SALEM — Sgt. Cody D. Adamson is glad to be home with his wife and baby daughter.

He missed them terribly while he served in Iraq with the 1457th Engineer Combat Battalion.

But he's also pretty happy to be home to America, "the land of convenience, real beds and porcelain flush toilets."

"I spent the last year living on a cot in a tent," Adamson said. "I really like being back in a real bed. And flush porcelain toilets, that's something else you don't have there.

"Plus, you can just walk around from the bathroom to the kitchen and living room and back in your bare feet. You don't walk anywhere barefoot over there."

"He got up the other night to go get something from the fridge and put his flip-flops on. I said, 'Why are you doing that?' and he said, 'Habit, I guess.' " said Kami Adamson, his wife, who is pretty happy herself these days.

Cody and Kami were married just four months before Adamson was called up. She was three months pregnant when he left.

Their baby, Alyssa, was born in August 2003 while Adamson checked in and kept track of the birth from thousands of miles away.

He's watched Alyssa grow via e-mail attachments and sound clips.

"I was home on leave in October and met her in person at seven weeks," Adamson said. "She's crawling now, (at 9 months) she's a busy little girl."

"I've been 15 months away from home," Adamson said, scooping Alyssa into his lap. "I wouldn't want to go back again. I'm so ready to settle into a routine. I'm craving just a normal, stable life where I wake up and go to work every day."

Adamson's routine took a military turn when his unit was called up. Up until then, he'd been going to school at the University of Utah and working at Camp Williams for the Army National Guard.

He was taken aback, but not surprised, to find himself suddenly taken out of the classroom and transported to Kuwait and then Baghdad for a mercilessly hot, dry summer.

"You could kind of see the storm brewing. There was really little doubt that we would be in for an invasion of Iraq," Adamson said.

The Engineer Combat Battalion's job was to do whatever was needed: improve the living conditions for soldiers, keep the routes clear, sweep the roads of bombs.

"We built bridges and blew up bridges. We laid mines and blew up mines. We were known as the 911 squad. If you need something, you call us. When the U.N. building was bombed, we were there," Adamson said.

In Iraq, he missed the comforts of home including being able to putter around a kitchen.

He missed his mother's chicken fajitas and spinach salad. He missed ice cream.