KEY POINTS:
If the Diggers have brought a tiny slice of Australia to the Iraq war, then the Americans have imported a whole cake, complete with red, white and blue icing.
The odd item of Australiana adorns the Downunder section of the coalition's military staging post in the Middle East.
There's a boxing kangaroo flag on the gate, Gallipoli recruiting posters on the walls and a signpost announcing Billabong Flats.
Staff working around the clock at Australia's military HQ in Baghdad might also be lucky enough to catch the odd AFL game on cable TV.
But the Americans, who face the gravest of dangers in Iraq as their death toll of over 3400 attests, seem to have transported their way of life.
But when they're not actually fighting, thousands of them can spend their down time watching new release movies, working out in gyms, dealing hands of Texas Hold 'Em, shooting hoops on their basketball courts, slugging homers on their baseball diamonds, surfing the net, fishing in Saddam Hussein's man-made lakes, and shopping for TVs.
Then there is eating. Major United States bases have a commercial fast food zone sprouting the familiar signs for KFC, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Subway and Hole-N-One doughnuts. Australians call it "Fat Alley".
American soldiers pay out of their own pockets to be upsized, even though they can get the same type of fast foods, as well as healthier alternatives, free of charge at a nearby mess hall known in military-speak as a Dfac, short for dining facility, though Aussies say the acronym stands for Deep Fried American Crap.
This is not entirely fair. It's true the mess halls offer a cornucopia from America's three major food groups - cake, chips and icecream - but they also provide a nutritious array of fruit, vegetables, salads, meats and cereals.
The US soldier's creed on the Dfac door concludes: "I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life." That clearly includes freedom of choice.
Breakfast, for example, can be Fruit Loops, bacon, eggs, hash browns, grits and muffins washed down with coffee.
Or muesli, whole grain toast, juice, yoghurt and fruit, with water to follow from the hundreds of thousands of bottles supplied daily by a Brisbane company to ward off dehydration.
Dfac etiquette is curious; the floor can be littered with M16 rifles, but woe betide anyone who forgets the no hat rule, or transgresses by pushing sunglasses up on his head or placing a cap on a table.
The Australians are grateful to share these facilities. Americans don't do things by half; witness their gigantic new embassy still under construction in Baghdad which dwarfs all that have gone before it anywhere. Its 21 buildings will cover 42ha and occupy fully 2km of Tigris River water frontage.
With surrounding walls 5m thick and a budgeted cost of US$592 million ($825 million), it signals that the Americans aren't about to leave any time soon.
American military camps in Baghdad's heavily fortified green zone in effect form a small US city of 15,000.
Fishing for huge carp hand-fed on breakfast scraps is one of many popular pastimes. Shopping is another eye-opener.
It takes place at a massive barn known as a "PX", and it looks like Walmart has opened a Baghdad branch.
Soldiers can buy everything from CDs and shaving cream to military apparel and US$3500 plasma-screen TVs. They can buy basketballs, footballs and baseball bats, as well as flags "Proudly made in USA" for US$17.49 apiece.
GIs now serve more than twice as long as Aussies, who serve six-month stints. They also face far greater risks.
So at the end of the day no one begrudges them a few creature comforts.
- AAP
