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Saturday, August 6, 2005
Soldiers manage to soak up some relief
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bita Honarvar/AJC
From left, Corp. Michael Lanham of Chicago, Spc. Tricia Frankewich of Macon and Spc. Steven Listwan of Addison, Ill., lounge in a kiddie pool as Pfc. Tracy Jacobson snaps a photo as a keepsake. “We get in the pool to relax after pulling long, hot, sweaty, 12-hour shifts,” Listwan said.
Camp Striker, Iraq - Like every other soldier here, Spc. Steve Listwan, a high school history teacher from Addison, Ill., asked his family to send him creature comforts from home.
“I told [my dad] we’re desperate; that we needed some recreation,” Listwan said.
His father went to a garage sale to pick up a few things and when Listwan opened his package from home a few days ago, out came a $2 swimming pool.
Yes, an inflatable swimming pool that comfortably holds four. Listwan said his wife threw in a few smoothie mixes to complete the party.
Listwan - a member of the 133rd Signal Battalion from Chicago, which is attached to the 48th Brigade Combat Team - tried filling up his new pool with 5-gallon jugs but that took almost two hours.
“It was more work than it was worth,” he said.
So Listwan and his friend, Cpl. Michael Lanham, a paramedic from Chicago, talked the driver of a water tanker into coming by to fill up their new pool.
And, voila. Pool party on a balmy Baghdad afternoon. Temperatures holding at 125 degrees.
“It’s like bath water,” said Spc. Tricia Frankewich, a homemaker from Macon who works in the brigade’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company.
“We’re working our butts off here,” Frankewich said. “We deserve a little relaxation.”
There is a swimming pool available for soldiers who are staying at the bases around the Baghdad International Airport, but it’s at Camp Liberty, which can sometimes take up to 90 minutes to reach by shuttle bus.
Listwan said he understood the concept of a 24-hour soldier. “I’d be up in a minute and in uniform if they needed me,” he said. But for now, he was ready to soak up a few rays.
Sunbathing in Baghdad? This is a place where not even SPF 70 can save you.
“I can take care of that,” Lanham piped in. “I’m a medic.”
To which Listwan, his skin rivaling the his red hair, responded: “Next, we’ll need a lifeguard.”
