PHOENIX -- Fort Huachuca military commanders in southeastern Arizona have begun sending AWOL soldiers, like Lance Thompson, to Phoenix to serve their sentences at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Tent City.

ONLINE: Fort Huachuca Web Site

Thompson said more humiliating than the jail-issued pink underwear and stripes is cleaning the latrines.

"I realized the first day that I cleaned the toilets that I really messed up because I'm supposed to be a soldier out protecting people or helping people and I'm cleaning toilets," Thompson said.

The 18-year old Army Private went AWOL in March. After turning himself in five months later, Fort Huachuca commanders arranged for Thompson to serve his time at Arapio's outdoor installation.

"I'd rather be in Iraq than sitting here," Thompson said.

It's a punishment commanders hope will send a message to all soldiers. And, it comes with a dose of irony.

"Our men and women are living in tents in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they're not complaining," Arpaio said.

Arpaio has agreed to accept all Fort Huachuca soldiers convicted of being absent without leave.

On Tuesday, he led commanders on a Tent City tour to show them he's got plenty of room.

At Tent City, the temperature on the top bunk in each pod is 150 degrees. Meals given to inmates are worth 30 cents a day.

For at least one soldier who didn't show up for duty, being confined there is no picnic.

"I messed up and I'm hoping they'll give me a second chance," Thompson said.

According to a Fort Huachuca spokesperson, soldiers who go AWOL these days don't do it in protest of the war. More often than not, they said it's a young soldier just out of basic training who simply makes a bad decision.