Barnes Blog
Coming into the military from the atmosphere of a liberal arts college—Burnett was class president at William & Mary—has been a bit of an adjustment.
"I have had my run-ins with military authority," she says. "I have been critical and analytical by nature. And if I think there are better ways of doing things, I like to say so. But after a while you learn to accept what you cannot change."
Now Burnett is focused on doing her work, finding edible vegetarian fare in the chow hall, and learning as much as she can.
"You really can see what the country looks like and how the people live," she says. And of course she has also found that parts of the experience are forcing her to rethink some long-held positions. "I consider myself a pacifist," she says. "But now I have been hit by an IED and shot at by a sniper."
Burnett has an additional 11 months in her tour in Iraq and another year of service after that. "Hopefully, I will get a cushy [Army] radio job," she says. "What do you do after serving in Iraq? I guess I will start studying for the LSATs."
Saturday 12/03
Of fobbits and CHUs
Soldiers in Iraq still refer to their homes as hooches—a term from the Vietnam War—but a new word for the slightly fancier quarters of Iraq is creeping into the military lexicon: CHU. Like many military terms, CHU is an acronym. It means Container Housing Unit. Though some soldiers are housed in old Iraqi military barracks, and a few unlucky ones are in tents, on most of the forward operating bases, or FOBs, Halliburton has set up rows and rows of air-conditioned trailers in which soldiers make their home.
The term FOB has produced its own bit of jargon. Fobbits are soldiers who spend all their time on the base. Indeed, the inaugural issue of the 101st Airborne Division's magazine for soldiers in Iraq defines Fobbit as "one who avoids traveling off the FOB at all costs." Despite the occasional derision of the infantry, or perhaps because of it, the Fobbits have a well-developed sense of humor. One group of 101st Fobbits has dubbed its cluster of CHUs the Shire.
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