[Adm.Lee]

Fobbit by David Abrams.

This is an attempt to be something like the Catch-22 of the Iraq War. It shifts between several characters, some good NCOs and some bad NCOs, some good officers and some (pathetic, really pathetic) officers, all in or around one of the big palace FOBs in Baghdad. It wasn't laugh-out-loud funny to me, but it had the feel of what I've read in memoirs. It felt both real and surreal to me.

The author was in the Public Affairs Office of an armored division around 2005, just like some of the characters.

One tiny bit that is sticking with me: some mystery over why troops get so many baby wipes in care packages. One FOBbit who has some can't figure it out why they keep showing up, what's he supposed to do with it? An infantryman who left his wife with a one-month-old at home takes one after rough patrols just to remind himself what a clean baby butt smells like. Then he sobs for an hour.