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BAGHDAD, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Christmas Eve, late afternoon, and U.S. soldiers from 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment piled into their Stryker armoured vehicles for a patrol out on the streets of Baghdad.
This is the fifth Christmas that U.S. troops have been out in Iraq, and commanders say the best way to keep morale up is to keep moving.
There are special dinners, packages from home, religious services and decorations around camp, but no let-up in patrols.
"My personal goal would be to try to go ahead and keep the mission constant," said Ray Ramsey, who has spent 23 years in the army and his third Christmas in Iraq, looking after about 100 men as the first sergeant of a Stryker troop.
"We want to recognise it, go ahead and acknowledge it and wish everybody a Merry Christmas. But if you make too much of it you give them probably an opportunity to dwell on where they're not and what they're not having right now," he said. [...]
The 4th Squadron received a flood of goodwill packages this Christmas from friends and family of a soldier who was killed.
The squadron chaplain, Captain Bryan Smith, was giving out the gifts by opening up a Christmas Eve "store" where everything is free. He said he had given out Xbox controllers and portable CD players as well as soft-drinks and snacks.
Presents from home keep soldiers' spirits up, he said.
"You get the blues around Christmas time," he said.
"When they get boxes from home like that, they say: 'Hey, my family is thinking about me' and it gives them that touch, just like they're at home still."
[...]