CAMP RAMADI, Iraq -- Brief bursts of laughter erupt from a building here where Marines hang out and sleep. Off in the corner of a dimly-lit room, three Marines sit on green military cots around a corporal shuffling a deck of playing cards.
"Pick a card, any card," Cpl. Sam Heng instructs the three.
The training noncommissioned officer with Headquarters and Service Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, knows a couple of card tricks, which makes him popular among many of his fellow leathernecks.
"It helps pass the time when we aren't working," said the 22-year-old Cambodian from Seattle. "I like to show the other Marines because they can never figure out how I do them."
Heng does two different card tricks, both requiring some level of slight-of-hand. For his first card trick, he shuffles the deck several times and has a volunteer draw a single card. He then tells the holder what card they just drew, complete with its suit.
"I like watching him do the tricks," said Lance Cpl. Richard E. Beland, the battalion's 22-year-old mail clerk from Garner, N.C. "They are interesting to watch."
His second card trick, considered the most interesting, is where he makes the card "magically" jump. According to Heng, it usually draws the most attention from his fans.
"It took me some time to figure out how he does it, but I think I know now," said Lance Cpl. John R. Cruz, a rifleman with H&S Company. "He won't teach me how he makes the card jump or tell me the secret behind the trick. I think I've got it. I still need a lot more practice before I can do it myself, though."
For this trick, Heng pulls a card from the deck, shows it to his audience, then places it back in the middle of the deck. He then thumps the top of the deck with his finger and flips it over to reveal the exact card he drew. This usually causes onlookers to gasp in amazement and ask, "how did you do that?"
"He pulls two cards at a time when he shows us," said Cruz, 20, of Plainview, Texas. "That has to be how he does it. There's no other way. It would be impossible otherwise."
Heng said he taught himself the tricks on his first tour in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
"I was just messing around with the cards and taught myself."
Heng continued to hone his card trick skills during his second combat deployment to Iraq.
Now on his third deployment, he puts his self-taught skills to good use by entertaining Marines during their downtime.
"It's not anything special, but it helps pass the time."
Heng's unit - 1/5 - is in Iraq for the third time and is currently based out of Ar Ramadi conducting Security and Stabilization Operations and training the Iraqi Security Forces as part of their seven month deployed which began the first of March.