Active Unit News

What our families are hearing:
Bob Babcock - "Deeds not Words"
President, Americans Remembered, Inc. - http://www.americansremembered.org
President, 22nd Inf Regt Society - http://www.22ndinfantry.org
Past President/Historian - Nat'l 4th Inf Div Assn - http://www.4thinfantry.org
babcock224@aol.com


What Our Families are Hearing From Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) My husband is w/10th FSB C Co here at Fort Drum. He's in charge of the Ambulance Plt. He's leaving soon. Just about all of Drum is leaving. They were in Kosovo last year. He is looking forward to this deployment, he's a go getter, needs the excitement. He's an ex-Ranger. We've been serving for 19 yrs and 8 mos. My husband loves the army and the army has been good to us, no complaints here.
I e-mailed you yesterday that I missed my son's 1st call home, well @ 9:26pm NY time, the phone rang again & it was him. I cried so hard w/joy I could hardly talk. He doing fine he assured me, however he sounded very tired. He's also a field medic, just like his father. Said he would try to call again before his dad leaves so he can get his address. He is still living out of the back of his tank w/4 others and to slow down on the boxes. God bless and pls continue to pray for all our troops everywhere.
2) My boyfriend is with the HHC 64th CSG out of Ft. Hood. The last he wrote of his location he was at a secure airfield outside of Tikrit. I got an e-mail from him Sat. and he said that they have the capability to e-mail hopefully once a week. Today I received three letters..postmarked May 29, June 1 & 3. I was so excited. I have not talked to him in over 7 weeks, so all letters and e-mails are a blessing to receive. He said it got so hot at one point that the generator shut down, but they now have the "swamp cooler" hooked up (It's like an a/c), he said it's great..you don't wake up in a puddle of sweat. They have a laundry turn-in service going now. He volunteered to be in charge of it for his unit, and the surrounding attached units which makes up about 130 soldiers. From what I understand the other soldiers turn the laundry in to him and he brings it somewhere and it takes from 24-48 hrs. to complete, then he returns it back to the soldiers. He's in great spirits. He said "I'm doing very well, although I'm still in Iraq. haha". He's pretty home sick, but aren't they all? I want to thank everyone for giving information about their soldier. For those periods that we all go through of not hearing from our soldier, we cling to all the information we can. Hearing other people's stories along with lots of prayer and good friends we're given strength to carry on. God Bless America! God Bless OUR troops!
3) My Husband called Friday, collect. Where or how he was making the call is unknown to me. He is with 4ID 3-66 AR B company Out of Fort Hood. However we were cut off after only 2 minutes. The connection was horrible and I spent more time talking to the operator to approve the call! ( It forwards to my cell phone while I am out of the house so never to miss a call from him, that must have confused her or something.) ** Will be interesting to see how I am billed for the call but worth every penny. Though it was a very short call. It was wonderful to hear his voice and those 3 little words I love you! Mail is improving....
4) One of our readers reported that the solar battery charger that I mentioned in yesterday's update is also available from Sam's Wholesale Club and from Costco.
5) My son who is in 4ID 1-44 ADA Delta battery now, since leaving Bravo Bulldogs, called last night at 2:30 am. What a pleasant surprise! It was the third call since he left in March. He only had a few minutes, as it was a morale call which will be more frequent, now. Good thing. He was upbeat and spoke of the spiders and extreme heat. He feels so dirty all the time. He said, "Who would ever want to live here?" It was only 110, which a cool front for there. Dogs are pesky and bothersome and drop loads wherever and whenever. The Camel Devils and scorpions appear regularly. Yikes! He is very appreciative of all the packages. We send one a week and friends are also sending frequent supplies. My sister sent desert type towels to soak in cool water and wrap around their heads and necks. He gets something almost every day and shares with the others, which is the intended purpose. It is the least we can do to make life a little better for our soldiers.
6) I received 6 letters from my husband (dated 11May through 31May) yesterday followed up by a phone call at 5am this morning CST. He is with C-BTRY 1/17 FA from Ft. Sill, Ok. He said all is going well, the guys all pitched in to buy a satellite television so they are getting to watch FOXNews!! Really excited about that. Not much new, he has been ready to come home for some time now.....Says to keep the care packages coming. More bug spray and powdered gatorade were about the only things he requested other than pictures from home. He did tell me that they are starting to get hot meals more regularly - one each day for the past two days.
7) This is the second call we have received from our son. He is with C. Co. 2/8 Inf. 4th ID. He said they are still outside Jalawah and he is mostly pulling guard duty. It is still very hot and they don't have shower facilities yet so send lots of baby wipes. It was 3:00 AM EST and he only had 3 minutes but it was nice to have him call back. (I missed his first call at 11:30 AM EST while I was out shopping for things to send to him). I still have the "I love you mom and dad" on the answering machine and listen to it at least 10 times a day. My guess is it will never get erased. He said he will be able to call back in 2 weeks.
8) I got a real treat yesterday, a letter a phone call and an email from my husband who is with C CO 1-22 INF. He sounds good, he is getting most of the packages I send in about 2 to 2-1/2 weeks and the letter I got yesterday was only about 3 weeks old. He asked for lots of powdered drink mix, brown shirts, socks and coffee, he has a coffee press with him and I think he is probably the only soldier in his company who is drinking gourmet coffee, but it’s the little things that count! I want to thank you for your updates, it is good to read about other families who are hearing from their soldiers and I get a lot of good ideas on things to send my husband.
9) After missing 2 calls from our son, it was a shock when around 7:30pm last night, which I think is around 2:30am there, he was on the phone. He is with the 3-66 from Ft. Hood. He sounded really clear. He said they had just returned to base from "work" as he called it. He sounded good, asked for more beef jerky and no more lip balm, seems they have enough there to last a year according to him. They still are eating MRE's, no hot meals and working with rigged up showers, but everyone is delighted that they may be getting the Internet in a few weeks. Imagine wanting that over hot showers and real food!!! He said morale is so much better now that mail is getting through and that packages are taking less time than the letters because the mail is done in bulk. It was great to hear his voice. Oh, one last thing, send pillows, I did and it is a treasured item..so get one out in the mail everyone. (Ed Note: I can picture a big plane flying to Iraq full of pillows for 4ID soldiers - and they deserve them).
10) I received a phone call from my husband (C Co/2-8 IN 4ID) He was only able to talk for about 5 mins. It's been 2 weeks since his last call. He said that he borrowed the phone from another unit, unfortunately he still hasn't received all the packages that I had sent him on 2 May. But he is receiving mail in sporadic order....... He didn't say where he was at but will try to call again tomorrow after purchasing a phone card...........
11) This is my second time giving an update on my husband. He just called me about an hour ago.(4:30PM here in Fort Hood) I haven’t been able to stop smiling since I talked to him, so I thought I’d share some of our conversation. First off, he’s from C Co. 2-8 Inf. 2nd platoon. Right now his platoon is attached to 1-67th Armor as well as an artillery unit. He said they are staying in an abandoned hospital just north of Baghdad. They are supposed to get 15 minutes free every so often on a satellite phone, but that hasn’t been working out very well. Instead there is a First Sargent with a satellite phone, and he sells a 40 minute phone card for $50. That is how my husband was able to call me. And it was worth every penny. I am still in shock over how good he sounded on the phone. He seems to be doing very well. He honestly didn’t complain about anything. He said he has been getting swamped with my packages, and said that snacks are the only thing he should need me to send for a while. With this call he was able to talk to all 3 of our children, even our 11 month old baby girl. They all enjoyed that. I have never appreciated his sense of humor more than I do right now. I spent a good part of our call laughing as he cracked little jokes here and there. He assured me that right now they seem to be in a very secure, and non-hostile area. He said there has been very little gunfire. I am now a bit more at ease knowing he is okay. I won’t be completely at ease until we have him back home with us. He said that once he has a chance to access more cash, he is going to buy more time on the phone. So ladies, stay near the phone, you may just get a call. God bless all our soldiers, and please continue to pray for them every chance you get!!
12) Several poeple have heard from my son ,(Bravo Co 704th DSB 4ID, Ft. Hood) in the last two weeks. He is staying in Tikirit. He comments that "When Saddam dies and goes to where he deseves, he'll consider it an upgrade because it's hotter than hell in Iraq." The letters and packages are getting to him safely. He is staying at an unfinished palace. The soldiers' spirits are generally pretty upbeat, but they all long for the day they come home.
13) I rec'd a phone call early this morning (3 AM) from my boyfriend w/ the 4ID/1-10 Cav/ C Trp. He has been deployed since late March. I haven't been receiving any mail since his last letter in April, but he promises things are straightened out now. Said there was some sort of routing problem. He is currently on the border of Iraq and Iran. Has been receiving his mail and pkgs we have sent even up to 3 wks. ago. He's mostly asking for drink flavors and lots of snacks. "The MRE's are getting old..and I need something else to taste." All in all he had a good spirit..and luckily enough no major incidents. I just wanted to pass that along. It was great to hear his voice once again.
14) Finally 3 of us got letters from my son (B, 6-27FA, Fort Sill, OK)! His girlfriend got an audio tape, she said that there was allot of laughing and joking around in the back ground so they all sounded good. They remain at LSA Anaconda, north of Baghdad running convoys regularly. In his letter to me he joked about how the canned pineapple that he got was a great supplement to the MREs that they have been eating. States that they have one hot meal a day and yet the MREs are the better deal! They have purified water that he says is terrible so the reason for the powdered stuff. Wants batteries and more flavored cigars, he said the Vanilla ones that I sent were a great hit for the guys. More will be on the way this week, luckily we own a cigar shop!
15) I received a call from my husband today.....I'm still on cloud nine! My husband is with HHB 4-42 FA while at Ft. Hood but is currently attached to HHC 1-66 AR as part of the FSE in Samarra. He was in very good spirits because they were finally able to move into a building AND to top it off they now have a washer and dryer!! He and several of his soldiers pitched in and purchased an air conditioner (I have no idea how or where) but they were extremely excited! I was so happy to hear that some of the amenities I have read about have finally reached Samarra. He told me he would be able to call in a week or so because there is a phone he can use once a week as long as he pays $1.40 per minute......It is money well spent!! My husband informed me that the Battalion has a phone that the soldiers can use for free but the hours it is available don't always coincide with time off. He finally got his vehicle back after the mortar attack and he said it is as good as new. The rest of the conversation focused on our children and lovey dovey stuff.....What a great day!

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