JVB Hotel on Camp Victory

Last week my friend, John, and I went on a tour of the JVB hotel on Camp Victory. One of the troops from Oregon runs this very special hotel. It caters to very special guests. The Vice president, chief of staff and others, just to name a few.

Fellow soldier Brian gave us the behind the scenes tour,

which was very impressive.

Behind these impressive front doors, which John helped relate their size, is a very nice building. I expected it to be dripping with gold and so over the top that I would think it ugly.

It was nice to see that I was wrong.

It is a lesson in craftmanship and cutting corners.

This is the inside of that very impressive door and shows both ends of the spectrum. The door is completely hand carved with some very impressive details. It is hard to show them all with a point and shoot camera. At the top of the doors in the circles are Saddam Hussein's initials. Above the door in what looks like stained glass are just painted images on the glass.
This window is on the other side of the lobby

and the designs are all cut from metal.

This light is atop of the lobby. The designs are very well done. They started with wood carvings, then plaster layed over them. While still wet they painted the designs. This way the paint was taken up by the plaster and the colors go all the way through the material. The 8 sided stars are the symbols of Saddam's party symbol. The light on the other hand is plastic. None of the chandlers in the place are made of crystal. They are all made of plastic and glass.

The next 3 pictures show some more of the great carvings that can be found here.

I am very impressed by the workmanship.

Below are the chairs that Saddam and Dan Rather

sat in for Saddam's last interview to the world.

I wonder how it would feel to sit in them?

Pretty good! Strange sense of history.

They were actually sized well for me and John.

Not anything I would have in my house or my CHU though.

This is the view looking the other direction from the chairs.

A few nights ago we were hitting golf balls

from the deck into the lake.

This came from one of Saddam's childhood friends. The story is that he would give Saddam presents, but that they would also contain information about girls he would give him as well. According to some of the terps the bottom of this vase has the name, address and phone number of one of those girls.

Helps remind us of the animal he was.

A little kitchenette off the last room.

Used now by movie stars and congressmen.

Just a little plain area to eat. The table is amazing!!

This is another dining room or conference room in the hotel.

We had our first meeting here for the hand off with Texas.

Here is the dinning hall for our guys. Not bad.

They eat the same food,

for the most part that we do at our chow hall,

but it sure looks a lot better here!

The following 3 paintings are from EPW's that

are kept on another part of the complex.

They were given the chance to develop

hobbies to focus there energy and rehab

from their former choices in life.

Very simple to me, but seem to have a feeling of peace

Haven't seen anything that looks like this here yet.

What is a hotel without rooms? Now this is a room!

This is the room that only a selected few get.

The president, vice president, army chief of staff

and a few others. It is about 25x25 feet.

If you only have 1 star on your shoulder you only get this room.

Pretty simple and almost feels small. It is a round room and

doesn't even have its own bathroom. The other amenities are a

TV and fridge. That's it. If you don't have a star

you get a room with bunk beds that sleeps about 14. RHIP!

I do love the woodwork though.

All of this is nice and looks pretty on the inside,

but outside we are still at war.

Two days ago Oregon TF Stetson lost 2 soldiers,

a child's father and a parent lost a son, to a road side bomb.

Please remember them in your prayers and

hope that no one else will be

receiving that news while we are here!

It was a day of little sleep and great pain.

I miss you all and look forward to being home again

to spend the rest of my life at peace.