The 302 troops that make up the Quisqueya Force, and who
have been training at a Spanish military facility, are about to embark on the
final leg of their journey to Iraq. According to El Caribe, they are prepared to
endure the homesickness that will hit them in the desert, far from their lush,
green land. Some soldiers are from the capital of Santo Domingo and others from
the South. Some soldiers wear flashy sunglasses that contrast sharply with their
olive-green and black camouflage uniforms. According to Marcelo Aparicio of APF
news agency, however, all are black or mulatto, as is the rest of the contingent
of soldiers from Central America training at the Alvarez de Castro de Sant
Climent Sescebedes military base in the province of Gerona in the Northeast of
Spain.
One officer explained to the reporter that there are several cooks among the
Dominican group, as he joked, ?It would be hard to keep order without rice and
pigeon peas or goat stew.? The unit also has its musician to keep the bachata
and merengue flowing in the desert.