I'm So Sorry

While there are far worse perils that our soldiers face, they do have my sympathies for this hardship that will befall our troops as our stay in Iraq is scheduled to end:

Bases in Iraq, such as Balad, now feature dining halls lined with smoothie stands and omelet bars. Food courts including Subway, Green Beans coffee and McDonald’s sit near the air-conditioned huts many soldiers live in.

“This generation of soldiers is used to some pretty high living,” said Brig. Gen. Mark Corson, head of the 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command. “This is the best-fed Army on the planet. I don’t eat this well at home.”

But the comforts are all on the way out. Corson said soldiers will be exclusively eating Meals, Ready to Eat by November.

MREs? The horror.

Not that the so-called "high living" is really a luxury for troops in the thick of it. But Iraq is a much more peaceful place for our troops than it was even a few years ago, so it is a good trade off, I'd say. Still, not too many troops in Iraq those last months will consider those pouches of mixed luck to be a peace dividend.