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Historically, gambling has always been a part of the
military. From the Roman Legion to Genghis Khan and
his Mongol Hordes, soldiers have taken downtime from
ravaging Europe by playing games of dice and making
bets. The current US war in Iraq is no exception, and
poker is the game of choice at the front lines in the
desert.
The United States military has had a storied relationship
with poker, gambling and gambling paraphernalia. By
most accounts, the spread of poker across the country
came as a result of the game’s popularity amongst
troops during the Civil War – when the war ended,
battle- weary soldiers brought their new habit back
and so began the first ever Saturday night home games.
Subsequent conflicts (and the books and movies recounting
them) usually feature troops playing a hand or two of
poker to while away the hours between battles.
For years, the playing card itself has been a fixture
in the US military’s soldiering equipment. During
WWII, special decks were distributed to soldiers to
aid in navigation, enemy identification and signaling.
They even issued cards with maps of Germany sewn inside.
In Vietnam special ‘Death Cards’ (made famous
by Robert Duval’s surfing lieutenant colonel in
Apocalypse Now) were distributed as a psychological
operation to scare the highly superstitious Viet Cong.
And of course, the Iraq war has brought us the much
publicized ‘Deck of 52’ – trading
cards marking the most wanted men in Saddam’s
former regime. Make a royal flush and you’re holding
the entire Baath Party Command Council in your hand.
Though the US military has embraced the playing card,
they are far from sanctioning gambling within its ranks.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice has many references
to gambling and gaming, though for the most part, these
rules are either very general (referring to ‘ungentlemanly
conduct’) or very specific, such as Article 134,
which explicitly forbids gambling with a subordinate.
But as the old saying goes, sometimes rules are meant
to be broken.
Soldiers returning from the front of this war are reporting
that the poker explosion seen in the civilian media
has had a ripple effect in Iraq and Kuwait as well –
and not all of the games are abiding by the UCMJ rulebook.
Tim Johnson (not his real name) was a corporal in the
Marines, initially stationed in Kuwait, later operating
convoys across Iraq as the invasion began. Now holding
down the fort back home in Minnesota, Johnson reports
that for the most part, soldiers stick to the rules
or find subtle ways to skirt intricacies of the code.
Soldiers typically keep to games within their ranks,
and often go as far as playing with rocks for chips
to avoid the implication that they are really gambling.
Johnson says most games are relatively low stakes –
$5/$10 games being the house usual, not surprising when
you consider the average income of lower ranking GIs
is under $25,000 a year. As is the case for many casual
poker players, the games in Iraq are more about bonding,
camaraderie or simply passing the time.
But on a deeper level, Johnson explains that, for soldiers,
poker is a welcome distraction from the harsh realities
of war, and a way to stay mentally connected with their
civilian lives back home. “When we were playing
cards,” he tells us “it felt like I was
back home, playing with my buddies in Minnesota. It’s
like having a little piece of home with you no matter
where you are –
and in Iraq, every little bit of home helps.”
Unfortunately, the similarities to typical home games
end there. Cold beers and pizza don’t make the
menu in Iraq, so soldiers settle for MRE’s and
canteens, though Johnson once was able to get some “near
beer” for a game in Kuwait.
Sometimes, games in Iraq are more about what is added
to the game, rather than what’s missing. As US
soldiers have moved across the country, many have acquired
all sorts of interesting souvenirs, which in turn have
ended up in the pot of many a poker game. From Iraqi
uniforms to medals to pins, soldiers have been sweetening
the pot with trinkets rather than tokens.
In addition to table games, a number of soldiers also
play poker online. Military personnel in Iraq have more
access to electronic correspondence than ever before,
with many Communicating with family and friends via
email or instant messenger as much as once a day. This
access to the web has opened the door to all sorts of
web activities, including online gaming. That is, after
a little finagling, of course.
As Johnson explains, “If you are logging in through
the Army’s network, it can be tough to get to
a gaming site. But there are ways around it –
in my unit, one guy actually brought a satellite modem
to Iraq and networked a group of us so that there was
no military monitoring.”
There are other games – street craps being among
the bigger draw in the barracks. But poker seems to
be more universally played – and understood –
than rolling the bones. “I just could never make
sense of those craps games,” says Johnson. “The
guys playing have been playing for years and it just
flies by me – I’d rather just hang with
the guys and play a nice friendly
game of Hold‘em.”
As it turns out, the bonding experience that poker
brings to brothers-in-arms is a memento that soldiers
can bring home from the front. As Johnson explains,
“I actually played more in Iraq than I used to
at home. Now that I’m back, I’m playing
with my friends more and more.”
Even so, he has no plans to go back to playing with
pebbles for chips. “First chance I get, I’m
getting a first-class table for the basement, and a
mini-fridge stocked with cold beer. Even when it comes
to playing poker, it’s good to be home.”
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