The New York Times has an article on how modern technology allows soldiers to stay up-to-date, on everything from news to pop culture. Highlights:
Personal CD players, MP3's, portable DVD movie systems, satellite dishes and laptop computers with Internet access . . . have had a potent impact on the military, ending its monopoly over the supply of news and entertainment for American troops serving in a foreign land whose borders include a language barrier. . . .
At the Kirkush Military Training Base in the eastern Iraqi desert . . . [publicly broadcast] songs came from a European satellite music channel and a communal computer where 12.8 gigabites of tunes had been downloaded for sharing on MP3's. The rule was simple: Take some music, add some music.
"Any time anybody on the team gets a new CD, they load it in, so we stay pretty current," said Sgt. Thomas R. Mena. . . .
Hollywood's hottest films are here on the local markets, usually illegally. "If a movie has been out in a theater for a week, you can get it here," said Specialist Michael Trujillo with the 819th Military Police Company.