It’s five in the morning, and I am in a tent with twenty snoring technicians. If the sounds of helicopters thundering overhead all night, mixed with sporadic gunfire didn’t remind me how far away from home I am, the speakers blaring traditional Muslim call to prayer certainly made the point.

For the past six years, World Wrestling Entertainment has packed up a ring and an entire TV studio and shipped it overseas to entertain the troops for the holiday season. I have been a part of the technical production crew on all six Tribute to the Troops shows.

In the past six years, much in Iraq has changed. For instance, cell phones did not work at all the first year, but now, they do – sometimes. This year, the tent the production crew is staying in has a wireless internet