Before deploying to Iraq Sfc. Mike Greer and his son went for a drive in Fort Carson, Colorado. Greer’s son pointed out the window and asked, “Dad, who’s that fat man on the scooter?”

Greer looked over to see Ssg. Nicodemus on his motor scooter. “Why that’s Ssg. Nicodemus. You know him.”

“Oh. Well, he’s still fat,” said Greer’s son.

Most people in the Army aren’t fat, but everyone isn’t exactly recruitment poster slim either. Ssg. Nicodemus is stocky, though his sheer size—about 1.9 meters—makes him seem even larger. Some truly fat soldiers have immense potbellies and seem to waddle rather than walk. These portly soldiers exist both in and outside of Iraq, but the increased comforts of base life in Iraq explain how some soldiers maintain an unhealthy girth.

Facilities for the first rotation of American soldiers in Iraq were extremely limited. Veterans of the 2003 invasion tell stories about living off Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) and sleeping in humvees for months until they finally settled into bases. Even on the bases, it took time to construct comfortable accommodations. At Forward Operating Base Paliowoda engineers created living quarters by carving trenches with bulldozers and covering them with tarps. Rudimentary living conditions like these have virtually disappeared from Iraq.

Among the many improvements, elaborate cafeterias soon developed on bases throughout Iraq. DFacs (Dining Facilities) or chow halls, as soldiers call them, are buffet-style with KBR employees or Army cooks (depending on the base) dishing out the main item. There’s no restriction on the amount of food people can take and servers are notorious for dishing out massive portions. It’s not uncommon to see soldiers with stacks of grilled cheese sandwiches or multiple hamburgers on their tray. Like a college cafeteria, DFacs seems to encourage or at least enable overeating.

Working through their piles of food, soldiers watch a basketball game, NASCAR race, or the latest news on one of the DFac’s televisions. At least one big screen television, usually complimented by several smaller television sets, adorns every DFac.

Bases have well-supplied gyms with weight machines and treadmills that the vast majority of soldiers use regularly. Many of their workouts emphasis weight and strength training over serious cardio training. Although a soldier may be quite muscular from these muscle-building exercises, he can still hang on to a noticeable amount of “baby fat.”

Given the often demanding work schedule and stress of deployment in Iraq soldiers usually aren’t required to workout like they would be in the States. So those who never cared much for working out avoid the gym, and before the summer heat causes everyone to sweat off extra weight they might even gain several kilos.

Lt. John Hintz often gives his driver Pfc. Ryan O’Connor a hard time about his aversion to exercise, but never forces him to visit the gym. Though O’Connor remains trim, this may be in large part because he’s a nineteen-year-old kid who still has an active metabolism. As might be expected, those who struggle the most with weight are soldiers nearing or already middle aged who, perhaps like O’Connor, thought their metabolism would stay strong forever.

The postal service has improved drastically since the early phases of the American occupation, which increases morale but may also increase pant size. Veterans of the initial invasion say packages sometimes took nearly a year to reach soldiers. Now, the mail system has developed so that mail from the States can reach Iraq within about a week.

Now, almost every soldier receives regular care packages, or at least an occasional box filled with their favorite snack foods. For those who don’t, and even for those who do there’s the seemingly never-ending supply of “Any Soldier” packages. The military promotes the “Any Soldier” program that allows people to send letters or care packages to soldiers at large. Virtually every soldier has a stash of junk food—chips, cookies, candy—to munch on during missions or while relaxing on base.

Apparently the Army has noticed some soldiers’ weight problem. Larger cafeterias place nutrition cards above each food item that indicate the amount of calories for the suggested serving-size. The 10th Combat Support Hospital provides a packet entitled “Operation Weight Loss.” It outlines a program similar to Weight Watchers, but instead of allowing participants a certain amount of points everyday it allows soldiers a certain amount of “bullets” (one bullet equals one-hundred calories) a day.

Still for some the Army remains a place that motivates them to get or stay fit. Before joining the Army, Sgt. Savor weighed nearly one hundred fifty kilograms. Since joining he lost over fifty kilograms. He shed so many kilos that he needed cosmetic surgery to remove over two kilograms of loose skin.

Still the Army has a noticeable segment of overweight people. Several Cavalry Scouts vent their distaste for the overweight sergeant who unnecessarily stayed in the humvee during a dangerous mission. One scout wonders what the sergeant has to live for, pointing out that he’s unmarried and has little life outside the Army. Another agrees adding, “Man, that guys got nothing to lose but weight.”