Marines’ Operation Scrubdown

U.S. Marine chemical warfare experts have adapted some gear to provide a little luxury -- showers -- for war-weary troops camped out in Baghdad.

With fears of an attack by chemical or biological weapons subsiding, Marine specialists have turned pipes designed to wash down contaminated tanks into an outdoor shower room, giving troops their first shower in almost a month.

Jets of warm water spurt from overhead pipes in a polythene tent, giving eight Marines at a time one minute to get wet, one minute to soap themselves and one minute to rinse.

Germ warfare officers have mixed feelings about the Iraq war: They’re frustrated that they didn’t get a chance to test their training, but they’re relieved that their comrades were never “slimed.”

“Everybody’s always going to be disappointed that they didn’t get in the big game,” said Chief Warrant Officer Mike Golliher, a nuclear, chemical and biological weapons specialist who helped rig up the showers near Baghdad’s Martyrs’ Monument.

“We’re like that 911 force you dial in case of emergency, but it’s good that we didn’t get used,” he said at the facility, which was set up to wash Marines of the 1st Tank Battalion, camped in a car park.

“Everybody’s liking it,” Golliher said.

“It’s just a little morale booster I guess.”