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


A Few Words From Bob:
1) I have been very disturbed about the whining and complaining that I am hearing in the news the past couple of days from the soldiers and wives of the 3rd Infantry Division. I know they are tired and want to come home. I hope they all get home real soon.
However, by going out to the media showing their low morale, disrespect, and lack of trust in our military chain of command, they are aiding and abetting the enemy. I hope that our 4ID family members and soldiers know that when our enemies around the world hear this complaining, they will think we are weak and not resolved to do whatever is required to stamp out terrorism in our world.
We must come across as a strong people, willing to do whatever is required in this global war on terror. The message conveyed on the news yesterday and today and in a late hitting AP story that will probably be in tomorrow's papers was by a very small minority, but the ones who got the publicity. It was not a message of a strong Army and a people with a strong will to win, regardless of what it takes.
We all have a right to complain - but it should be kept to family and friends and support groups, not broadcast through the media for the entire world to see.
No response is required, either to agree or disagree with me. I truly believe that "Loose Lips Sink Ships" and any soldier or family member who talks negatively to the press about low morale, what our military is being asked to do, and our leadership is playing into the hands of the enemy. Again, as my favorite philosopher Forrest Gump says, "And that's all I'm going to say about that."
2) Today I visited Fort Leavenworth, Kansas with two friends. A retired Army Colonel, former CO of 1-22, 4ID in Vietnam, showed another friend and me around the historic post. I saw the Buffalo Soldier statue and monument that pays tribute to the 10th Cavalry - a great work of art. I also knocked on the door of LTG Scott Wallace, most recent CG of V Corps in Iraq, past CG of 4ID at Fort Hood (where I first met him), and now CG of Fort Leavenworth. Unfortunately he was not home so I didn't get to shake his hand and tell him how proud I am of him for the great job he did in leading our troops in Iraq.
If you ever get a chance to visit the Kansas City area, Fort Leavenworth is a very worthwhile side trip to spend a half day touring. The museum has great exhibits of the frontier days of America. And virtually every Army officer with the rank of LTC or above has served time at Fort Leavenworth while attending Command and General Staff College.
What Our Families Are Hearing From Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) I saw the message from soldiers about the air conditioning. I was recently asked to check into a air conditioner by my husband and the request came from the SSG in charge of his unit. My husband is the squad leader. I checked into AAFES but they don't ship those kind of things to APO/FPO. Their prices also included shipping. I checked Wal-Mart.com. Their website says they don't ship oversized products to APO/FPO. But it didn't really say what is considered oversized. So I called and explained what I was trying to do. I got an air conditioner from Wal-Mart that they are shipping over there for less than any I found at AAFES even with shipping added. So if they have a generator, they may be able to get an air conditioner. I know they were wanting something to cool the tent. Anyway, that's just my general information to pass along to you. Wife of SGT in D Company, 204th FSB supporting 3/16 FA (Ed Note: I would be sure you have a place and electricity for an air conditioner before sending one unannounced - especially in Infantry and Armor and Cav units that tend to move around a lot).
2) we did receive a call at 5am today from our son in 2-8 Infantry.. He sounds great and said he was now at Headquarters and was driving for the CO. He said he has also been put in charge of the room they keep the chemical gear in. He said it was 115 degrees, but that wasn't hot to him anymore. He said he was in Bahgdad yesterday and was at one of Hussain's palaces. He seems to be doing well, says he even has his own room now, with the possiblity of air conditioning and water. It was a treasure to hear his voice, I hope to hear more from him, but he says he's working 18 hour days and doesn't have a lot of time to write or anything else. I continue to pray for all over there.
3) Our son is with HHC 14th ENG BN from Fort Lewis and attached to 4th ID. We received letter #3 on July 12, postmarked June 22. He said he received one letter from us a week after it was mailed, so mail going to him is moving well. Boxes arriving OK, but slower than letters; really appreciates snack type items. He has sort of customized his Humvee and flies an Iraqi ejection seat leader parachute from the antenna. The whole description reminded me of the old TV series with Lee Marvin..."Rat Patrol", excepting that is no movie set. He really uses the wet sock trick on his water bottle to keep it somewhat cool. Thanks to whoever posted that idea on this listserver (we passed it on in a letter). The heat seems to be his main discomfort but he's getting two showers a week under a 5 gal. can with holes punched in it. It doesn't get any better than that! We also received our first phone call (3 minute) on July 14. Voice sounded strong, clear and confident about what they are doing.
4) I heard from my son, he's a medic, 4th In, 1/22. I sent him some playing cards in one of the packages I mailed to him. Some of the guys were using his cards one day. Well, I guess he went outside to have a cigarette, just then one of the guys called him over to give him his cards back. Just as he walked away from the spot he was in, a grenade was thrown right where he was standing. He said everyone hit the ground. He now calls them his "lucky" cards. If not for them, he might not be so lucky! He now thanks me very much for sending them. Of course, I asked him to tell me what was going on with him, so he had to say, "This is why I don't like to tell you things Mom, I know right now your going crazy!" He's right, I am! It seems to be all about luck over there now and that has me VERY worried about all of them.
5) My husband is in 978th MP from Ft. Bliss, TX. Our daughter received a letter from him last week which perfectly illustrates the need for our troops in Iraq. He wrote, "Yesterday an Iraqi kid about 16 walked up to me. He was pretty brave because my weapon was basically pointed right in his face (I was not sure if he was a good guy or not). While I was pointing it at him, he handed me an Iraqi coin, grabbed my hand and shook it and said to me, 'Thank you and the Americans for everything. We like free.'" Does it get any better than that?
6) My daughter is a medic with HHT 1/10 Cav. She can't tell me where they are, but said north, north Iraq. In her latest letter (postmarked 6/20, received 7/11), she mentioned they treated what she termed 'her first real patients' (not scrapes & bruises this time.) She called a couple of times, and unfortunately, I missed her calls. However she is a good letter writer, so I hear from her about every two weeks because I get a couple of letters at a time.
7) Just letting you know I heard from my hubby again, B 1/44 ADA. He sent a letter, which was waiting for me when I returned home from a trip to NJ. (It was much needed after a stressful trip!!) In it he told me he wants me to do something for my 21st birthday. Hire a babysitter, go out and get my nails done, go tanning, and then go shopping. 5 outfits head to toe were his instructions. I wrote back with a modified version, since I don't want to tan or get my nails done right now, but promised him I'd do it. (What woman refuses her husband telling her to shop?!) It was cute because he told me how much I am supposed to spend, and it had to be all on me, not him, the kids, or anything else. LOL, I think he's feeling guilty for being away and unable to help with the kids. Other than that the letter was just mushy stuff, and a bit about possibly moving. He didn't date the letter but it was postmarked 24 June...... Then I got an email today, again all mushy stuff, but you know it brought a smile to my face. He's still in Tikrit as far as I know, and seems to be in good spirits, but homesick of course. He said a certain higher up who he doesn't get along with is jealous because of all the mail he receives, so keep it coming. In the email he asked for the usual, food, cigs, drink mixes, and me, if I could fit in the box. LOL.
8) For the 4 Eng wife who's husband is missing baby's "firsts"-I got a mini cassette recorder ($25, Walmart) for my husband before he left & we bought one for the house. My husband was able to hear our unborn baby's heartbeat the last time he called because of this little recorder. You'll be able to tape all those special things for Daddy & he won't feel so far away from his little one.
9) GOOD MORNING AMERICA!!!!! I RECEIVED A WONDERFUL PHONE CALL @ 1:25 A.M. EST LAST NIGHT,FROM MY SON.1 LT PLATOON LEADER FROM B COMPANY 588TH EN OUT OF FT. HOOD. I HEARD JUNE 10 VIA E-MAIL THE FIRST TIME. BUT TO HEAR HIS VOICE WAS A TRULY GRAND THING!!! HIS COMPANY IS A & O ( ASSAULT & OBSTACLE) I WASN'T THRILLED TO HEAR THAT.EVERYONE IS FINE NO INJURED. THEY ARE VERY BUSY WITH RAIDS DAILY. THEY ARE IN BA'QUBAH 30 MILES NE OF BADGAH.SOME OF THE SOLDIERS INCLUDING MY SON HAVE HAD STOMACH DISTRESS ,DUE TO BAD ICE AND PROBABLY LOCAL FOOD. OUR TEN MINUTE CALL WAS REALLY ABOUT FOUR MINUTES DUE TO THE BAD CONNECTION,AND BEING CUT OFF.HE CALLED BACK 2X . I WAS ABLE TO TELL HIM HOW PROUD I WAS OF HIM AND THAT I LOVED HIM,THAT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT TO ME. HE SOUNDED GOOD AND UPBEAT.
10) My son is with the 2 Bde -101st Airborne and located south of Mosul. Just wanted to share that I got several requests from my son for water balloons. He said after all we have to have some fun around here, and it is so damn hot. After several requests, I finally broke down and sent him 200 water balloons. I got an email from him yesterday. He was so thankful. He said "a good time was had by all!" Said they went through almost the entire 200 in the first night. Doesn't take much to give them a little happiness so far away. I also got pictures. He is so thin that I didn't recognize him. Guess I need to send more food. (Ed Note: Great idea - even I haven't outgrown having fun throwing water balloons. And, remember, the 4ID has worked closely with 101st in WWII and in Vietnam on occasion - part of the big Army family, glad to have this mom in our group, keep sending the good ideas).
11) On Sunday July 6th I got a phone call from my husband. He is with 4th ID 3rd BDT HHC 1/8. He said that they were doing good . Thurday July 10th was my 21st birthday so I was so hoping for a phone call. Well, I did not get one of those but I got a dozen red roses. My card said NEAR OR FAR I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU. OF course I cried then I tried to put the pieces together on how he had them sent to me. He has no credit card over there. I asked his mom and she swore to me that she had nothing to do with it. I was still confused although very happy. Well, on Saturday the 12th I recieved my 3rd phone call. I said thank you for the roses but how did you do it. He played it off by saying what are you talking about. Then he tried to tell me that the Iraqis must of sent them to me. I did let him talk to his mom and she asked him how he did it. He used his phone time instead of calling me to call the flower shop and he told him that he would pay for them when he returned. I am still amazed. Enough of the mussy stuff. He seemed to be doing pretty well. He is in a location where there is an a/c and there is a gym. All he requsted was more bug spray and Copenhagen. (Ed Note: That's my kind of soldier - always thinking about the love of his life and how to make her smile/cry).
12) I am a mother of a 19 yr. old 'new' National Guardsman with the 223rd Combat Engineer Battalion out of West Point, MS. He is with B Company located out of Calhoun City, MS. My son joined in Sept. of 2002 and after his training completed in March (and we had him home 4 days), he joined the 223rd in KY. The 223rd had 650 members to be deployed to Iraq on 4/12/03 from Ft. Campbell, KY. I'm sure I am like others in that I am new at this 'military stuff', and I have discovered 'I don't like it!' . I miss my son (my baby) very much. Don't know if I have this correct, but what I understand is that the 223rd is attached to the Triple Nickel, who is attached to the 4th ID?? I do know that he (B company) is in Baqubah where, I think, the 4th ID, 2nd Brigade is. The rest of the 223rd is in Tikrit. I am very proud of our National Guard and the part they are doing in this war, but I am also very thankful for the 4th ID that are keeping my son safe as possible. I have been reading the info on your site and it's very interesting and informative. For the past 3 weeks, he has been able to call on Friday for 10 minutes, which is the most precious 10 minutes I have each week. He told a story of young Iraqi girls staring at him and one saying "Mista, Mista, you're beautiful" and running off. They returned with a rose for him. I read on your site of a similar 'flower' story, and hoping my son saved the rose as well. He was able to go to Baghdad airport and see Kid Rock and others. I worry about them traveling the roads, though.
13) We got a call from our son (HHC/1-12 Ft. Carson) at 0600 this morning (Thursday). He sounded less tired than last time, so is hopefully getting a little more sleep. If all goes according to schedule, his unit will finally get some A/C up and running in the next day or so. Even though the satellite phone connection had some problems, it was certainly comforting for all of us in the family to hear his voice. TIP FOR OTHERS: At first when the phone kept cutting in and out, both ends of the call started asking whether we were still connected. Later, when this happened again, we decided at our end that we did not want to waster the phone call talking about the connection, so just keep talking about other things. This worked well and we recommend others try it. Though we're sure he missed a lot of what we said, the continuous talking seemed to calm him by completely removing his anxiety about loss of connection. When we finally did lose the connection for good, a recorded message came on and we hung up to wait for the phone to ring again.
14) Bob for the wife who sends her husband many disposable cameras and hasn't gotten any back. Probably the reason is that he has nothing to send them back in. Wal Mart has a video mailer in the mailing materials section that just fits a camera for mailing back to the states. We have sent our grandson many cameras and we always send the mailers with them. I address them back to us to get developed and they arrive in good shape. It might be a good idea to send a roll of packaging tape to tape the ends. The first few I put postage on but they always came back marked free mail so now we just address them and send. Our grandson in with the 4th Eng Bn out of Fort Carson.
15) Thanks for printing what I sent you last night. I forgot to add one thing that you may want to mention. My daughter went through 2 CD players since arriving in Iraq in March. She requested that I send her another one. I bought her a Sony Sports CD Player (specifically made stronger and able to withstand shock a lot better, as well as water, etc.) I thought it just may work with the sand. When she called she told me that she did receive it and it's great and keeps the sand out really well. I did buy her a case for the CD Player and sent it to her for her birthday (which she hasn't received yet). Anyway, please feel free to mention this for an idea if you wish

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