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Sunday, March 26, 2006
Movie theater a popular hangout for soldiers
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Curtis Compton/AJC
Sfc. Melvin Reese, 38, Thomson, Ga., enjoys a bowl of Baskin Robbins ice cream as he enters the Sustainer Theatre for the opening of the movie Larry The Cable Guy: Health Inspector.
Balad, Iraq — Sgt. 1st Class Melvin Reese sat on a red vinyl and chrome couch and dug into his pecan ice cream. He was waiting on his friend to show up for the premiere of “Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector. ”
In the halls of the Sustainer Theater, people milled about before the show. Some stopped at the concession stands — ice-cream, soft drinks, candy, cookies and even Subway sandwiches. The green marble tiles in the theater were spotless; big heavy red drapes flowed from the ceilings to the floor and crystal chandeliers dangled from the balcony level.
“This is nicer than the theater we have in Thomson,” said Reese, 38, comparing the 750-seat movie theater at Camp Anaconda to the small one in his hometown in Georgia.
Reese, who serves in the 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Brigade based at Fort Sill, Okla., said the theater is a popular hangout for soldiers.
“I’d probably be going to talk to someone in mental health if I sat in my trailer all day,” Reese said. “This kind of helps keeps spirits up.”
The movie theater at Anaconda is well known among soldiers in Iraq. It’s the only one on an American base that has the look and feel of a theater back home. It even has a real marquee outside.
Inside, it’s hard to tell you’re on a military base in the war zone.
Manager Angel Santana, who runs the facility for AAFES, said all the movies are free. There are four shows on Fridays and three on other days. Recently, soldiers packed the halls to see “King Kong.”
“Larry the Cable Guy” opened here the same day it opened in theaters in the United States. Usually, it takes a few weeks for movies to make it to the war zone, but it beats watching pirated DVDs on a small computer screen.
“Life can drag on here,” Reese said. “This definitely helps the time go by.”
