Hawai'i soldiers have started to spot camel spiders, and a dead one found in a meeting room by Capt. Paul Agena, the commander of Company B, 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry at Camp Victory, northeast of Baghdad International Airport, became a conversation piece.

"The biggest we've seen is, oh, about this big, maybe about 7 inches," said Agena, holding two fingers apart.

The camel spiders do get to be about that big, but they are not venomous, and, as it turns out, are not technically spiders, but something called solifugids.

They possess fearsome-looking fangs, but National Geographic says those are to grab insects, invertebrates and small reptiles.

Warehouselike home

Home is where you make it, and for Hawai'i National Guard soldiers at Camp Victory in Iraq, it's in some interesting places.

Many soldiers live in a three-story concrete warehouselike building that is designated "51 Fox" — but has been nicknamed "Area 51."

The third floor is a warren of rooms with bunk beds separated by a lumber yard's worth of plywood for walls and doors.

The long, plywood hallways are dark at night, and library quiet day and night, because some soldiers work at night and sleep during the day.

"Everyone is working 12-hour shifts so we have to keep the noise down," said Sgt. Alex Bersamin, 52, from Maui.

With temperatures reaching the 120s and the long days, or nights, many soldiers just want to grab something to eat and crash.

Bersamin, a Department of Water Supply worker, has three roommates in their early 30s.

"I'm grandpa," he said jokingly.

In their "hooch," the four citizen soldiers have a 3-foot refrigerator, rice cookers, crock pots, a griddle and a small TV with a DVD player. Top bunks are used for personal-item storage, and ponchos or poncho liners are used to create some privacy on the bottom bunk.

"It's comfortable. We make it livable," said Bersamin, who is with Company D of the 2-299th.

It's about a half-mile walk past a bombed-out building with an Iraqi anti-aircraft gun inside, through a dusty field and past some temporary quarters tents to reach one of two dining facilities.

Less than a block away, the 2-299th's Headquarters and Headquarters Company soldiers live in another Iraqi-built building. The soldiers have similar living spaces, a weight room and TV room.

Agena occupies some slightly more upscale quarters in one of the dozens of palaces that Saddam Hussein built around some man-made ponds at what was the Al Faw palace complex.

Agena, 36, who is from 'Ewa Beach, bunks in a marble-floored and walled elevator waiting area on one of the upper floors.

The bathroom he and three of his men use has what looks like gold plating on the bases of toilets, faucets and towel racks.

On the grounds are fenced pens that once held lions and other animals. A lynx is reputed to still be in the vicinity.

"This place must have been beautiful in its prime," Agena said.

Soldier family

Just because Sgt. 1st Class Colbert Halemano is in Iraq doesn't mean he can't scold his kids.

It just takes e-mailing in and between war zones.

Halemano, 43, is the fire support noncommissioned officer for the 2-299th at Camp Victory. His son, Spc. Keoni Halemano, 21, is nearby in the International Zone, a heavily protected area of Baghdad.

Daughter Lehuani, 22, is in Kabul, Afghanistan. Brother Daniel, 41, also is in Afghanistan, and rounding out the war-fighting family is brother-in-law Gilbert Pascua, in Afghanistan, and a cousin in Balad, Iraq.

Colbert Halemano, who lives in 'Ewa Beach and works in campus security for Wai'anae High School, said his youngest son, Pono, 5, got mad at his sister in Afghanistan because she didn't e-mail back fast enough.

"So I e-mailed her and told her, 'Call home — your brother is mad at you,' " Colbert Halemano said.

Handy old habits

Old habits sometimes come in handy in Iraq, especially if you're with the Honolulu Police Department.

Capt. John Udani, 33, from Kapolei, commander of Company D of the 2-299th in Iraq and a patrol officer back home, has four other HPD officers in his unit.

It's about the biggest concentration of police officers of the approximately 35 in the 29th Brigade Combat Team on its deployment to Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Because there are security concerns with some radios, and out of habit, Udani sometimes uses police "10" codes.

For example, he can tell another officer in his company he'll give him a 10-2 for a 10-3, which means give him a call for a link-up destination.

One of his platoon leaders is Sgt. 1st Class Dennis Higa, another Hawai'i police officer.