outside Anaconda.

My first deployment I was on Camp Victory North (now called Camp Liberty), in Taji at Camp Cooke, in Fallujah with the Marines, and at Camp Dogwood outside of Babul. I am sure those places have changed quite a bit since then so I can only give my outlook on where I've been this deployment and that's FOB Falcon in southern Baghdad. Chances are you'll never come here because it's a much smaller place compared to huge complexes like Camp Liberty, Camp Cooke, Camp Anaconda. You might remember from the news that a mortar landed in the AHA here back in October 2006 and set off tons of explosions. Just check the videos YouTube. Pretty crazy. I'll be honest, there's not many pros of living on FOB Falcon.

Pros:

Due to its small size pretty much everything is within walking distance

A decent amount of Iraqi bizarre shops for movies, electronics, etc. (even though everything they sell is a cheap knock off of some famous brand)

You might get the chance to live in a hardened structure with good mortar/rocket protection. No housing trailers like most larger camps but once you see how easily shrapnel slices through one of those trailers you won't think trailers are so cool and afterall


Cons:

During the rain season absolutely everything turns to mud

Small PX and DFAC

No fast food restaurants like Burger King, Pizza Hut, etc. (however, there is a Green Beans Cafe and they'll soon be opening a Subway)

You're pretty close to a nearby Iraqi neighborhood so occasional gunfire, drive-bys, RPG attacks, etc. And the prayers over the mosque loudspeakers are very audible.

Mortar attacks every now and then (can't elaborate on their accuracy due to OPSEC reasons)

Lots of inbound/outbound helicopter traffic, but after awhile you get use to it

Sometimes mail is delayed due to it being trucked in

FOB Loyalty:
Pros-Paved Road, Many hard buildings, swimming pool.
Cons-In the middle of Baghdad.

FOB Rustamiyah:
Pros-Much shopping.
Cons-Very dusty, no pavement, you might live in a trailer, smells like an elephant's ass.

I was at FOB Loyalty in SE Baghdad during 2005. It is a small FOB that has an indoor swimming pool with a sauna, a gym, a movie theater, several shops that sell movies, gifts, snacks, etc., the roads are paved, you live in hard buildings, everything is within short walking distance. It is a nice FOB...I liked it there.

FOB Iskandariyah sits on the site of Iraq's largest power plant. It is an industrial area and it shows. Hundreds of 55-gallon barrels leak oil and stuff, large pieces of power plant parts are scattered around, junk yards/landfills occupy a few areas of the FOB, every so often water will back up and fill the streets and it will reek of sewage or be a rusty orange color. Some places can be a bit long to walk to. Power plant workers are found all over the place. The sky is often filled with thick, black smoke from the power plant. The FOB sits along the Euphrates River, but we can't see it.

There is no PX here. If you want personal hygiene stuff you need to buy it if you're able to go to another FOB or have it sent to you. The same goes with snacks and other things. There are several shops in the "mall" but they mostly sell the same things. There is a gym and an indoor basketball court, a movie room with one TV, a volleyball court, pool table, air hockey, and stuff like that. Everyone lives in trailers. Mail comes in irregularly...sometimes once a week, other times twice every three weeks. There aren't any fast food places...the DFAC is the only place to eat. It is small and the menu repeats every two weeks or less. Helicopters buzz overhead nightly and shake my room.

COB Speicher (Tikrit),

Pros: Decent PX, has a Pizza hut/Subway/BK and other misc small shops. Has a good bus system, quick laundry turn-around time, excellent DFAC's. When I got there, there was a tiny bit of indirect fire, but not much at all. By the time I left, practically none. Has a nice MWR with big screen T.V's, movies you can rent, etc. Also has some martial arts classes, yoga, etc at the main MWR. Generally easy to communicate with people back home. There's a ton of CHU's there, most had A/C. Not very reliable..but they had them. I ordered a few things from amazon while there, and some military shops online (ruck, eye-pro), stuff got there in sometimes as little as a week..sometimes a lot longer.

Cons: It's in iraq. Although the PX and all those little mini-food trailers are nice, they're a few miles away from where I stayed..so it was a chore just to get there. I stayed right next to the airfield..so choppers were right above us, which made it less than fun trying to go to bed. Also, we had the damn UAV's taking off..and they would revv those things for a good 30 minutes before launching..think of a weedeater x50 at 0300.