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) I received 3 letters from my grandson yesterday. He is with the 1-17 FA from Ft Sill, Okla. He said he was fine, just hot over there. He is in Balad now, said it was pretty quiet right now.Said he had been to the PX the day before and able to get some things he wanted there. He said he would sure be glad to get home and we all go to Golden Corral and have our big breakfast on Saturday mornings. It's a routine thing all the family that can get together every Sat. morning for breakfast. We sure miss him but will make up for it when he gets home. He is getting his packages now and mail has improved both ways. He gets to call his wife here in Lawton offen, which we are very thankful for. Everyone keep praying for our troops safety and that they will be home soon. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.
2) Just had a nice 10-minute talk with our son who is 1-22, B Co., attached to 3-66 AR in Baji. This connection was clear, just some wind noise causing problems. He says they are scheduled to go to Tikrit in the near future for a short leave (I think he said 3-day leave). Right now they still don't have electricity, although he's heard they are scheduled to get a generator sometime soon. They are pulling patrols to enforce curfew, and standing guard at "the" gas station in town about once a week. He says the kids are great in town--the soldiers will give them some dinars to go buy them a soda, or the kids will bring sodas to the guys while they are standing guard and sell them. He also said that he's tried a couple of the food stands in town--one selling some "sandwiches" and the other some baked chicken--and both tasted GREAT. (Much better than the MREs they are still eating).
He asked for powdered drink mixes, canned meats (even Spam tastes good there, he says), and individually wrapped candies to give the kids. He also asked for books, although one of the other guy's parents are sending a series that Tim is reading, too.
The biggest problem is that he still isn't getting his packages--only one since he went in at the end of May. He said some guys drove down to Tikrit yesterday, and still no packages came back with them for him. We'll just have to keep sending, and praying they get through, I guess.
3) Our son is with 4ID, C troop, 1-10 unit from Fort Hood, TX. WE received 2 letters from him on Saturday. Says he has gotten about 18 of the 42 letters we have sent. We have them addressed, stamped and numbered on the back so he knows in what order we wrote them. They are going on night raids but not finding all of what they hoped for. He's had a couple close calls with the Iraqi "soldiers". He is on the Iran-Iraq border. Says it is 130 - 140* and very hot. He is learning some Kurdish from the people, they are friendly towards us and very thankful we are there.
He's adopted a little dog he's named Mad Max, after the movie. He loves that little dog and has been sharing some of the food we've been sending him. I've got a bag of dog food to send him now. He says that he has needed some time by himself and has been going off by his Bradley and playing Solitaire or Yahtzee alone, pretending he is playing with Mom. We played a lot of that when he was growing up and when he was home on leave. ......
He is still saying we are there for a good reason as you wouldn't believe the living conditions of the people. They've been involved in digging up the mass graves with has upset him by what they are finding. He has two nieces, ages 5 and 2 and they have found remains of small children around their ages. It makes him think of "his girls". It also makes him angry that we didn't go in there sooner and rid the country of Saddam and his party. In the time he has been there he has never mentioned we are there for WMD, but to free those people. That is their main goal as far as he is concerned. I have to agree with him.
All of us here just pray for a safe return and that we find Saddam and rid the world of his kind. We all want our loved ones home safe, sound and soon but they have an important job to do. At 24 he feels for the first time a sense of pride and purpose in his life. He's grown up a lot since being there. The biggest thing I have watched for his that he is keeping his sense of humor and he is. Thank you so much for the updates and for including what other families are hearing. I have gotten several ideas from them and are using them.
4) Our son, a Sgt with 2nd Plt, B Co, 2-8 in Baqubah, called last night. Woke us up but we never mind since it is so good to hear from him. The conversation was short and we had one disconnect. He had just stood down from a morter alert. Says they get these every night in his area. He was not as upbeat as he usually is.... He has been getting the packages we send a little faster it seems. Asked to send food like beefaroni, beef stew and anything that has meat and noodles of some sort. Also keep the gatorade coming since they use it up pretty fast. Has smoked or given away all the cigars I sent him. He had also called on his mother's birthday on the 15th. It really made her day. God bless to all of them and may they come home safe.
5) I received a phone call from my husband at 4:50 yesterday morning. He is in 3-67 Armor. He sounded all right and we didnt even get disconnected!! He said that he is getting my letters and packages and he even laughed which I took as a good sign. But he said that the phone cards I sent him we not very good. I sent him a 250 minute one and it only gave him 12 minutes. Does anyone know the best place to buy international calling cards? I got those ones at Sam's club but I wasn't sure if there was somewhere else I didn't know about.
6) My boyfriend is a 2LT in the 4th ID, 1-67 Armor, C Co. located in Baquabah. I rec'd a letter from him dated 10 July 03. He said that he's been guarding the local hospital and Camp Scunion perimeters. They've even had a stickball "World Series" tournament. It's been put on hold, though, because of missions........
7) Here's an E-Z and relatively inexpensive way for families to send books to their favorite soldier in Iraq. Go to www.half.com and enter the title of a book or author -- for popular books, you'll find dozens of new and used booksellers and private parties who are recycling their libraries. Each party prices the book according to its condition and what they think they need to get. Media rate postage at about $2.50 is often several times the cost of the book itself -- paperbacks by popular authors like Grisham, Clancy, McMurtry, Martini, Kellerman and Jakes can be had for $.75 - $1.00 in very good condition. If you buy multiple books from the same seller, the shipping drops to about $1.49 per extra book. You provide the APO mailing address and pay by credit card, the seller confirms the order and your order is on its way. It cost me about $20 to send 7 novels which will hopefully provide some diversion to my son and his buddies in B/1-22 after a hard night of raids, checkpoints, curfew enforcement, etc. in Bayji.
And thanks again for providing such a superb service to the many families who, like my wife (aka Grumpy Mom) and I, begin our day with our email updates from you, much of which I copy and send to our son also.
8) This is the first time that I have responded to these updates. Mostly because until now I guess I felt that I really didn't have anything news worthy to share. I wanted to share this experience with the rest of you because I find that what is being reported in the media doesn't portray all that is being accomplished in Iraq. Yesterday I received a camera from hy husband who is currently living outside of Baghdad in a gutted out hospital. He belongs to the 4thID, C Battery, 3-16 from Fort Hood, Texas. I ran and had the film developed. As I looked at the pictures on the way home (I couldn't even wait to get home), I saw several pictures that my husband had taken where he is standing or kneeling next to Iraqi children. There was one in particular where he is knelt down next to a beautful Iraqi girl that couldn't be much older than our daughter. She is smiling and the look on his face is no longer cold and hard, but young and innocent. A few weeks ago he sent me a letter, enclosed was a silver necklace with a silver heart pendant. In his letter he explains that as they drive through downtown Baghdad the children run along side the convoy throwing peace signs and waving. Often times my husband and his unit throw candy to them. One day as they rode through, a little girl caught my husband's eye and he got down from his vehicle to see if she wanted anything. She gave him this silver necklace. He sent it to me with strict instructions to keep it close to our hearts. I just wanted to share this experience with you all. It helps me to think that even out of all the violence and frustration that our soldiers are having these moments with the Iraqi people. Not only to boost their morale but to help them remember why it is they are there and to help them focus on the their overall mission.
9) I received a letter from my son on 7/22 that was dated 6/30/03. He is with the 4ID, 1-12, 3 BCT from Ft. Carson. He was writing the letter from a bunker and he said it was "hot-hot-hot". He did not state his location.
He reported that the tempo had picked up in the last week (remember the letter was written 6/30).
He reported that they hadn't had any mail in about a week or so as they are too far from the pickup point. He said the bugs remain ruthless; fleas, mosquitoes, flies, biting gnats, the works. He asked that we continue to send bug spray siting "Deep Woods Off" but that any kind would do.
He said he is doing OK and asked me to have a beer for him. I can tell from his letter that his spirit is good and he had previously said that he is proud to serve and do what he is doing.

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