A truckload of presents, ranging from candy canes to DVD players, await members of the 1st Division platoon, but in Iraq Christmas is just another day. There’s a 6-foot artificial tree outside the Baquba barracks, decked with smoke grenades and machine-gun ammunition for ornaments. Gag gifts are squirreled away among the crowded bunks. The gifts are from Americans back home who adopted the unit, the Christian Science Monitor said Friday. But, they will have to wait because at the platoon’s operating base, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day promise more forays to track down insurgents among the tense streets and palm groves of this Sunni region. “Really, it’s just another day of work for us,” said platoon leader Lt. T.J. Grider, a young West Point graduate from Chicago. “Days become meaningless over here.” © Copyright 2004 by United Press International

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