Engineers work all night, all day building outposts

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Engineers work all night, all day building outposts
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Sunday, March 9, 2008

MOSUL, Iraq — The chow truck came out just after dark. Under the weak glare of flashlights, soldiers moved like ghosts as they unloaded green plastic bins full of baked chicken and rice.

Nineteen soldiers with the 77th Engineering Company, from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., came by in pairs, spooning up the chow onto paper plates. Steam rose from the hot food as the night air grew chilly.

They’d been sawing boards and hammering nails all day, building a set of barracks for a company of Iraqi soldiers at a new combat outpost on the west side of town. The hot meal was a welcome break.

It could’ve been just like a construction site back home, except for the threat of sniper fire or the occasional mortar round.

“We’ve been here about two and half days,” said Staff Sgt. Jamie Horton, 34, of Richland, Mo. “We’ve got about another day and a half before we finish.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=53175