CAMP SPEICHER (Iraq), Nov 8: US Lt-Col Mark Grabski has been busy on the computer over the past few weeks not to follow the history-making presidential election but to check on his dwindling savings.

“I had a list of icons, my favourites, the funds that are working with Thrift savings programme. Every single day, their rates were just collapsing,” said the officer posted at Camp Speicher, north of the Iraqi capital.

“Virtually, I’ve lost right now tens of thousand of dollars,” said the 31-year-old who is in charge of criminal inspections of the base.

Grabski said a third of his salary goes into Thrift, an additional pension scheme for US civil servants and soldiers. “I’ve lost 30 per cent of my savings in this programme due to the financial crisis.” Army pensions are meant to pay out 50 per cent of the salary of soldiers with 20 years of service and 75 per cent for 30 years, but many rely on the Thrift programme to further secure their retirement.

Camp Speicher has been abuzz with the latest grim statistics of the crisis, often overshadowing the election campaign which resulted in Barack Obama’s triumph as America’s first black president-elect.

The crisis back home has dealt a blow to combat troops who have had to endure dangerous patrols and firefights in the dusty alleys of Tikrit, former hometown of Saddam Hussein.

The impact of the financial crisis on the savings and pensions of US troops in Iraq is difficult to estimate. But it has spared neither the young recruits nor the veterans nearing retirement.

“We’ve been encouraging young recruits to invest their money in that (Thrift) programme. When you arrive in Kuwait, before coming to Iraq, it is actually one of the first papers you are given,” said Grabski.

For Major Daniel Meyers, who works with the US military’s central command for northern Iraq, the losses have been limited to about $3,100.—AFP