Fobbits populate every military base in Iraq. Most bases are FOBs, Forward Operating Bases, which troops pronounce as a word that sounds like “faub.” Fobbits derive their name from hobbits, mythical, human-like creatures with furry feet created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Lord of the Rings series. Like their namesake, fobbits never leave their shire, the FOB. Fobbits are “soldiers” who fill support and supply jobs pushing papers or checking IDs at the cafeteria. Combat soldiers acknowledge fobbits have a purpose within America’s military endeavors, but few would admit to making eye contact with a fobbit.

Support jobs often put fobbits in close proximity to high-ranking officers, which means faster promotions. A private first-class became a fobbit after his combat unit decided his ineptitude could endanger people’s lives. He started working on the FOB around several high-ranking people, and soon he was promoted from private-first class to corporal. Normally, someone goes from private first-class to specialist, then after a year or so they become a corporal.

PFCs in his old combat unit still waiting for their specialist felt increasingly bitter. Pfc. Roberts, who is expecting his first child in April, lamented that he needed the promotion and subsequent pay raise to buy diapers. Another soldier scoffed at the new corporal after the combat unit talked about a housing raid in front of him, “Hearing us talk about that raid is the most action he’s ever had.”

Combat soldiers spit when they say fobbit. You get the impression that just saying the word degrades them. Fobbits create unnecessary rules that complicate everyone’s lives.

Until recently soldiers were required to wear a Kevlar helmet whenever they walked around the base. The rule struck the vast majority of combat soldiers as ridiculous. In a mortar attack a Kevlar helmet would do little to protect you, though soldiers joke you’d look nice for your funeral. The helmet mainly serves as a nuisance. Sgt. Joseph Garcia blamed aging officers’ insecurities about baldness.

In truth the rule existed to remind fobbits that they were in a war. “This isn’t Fort Carson (Colorado),” explained Maj. Mike Humphreys, a public affairs officer. “You’re wearing a Kevlar because you’re in a combat zone.” Humphreys was asked to create a poster that told fobbits to think of their “friends” outside the base when they put on their helmet.

When the rule’s origin is explained to Sgt. Jesse Trumpore, he shakes his head in disappoint, but says it makes sense. He explains that for a fobbit who works in the fuel depot or another fobbit job, going back and forth from work to his hooch he could easily forget about the war outside.

Everyone on the FOB, combat solider or fobbit, lives in a CHU, containerized housing unit. CHUs are climate-controlled, aluminum trailers that generally house two people. Unlike traditional military barracks, CHUs add an element of privacy to military life. With faux wood or linoleum floors, beds with mattress, and soldiers’ decorations CHUs feel more like college dorms than military housing.

Most CHUs are more or less the same, but a stereotypical fobbit will garnish his CHU with needless electronic gadgets. Virtually every CHU has at least one television and a video game system regardless of who inhabits it. Infantry soldier SSG Bracha, however, creates a distinction between amenities and excess when his fobbit roommate buys a Play Station in addition to their X-Box. As a fobbit, Bracha surmises his roommate has little to do other than spend money and master new video game systems.

FOB life ensures that fobbits have ample opportunities to spend money. On smaller FOBs, like FOB Gabe, which houses 1-68 CAB home to Stalker and White Platoon, there are at least two “Hajji Shops.” Local Iraqis fill them with snack food, pirated movies, speakers, stereos, cigarettes, video game systems, and other knick-knacks.

While it’s difficult for fobbits to indulge in wild spending sprees in Hajji Shops, larger FOBs, like Anaconda in Balad have a Burger King, Pizza Hut, beauty saloon, tailor, a bazaar, and a large PX, a general store present on US military bases worldwide. Soldiers can buy jewelry, laptops, or a Whopper value meal. One photo store even offers soldiers the opportunity to have their photo superimposed on a major magazine cover. On a fake cover of Time soldiers, presumably fobbits, can pose in front of burning vehicles and firing helicopters as they mock performing CPR.

Though combat soldiers happily patronize these shops too, they like view a trip to the PX or Burger King as a reward. Lt. Ted Goldner, a former special forces soldier, says that his combat soldiers would happily live off MREs and one hot meal a day if they could live on detached base and actively conduct missions. In the cafeteria, a fobbit became livid when Mexican food made the menu for the third time that week.

Underneath any rivalry between combat soldiers and fobbits, there’s an undercurrent of pity. Combat soldiers love their jobs; they like exploring and taking risks, if for no other reason because it makes their time in Iraq go by faster.