Troops get to relax for some Super viewing

AL ASAD, Iraq -- Marine Cpl. John Allegra, 21, was in Iraq last year and missed watching the Super Bowl because he was on duty.

He was not going to let it happen again -- not with his favorite team, the New England Patriots, pushing for the most perfect of seasons.

So Allegra and his buddies got to the recreation center at this massive air base early enough to get good seats in front of one of the five wide-screen televisions -- long before the kickoff, 2:30 a.m. today, Iraq time.

The rec center staff was waiting for Allegra and the others with hot wings, fries, sodas, miniature golf and prizes. With the Iraq war in its fifth year, the military has learned how to incorporate Super Sunday into the deployment.

“We’re trying to give them a place to relax, to watch the game, and relieve some of the stress of being here,” said Kelly Farnsworth, one of the rec center coordinators for the private firm KBR.

“We want them to be able to forget they’re in Iraq, if only for a small time.”

For most of the troops, this was not their first Super Bowl away from home. Lance Cpl. Jonathan Morales, 20, of San Antonio, joked that maybe his favorite team, the Dallas Cowboys, is waiting until he comes home to appear in the Super Bowl.

Patriots-Giants was the order of the day -- night, actually -- throughout the base. Multiple screens were showing the game at the largest of the dining facilities, known unofficially as the “mother of all chow halls.”

The 24-hour buses that shuttle troops had their radios turned to the game, even though many of the drivers come from countries where the NFL is not yet an obsession.

Because American Forces Network television is commercial-free, troops were not allowed to see the Super Bowl commercials that have become a symbol of American consumerism.

In their place were Department of Defense reminders about reenlisting, taking college credits and operational security -- although on-screen announcements noted that the commercials could later be seen on news and entertainment shows.

Many troops watched the game in their living quarters. A two-person room is about the size of a smallish college dormitory room and, for a price, can be equipped with cable television. Play-by-play could be heard wafting into the chilly night.

At the chapel at Camp Ripper, home to the Camp Pendleton-based Regimental Combat Team 5, the altar had been pushed aside so a television could take its place.

Prayers were replaced by shouted comments aimed at quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning.

“The Lord makes his house available for many uses,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Jim Connolly, the Catholic chaplain.

tony.perry@latimes.com