Lack of communications and comfort make Iraq look "fantastic"

"GULFPORT, Miss. - Conditions for soldiers in Iraq make Mississippi look like hell on Earth.

"We had it made in Iraq, absolutely had it made," said Col. Brad MacNealy of the Mississippi National Guard, who spent a year commanding the 185th Aviation Brigade's 134 helicopters there.

The group is now flying 42 of those choppers out of the Trent Lott National Guard Training Complex here, delivering food, water, ice, diapers and baby food to people stranded in the bayou.

"In Iraq, we had TV, communication, sleeping quarters, showers," MacNealy said Sunday. "Here, these people haven't had a shower. They're using baby wipes. They can't use cell phones ... The year we spent in Iraq, the creature comforts were fantastic. I mean, people were complaining there because they didn't have exercise equipment."

Communication is a mess here. Crews are flying into areas with chopper loads of MRE's (meals ready to eat) and water - and finding supplies have already been delivered.

"If they say they've already got stuff, we just fly around until we find someone who needs it," said pilot Michael Fair, a chief warrant officer with the Ohio National Guard.

The helicopter crews are given drop locations, then they're on their own."
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