Updates From Baghdad....

[suthnbelle]

Last, If you have some young kids, have them write a note or send a card addressed to "Any soldier."

I contacted my son's 3rd grade teacher this week and they will be writing letters to Joe and another friend in my dive group who is stationed in Afghanistan.

So Joe, watch out for letters from Mrs. Blee's class in Charlotte, NC. They are for you and your buddies.

 

[Gilldiver]

Catherine, do you want your Marine on the card list?

 

[Squalus]

If I was a cat, I would be down to 5 lives now, so far I have had an RPG fired at my truck and failed to hit it but, blew up beside it. A mortar round land 25 yards from me and hit a wall and blow up. A rocket hit the building next to mine in the middle of the night ok it was at 0255, nice alarm clock. Now an EFP yesterday failed to detonate when our truck passed it....really nice. I wish Chap was here to help me out (Marcie knows who I am referring too). Seriously to tell you the truth, if you think about all the PTSD cases we have is because the back to back deployments, now they want us to do 15 months straight, saying we will have 24 months down when we get back. My unit is the last one to get the $1k bonus for every month after 12. I don't think that is enough to cover for the hardships of being here and seeing your friends die. I have thought about it and with the urging of my family and few friends and it is time for me to retire. I could have before I left the great (ok not-so great state of Kansas) but, I felt that I should not desert my soldiers that I have trained all year. To me that would be like turning my back on them. So far I have not lost any of my soldiers and the day I do, will be the worst day of my life. I think being a leader in the service the biggest thing that lays on your shoulders is the burden of loosing one of your men on a deployment. Ok, off my soap box

 

[Cacia]

what card list?

I will post his address, hate to detract from the OP.

Jb does not need a thing...I have sent about 8 boxes this month, but he has 140 19 year olds and some of them have no-one. One guy comes to mind, he is an orphan from Nigeria named Bor-Bor and the other guys call him Bo-Bo. He never gets anything and is fighting with us and says he want to be a Marine forever. They all laugh at him, but he is dead serious....pretty touching.

is the burden of loosing one of your men on a deployment

...I hear that. Sounds like they are lucky to have you.

 

[H2Andy]

My unit is the last one to get the $1k bonus for every month after 12. I don't think that is enough to cover for the hardships of being here and seeing your friends die.

they could pay you one million dollars per month and that wouldn't be enough

(though it would buy some sweet dive gear back home)

 

[Squalus]

Well, I am back another black out........
Today, we had a nice wake up call to a large explossion, seems they did not like the local police department and blew it up. The majority of the violence here is between two religous sects, who like to try and sucker us into helping them out. Funny how the shiite do not appreciate all the effort we are trying to do here. They are no willing to take charge of their own destiny, always expecting us to hold thier hands in anything. There is never a dull day here, the other day had a policeman ram into one of our gun trucks as we were crossing the road. Unfortunately, he ended up with blunt force trauma to the chest and a few scrapes. Luckily the gunners did not light him up with a little M2 for charging into our convoy. They did get alot of chastising because, they are to stop any vehicle from trying to approach our convoys within a 100 meters. This is due to the VBIED threat and the constant threat of violence towards CF's.
If I could describe the way it is here, sorta like being in Tombstone with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday but with bigger guns. There is always a gunfight going on and we are the calvary who charge in to settle the dispute.
Other news, I put in my retirement paperwork today. The boss man did not like that I want to retire as soon as we get back. I think after 20 years, I have done my share of defending my country. This last year will be my hardest, just making it to another day is feat all to itself, then add the 27 lives that I am responsible for to it and it becomes like Atlas trying to hold up the world. At least we have a date to look foreward too and not have that uneasy feeling that we will be here longer than that.

 

[Missdirected]

Squalus, have you read Atlas Shrugged? Such a wonderfully inspiring book. One of my all time favorites. I am going to send it in my package. I have found tons of things just around my house like cd's, dvd's, and books. I will also go shopping. Heck I may as well as my local store managers what they have :ne_nau: Sometimes, many times, they will surprise you

20 years is a mighty long time. What do you dream of doing when you retire?

Squalus, would you like us to write back to you here on this thread or... I know I feel compelled to write but I also don't want you having to wade through posts every time you pop on. Please tell us what you would like.

Gratefully,

-MissD

 

[Squalus]

Squalus, have you read Atlas Shrugged? Such a wonderfully inspiring book. One of my all time favorites. I am going to send it in my package. I have found tons of things just around my house like cd's, dvd's, and books. I will also go shopping. Heck I may as well as my local store managers what they have :ne_nau: Sometimes, many times, they will surprise you

20 years is a mighty long time. What do you dream of doing when you retire?

Squalus, would you like us to write back to you here on this thread or... I know I feel compelled to write but I also don't want you having to wade through posts every time you pop on. Please tell us what you would like.

Gratefully,

-MissD

No, I do not mind if people write to me on here. Would be great if people did so, do not hesitate to write. I don't mind wading through the posts, it's fun. As far as retirement, I think I will go to college and get my Physcian's Assistant Certification done and maybe get back to getting my Scuba Instructor Certification as well.
Anything, that you all send is greatly appreciated we have been through some growing pains here and more to come as summer is upon us.

 

[CheddarChick]

So what would be the most important items, sunscreen, shoe inserts??? I know stuff is being collected as we speak...

 

[CheddarChick]

And can we ship batteries???