Halo tournaments console U.S. soldiers in Iraq

Most people around the around have spent Christmas with their families and loved ones, but it was a different story for the soldiers who were assigned in Baghdad.

Lonely and pining for the company of their loved ones, the soldiers helped ease their homesickness by holding Halo tournaments, apart from making the usual phone calls to their respective homes.

Aside from knocking themselves out in playing Bungie Studios' hit franchise, the soldiers were also visited by a four-piece brass band on Christmas Eve, rousing sleeping soldiers and entertaining those who were assigned as roof guard.

The soldiers, who were also given a treat by letting them become beta testers for Halo 3, truly deserve a break for working hard outside their home country.