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Kerry Barrett ReportingBecause of its central location and many facilities, the Balad Air Base is the central hub for all those coming and going to Iraq.
A lot of people spend a lot of time at the base. But, it's why the base has those luxuries that's interesting.
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It used to be Saddam's own Air Force Academy, if you will, and the training camp for his Olympic Team. It's another interesting side to Life at War.
Capt. Chris Vasquez/ 388th Fighter Pilot: "The best thing is, okay, we're at war. The sirens are going off, people are putting on body armour, and I can turn around and order a coffee from the Green Bean."
"It's an American push on the whole being at war thing."
It's a little slice of home for a lot of the men and women living half a world away.
Balad Air Base is co-located with Camp Anaconda about 40 miles north of Baghdad. It was taken by U.S. forces in 2003. And because it used to be one of Saddam's old stomping grounds, there are a few hard structures, meaning it offers a few more activities.
Lt. Isabella Stephens/ Deployed from Hill AFB: "My favorite service is the gym and there's actually an indoor pool which has been really fun and nice to go to. It's kind of like being in the States. You don't realize you're here until you walk back outside."
Although they never fully forget the danger, there are plenty of things to help keep them stay healthy and as happy as can be expected.
There are intramural sports teams, a computer lab, library internet cafe, and more than one gym that could easily rival any here in the States. A movie theatre that, because it's one of the large hard structures on base, also serves as a temporary respite from mortars.
The food is more than adequate.
Lt. Col. Peter Gersten/ 388th Fighter Pilot & 4th Fighter Squadron Commander: "I've been in locations where you'll eat out of a bag for months at a time. This is not a Meals Ready to Eat game plan."
There are several dining facilities on the base, each serving four meals. Many offer up nightly specials, such as Hungarian BBQ night, and seafood night.
Most of those working with the food are contracted in, from places like Asia and India. Aside from the hot food lines, there are short order cooks, a salad bar and of course a dessert bar.
If you still can't find what you're looking for, there are more than a few fast food pit stops to tame the munchies. Used to be people lost weight while at war. We're told it's far easier to gain here.
The living conditions are divided up into pods, each housing rows of trailers, usually two people to a trailer, affectionally known as "hootches".
This is not to say things are luxurious. There are still long trecks to porta-potties in the middle of the night, a thick smoke that settles over the entire base from the nearby burn pit, and of course the threat from the daily mortar attacks.
But as far as operational bases plunked down right in the middle of war zones, everyone agreed..
"Life in Balad is not as bad as we had anticipated."
There were 39 hardened aircraft shelters.
At the each end of the main runway are hardened aircraft shelters knowns as "trapezoids" or "Yugos" which were build by Yugoslavian contractors some time prior to 1985. They were obviously already there, so it made things easier as far as keeping the jets safe.
We took a little tour in one. There seemed to be a lot of little, secretive passages with small doors that lead into even smaller rooms. Interesting to see and more than a little creepy to think about who was walking those corridors prior to the military's arrival.
Coming up Wednesday on Eyewitness News Today, we'll look past the facilites to find out what life was really like for four months at Balad Air Base, daily routines, daily worries, and what goes on during "Life at War".
