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Seeking R and R in Qatar

Orly Halpern

JULY 19, 2008

Four soldiers in Qatar

(Orly Halpern)

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In the old days, U.S. soldiers stationed abroad would be let loose for a few days to let off steam. Many would find their relaxation in the brothels and bars of the country where they were stationed. But that's not the case in Middle Eastern combat zones. Not only does the U.S. military completely prohibit alcohol, but soldiers never leave their base for fun because they could be targeted anywhere.

So in 2004, the U.S. Central Command set up an R&R--rest and recuperation--program inside a military base in the peaceful Arab country of Qatar, off the Persian Gulf. The goal is to give soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines a short break, without taking them out of the Middle East. Since its inception, more than 150,000 soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and Djibouti have flown in for a four-day pass.

But isn't a military vacation an oxymoron? What can U.S. servicemen and women do to have fun if they are still on an Army base in the middle of a conservative Muslim country? Orly Halpern flew to Camp As-Sayliyah in the Persian Gulf and spent four days with the men and women to find out.

Day 1:

From the outside, it's a big beige warehouse and it blends in with the other military buildings on this U.S. base in the desert of Qatar. But walk through the door, and you're in the Oasis Club--one of the hot spots here in Camp As-Sayliyah. People are playing pool, dancing, lining up to order beer. It seems like any bar in America. Except for a few details.

"All right, this is the last call," the DJ says over loud speakers. "Last call for alcohol, the last call. You've got 40 minutes."

What? It's only 11 pm, and already last call? And soldiers are only allowed three drinks a night?

"I had two beers and one wine," John Vasquez tells me while standing glassy-eyed and glum on the edge of the dance floor. Vasquez is a tall soldier with a shaved head from East LA, who is fresh off duty in Baghdad. It's his first day of R&R and, like a lot of the soldiers here, he's not ready to stop drinking yet.

"I decided on the wine because I've been real stressed out lately at work in Baghdad going out on patrols," says Vasquez "and the wine is extra strong. It's extra strong."

Alcohol is one of the main attractions on these R&R passes, because drinking is forbidden on most U.S. military bases in the Middle East. But since these soldiers haven't had a drop in many months, their tolerance is low--so the military sets limits. That's not sitting well with Vasquez. He says he's not buzzed enough yet to forget the stress of the job he goes back to in four days.

"This is my second tour here," Vasquez says, his voice heavy. "I was supposed to get out in November of '07 and as you can see, I'm here in Qatar. They stopped my contract and started it again, so I have to do another extra year and a half. All I want to do is get out. That's my whole focus, to help out Americans, rather than Iraqis. Cuz they're still blowing us up. What's the point? You know what I mean?"

The Army's recent stop-loss policy has kept Vasquez in Iraq much longer than he expected. He thinks that's why his commanders let him go on this short vacation, even though four-day passes are hard to come by.

Of course, finding ways to relax battle-weary soldiers is not a new challenge for the military. What's new is how organized the military has become in their efforts.

"This is not your father's R&R," Col. David Cotter says resolutely as we talk in his office here at Camp As-Sayliyah. Col. Cotter is the commander of Area Support Group, basically the commander of the base. He says that in the past, R&R during wartime often meant a lot of booze and prostitutes. In 2004, the military tried a kinder, gentler approach, and created this R&R compound--a sort of military Club Med.

"Everyone remembers the R&R of the Vietnam era, when the soldiers would go to Thailand or Singapore," says Col. Cotter. "It enjoys a reputation of debauchery.

"Our intent is to get the soldiers out of the fight for four days at a time, give them a chance to relax, have a bunch of hot meals, hang out at the swimming pool, maybe see some of Doha, camel ride, that kind of thing. It's not an intent to recreate the Sodom and Gomorrah of the late 60s and early 70s."

Day 2:

Of course, the military doesn't specialize in fun and relaxation, but, since that's the task at hand, the people running this program work hard to achieve their objectives. The chow hall recently won an award for serving the most delicious food in the military. The base also provides top-notch facilities. Soldiers can work out at a state of the art gym, swim in the pool, play Dance Dance Revolution at the Top Off bar, eat a steak at Chili's, or see a film at the movie theatre.

"Here's the USO," says First Lieutenant Karly Mangen, head of the R&R program, as she shows me around some of the facilities. The USO is a "chill-out room" with deep sofas, donated by the United Service Organizations.

"It's open from nine in the morning til five in the morning," says Mangen. "They take their shoes off and put them in the bins here. It's a no-shoes zone. You can read books, put your feet up."

And to complete the family-room effect, there are even a few furry dogs hanging around.

"That's the military search dog," Mangens says, correcting me. "They're doing training."

Soldiers are encouraged to let their hair down here. Sometimes quite literally. I run into one female soldier in the ladies' bathroom brushing her waist-length brown hair. She tells me it's the first time she's worn it down in nine months.

Indeed, time at this R&R compound is all about the little things, explains some Air Force women I meet who are on leave from a base in Bagram, Afghanistan.

"We needed girl time," one tells me as five of us sat around a table at the Top Off Bar on base.

"To go shopping," pipes in another.

"Yeah!" they all agree.

"To sit in a room full of purses," says a tall servicewoman with long brown hair. "Like today we did nothing, but today was the best day. We slept in, we got our hair cut, she got her nails done, we just did what we wanted…and the showers are hot, not cold."

"You can shave both legs in the showers, without the hot water running out!" chimes in another and they all laugh in agreement.

On R&R the soldiers are in civilian clothes and don't wear a weapon.

"Oh yeah, the no weapon thing--it's like walking around naked!" said another airwoman.

And it's not just women who enjoy a little pampering. At the spa here on base, you can get a manicure, pedicure, massage and facial. When I visit, I find Sgt. Edmund Burkhalter, a 225-pound guy with about 30 tattoos.

"I'm getting a facial and a massage and…a pedicure and a manicure," he tells me.

On-duty, he serves in the freezing cold mountains of Kandahar, Afghanistan. But right now his feet are soaking in a tub of hot water and a Filipino woman is filing his fingernails.

"You can't tell anybody about the pedicure and the manicure though," he adds with a smile. "We're gonna keep that a secret."

Day 3:

One of the exciting parts of the R&R pass is the opportunity to go off base. Most soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan never leave base unless they are on a mission. Here, soldiers can go on organized sightseeing trips to state-of-the-art shopping malls in the nearby city of Doha, where besides going to their favorite stores, they can go ice-skating, take an boat ride in the indoor lake or slide down a giant ice-hill.

Or they can take a bus tour of the city. I go on one with about 30 servicewomen and men of all ages dressed in civilian clothes. We started out early in the morning and it goes something like this:

Tour guide (in a heavy Indian accent): "Good morning!"

Servicewomen and men (groggy but excited): "Good morning."

Tour guide: "OK, actually we are going to show you around downtown. Myself, you can call me Ram."

Servicewomen and men: "Ram."

Tour guide: "So let me highlight you the places we are going to visit. First of all we are going to visit animals market. Camel and mountain goats are there." That was a popular photo stop.

There are other fun trips off base each for about $35, like jet skiing in the sea followed by lunch on a boat, or having a barbecue and playing beach-volleyball on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Another popular trip is to an Iranian restaurant where you can eat Persian food and smoke apple-flavored tobacco from a water-pipe.

Most soldiers I meet are enjoying themselves. But some are disappointed, like Andreas Cramer von Clausbruch, a 44-year-old active-duty soldier serving in Iraq. Von Clausbruch is from Fort Polk, La., and has been in the military for more than 20 years. He tells me he preferred the freedom of the R&R passes of the past.

"It was a lot more, 'Okay, be back on a bus in a week, see ya' later, here's your hotel. That's it,'" says Von Clausbruch. "There's a lot more restrictions on being a soldier nowadays. I guess because a lot of people are too immature. Back then they cut you loose. You got in trouble, you dealt with it."

Von Clausbruch and I take the lunch at the beach tour together. There are about 30 of us and we are divided between about some six SUVs which drive us precariously over sand dunes to a quiet beach to relax and have grilled meat, rice, and salads. Von Clausbruch wants to drive the SUV himself, he wants to stay in a hotel, he wants to explore the country on his own. And he wanted his wife to visit. But that's not allowed. This R&R does not impress him.

"Okay, we do a little sightseeing," he says. "But we're in a warehouse, no hotel. Three drinks a day. Whoo hoo," he calls out sarcastically to the chuckles of the other R&R passengers.

"Why is it that we, the defenders of freedom, can't go out and have our fun?" he asks. "Once upon a time, there was the Dirty Dozen. Remember how they got their R&R before they went on their mission? They pulled up a truck full of women and wine. That was R&R."

Times have definitely changed. Now, ladies' bathrooms on the base have signs calling on soldiers to "Stand Up Against Sexual Assault."

Kurt Brinkley and Dave Sheets, a couple soldiers serving in Iraq who are here on R&R, tell me over lunch on the beach that sometimes violence breaks out over the attention of a servicewoman here.

"There was a guy killed here last month that got in a fight with another guy over a woman," says Brinkley. "So the other guy stabbed him."

He looks around him on the beach and waves towards a female servicewoman in a bikini. "As you notice there's only three or four chicks and 20 guys," he says, as he bites into a grilled chicken leg. "The testosterone raises very high."

The Army says that it was an accidental death. But First Lieutenant Mangen, the head of the R&R program, acknowledges that women have complained about too much attention.

"We do get comment cards, and a lot of girls say it does kind of suck being a female here because there's a lot of guys," she says. "They like to crowd around."

Female soldiers are not allowed to go off base in the company of only one male. When I came here, a military official recommended that I wear loose sweatshirts--just to play it safe.

Day 4:

My last night of R&R. I go to the Top Off Club, on base. It's Friday night, karaoke night. Just as I'm leaving I see John Vasquez, the guy I met on the first day, who wasn't ready to stop drinking. I ask him if he ended up getting what he needed out of his R&R.

"I was feeling kinda like, man I wish I was at home doing this instead of feeling half-way buzzed and not being able to get another beer," he remembers. "But as the days went on it's been all right, you know. I haven't really been looking to get all too drunk, or nothing."

In Vasquez's brief break from the mortars and the road mines of a war zone, he has had a chance to think about what he wants to do with his life once he returns home.

"I want to be a sheriff and all that stuff," he says, "but my real--like--I want to be a screenplay writer or an actor. But, that's dreamin' high instead of low, baby. Dreamin' high instead of low. We'll see what happens. Must make it through this tour."

Vasquez heads back to Baghdad tomorrow.

"I feel depressed right now 'cuz I know I'm leaving tomorrow," he says. "I guess my friends back over there need me. Gotta help them. We'll see how that goes. ... Gotta do my job. Bring everybody home. That's all I can do for now."

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