LETTING OFF STEAM

Those Soldiers south of here who have just returned from Iraq are acting like, well, Soldiers who have just returned from a war zone.

Troops joked about their blood samples — many of them have been partying each night since their return.

“I’m hung over and had about three hours of sleep,” said Spc. Ethan Coder, who added that the mandatory training was “like a wedge that doesn’t fit.”

Soldiers talked about how one soldier already was charged with driving under the influence. A couple of fights broke out in the barracks, but nothing serious.

Pfc. Eric Schrobilgen, 19, of Dubuque, Iowa, sported a small shiner near his right eye, but could not figure out how he got it. His first night back, he drank vodka and some beers. Sometime later he fell in the woods on post, possibly the cause of his injury. He slept most of the next day and was feeling fine, he said.

Female soldiers joined the partying, but had to fend off advances from fellow troops, said Pfc. Amanda Jackson, 19, of Roanoke, Va., who stayed up all night at her barracks in nearby Grafenwöhr. At one point she cried, she said, because her boyfriend in Vilseck had not come to see her. But she joined in and drank some wine.