In the lead up to the Iraq war, the 20-year-old private believed he would be working the radios in a control centre for the 101st Airborne Division as Apache attack helicopters struck targets deep inside enemy lines.

Instead the qualified radio transmitter operator found himself washing dishes, building portable toilets and wondering what he was doing in Iraq.

"I still don't know what my job is ... building shitters and that's about it," Washington said with a bemused smile on Monday.

"I'm frustrated ... I want to be doing my job in the TOC (tactical operations centre) on the radio."

As frontline troops push ever deeper into Baghdad, Washington is one of seemingly thousands of US soldiers elsewhere in Iraq who have either gotten lost in the massive army machine or are being forced to fight boredom because their skills have not been required.

Specialist Mercy Boutte is a cook who for the first 40 days of her deployment to Kuwait and Iraq has not cooked.

"I thought I'd be cooking every day but it hasn't happened," Boutte said.

"(Instead) we have been pulling guard duty in the mornings and afternoons. Other than that we have been going a little stir-crazy because we didn't have anything to do."

Boutte's skills were not needed in Kuwait because the army hired local people to do the food duties and, since crossing into Iraq, soldiers have been eating their ready-to-eat military rations.

However, Monday brought Boutte relief with a delivery of chicken and vegetables and a call from her bosses that she would be required to cook an evening meal.

"I'm feeling pretty good right now, I've actually got something to do," she said as she set up the mobile kitchen.

Specialist Jose Llanos-banda, an aircraft mechanic, is another soldier frustrated with his mission in Iraq after being seconded to be the driver for one of the aviation brigade's top brass.

"I would have thought bullets would be flying over my head and me shooting back," Llanos-banda said when asked what he had hoped to see in the war.

"It's great for them (the 3rd Infantry Division) to get to Baghdad first. I wish I was there."

Llanos-banda, 27, said he spent most of the day sitting idle, reading whatever newspapers he can find and listening to his collection of 1980s pop music.

"I like Wham, Duran Duran, the Clash. I'm a big '80s fan," he said, smiling for the first time in the interview.

For others, the boredom comes with the job and the knowledge that the battle could be only minutes away.

Sergeant Chad Stackpole is one of the army's elite "Pathfinders" who jumps out of Black Hawk helicopters and into enemy lines to rescue other soldiers.

He is highly trained in emergency medical treatment and close combat, yet he too has been forced to remain on the sidelines since the war began.

"Everyone wants to get in the fight but we can only get into the fight if an American pilot goes down and he is injured so it works both ways," Stackpole said.

"Our mission is to be on standby until an aircraft goes down."

The aviation brigade's assistant logistician, Major Joe Crocitto, acknowledged boredom was widespread among the soldiers behind the frontlines, but said this was inevitable.

"Warfare is days of boredom punctuated by seconds of sheer terror and chaos," Crocitto said.

SPACE.WIRE