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

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What Our Families Are Hearing From Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) I got a letter today and a roll of film I went and developed at the one hour photo as soon as I got it out of the mail box. It was from my dear nephew who is with the the 4thid 1-8 Infantry(MECH) out of Fort Carson. The pictures were great of my nephew and his buddies. A few scenery picture with one where you can hardly see because of the sand storm. The letter was written July 8th at 14:09 hrs, Balad, Iraq. He thanked me and his Grandma for the package he just received and said "Thank you for the Kool-Aid, (I'm so tired of hot water)." He said that when they were on one of their missions that is was so hot 140 degrees. This country is one big sauna. He said keep writing and misses and loves us all. He is one soldier that won't lack for mail. Last but not least on his HUMMWV that he drives is a sign in red, white and blue that says: AMERICA TOUGH ENOUGH TO GET IT DONE. That's my nephew and his buddies! Everyone take care and God Bless Our Troops.
2) JUST PASSING WORD ABOUT NEWS FROM MY HUBBY (4TH ID 3BCT HHC 1-8IN) HE CALLED TO SAY THAT HE HAS BEEN ON AND OFF MISSIONS. HE SAYS ALSO THAT IT IS VERY HOT BUT CONDITIONS ARE BETTER FOR THEM NOW WITH COOL AIR IN THEIR CONNEX. THEY ALSO STARTED P.T. (physical training) BY RUNNING ON TOP OF THE CONNEXES. HE SEEMED TO BE IN GOOD SPIRITS DESPITE AN ESTIMATED LONG DEPARTURE DATE. HE LOOKS FORWARD TO GETTING LETTERS AND NEWS AND PACKAGES FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS, ESPECIALLY PICTURES! WE HAVE RECEIVED MANY LETTERS AND SOUVENIRS FROM HIM SUCH AS SOAP WRAPPERS, SODA AND WATER BOTTLE WRAPPERS AND PICTURES OF THE PALACES; GREAT MOMENTOS FOR A LITTLE PIECE OF HISTORY.
3) I got a phone call at 2am this morning from my Hubby (he is tasked out from 4th MP co at Hood to 4th MP Co 3rd Platoon at Carson). It was really short & he sounded so tired. He said he was in Tikrit to "pick up some papers" & got to take pictures of one of the palaces. I asked if he was ok & he said yes though I felt like he was either exhausted or not feeling right about something. I also got a letter in the mail from him today. It took 9 days from the post marked date. I think that must be pretty good. He asked for his green Army laundry bag because they have a laundry facility.
4) I heard from my son who is with B/1-10 Cav. He and his unit are located somewhere along the Iraq/Iran border helping to train Iraqi civilians to be border patrol. They now have some plumbing, electricity, and a TV/DVD player, so they have some amusement/down time. I'm happy about that. He seems fine except he said he has lost 15 pounds since he's been there, which is not particulary good for him, as he was skin and bones before he left. He said they will be in their present location until they have trained as many Iraqi's as possible in that area; then they will move on (hopefully south, toward Kuwait, and then home). He asked for phone cards and his favorite shampoo. He also asked for us to keep sending packages--he said he gets more packages than anyone else where he's at, and everyone is jealous. But he takes what he needs and sits the boxes out for everyone to pick from. That is the intention of all those who send him boxes--that he will share. I am very proud of my soldier boy. His grandpa was a tank driver in WWII, and now my son drives a Bradley, which was exactly why he joined the army. He has always been a patriot; now we, as his parents, are called on to be patriots, too, to support him in all his endeavors, to support our country in all its efforts to keep us safe and free.
5) We talked to our girl! 4:30 this morning! 4th/704th/B CO! All is fine, a close call recently but she has her angels! Said she had received some packages, one that had a poem and a Mickey Mouse beanie baby in it (she loves Mickey). So I asked her if I needed to stop sending things like that and she replied NO!!!! I love it! I put them in baggies and they hang above her cot and she keeps our family picture that we sent to her on her at all times! We had a wonderful 15 min. and were cut off. Naturally being a mother I got mad, hyisterical, and all of the above and more because I had not said my final I LOVE YOU! Well she must have felt the same way and the phone rang again and she had told them that she had no warning before being cutoff so they let her call back for another 5 minutes! ...... My girl is hanging in there and is doing her job along with the rest of our soldiers. She told me that they were aware of them not coming home until March/April of next year. So the order of goods started again! No problem! That's the least I can do for my Love! Thanks for all the wonderful shared ideas out there Moms, Dads, Wives ETC.! God bless your soldiers and your family.
6) I wanted to let you know some news on my son. We had a call last night from someone from Ft. Hood. She let us know he would be back at Ft. Hood either August 4th or 5th. HOOOOOAH. He has probably already left Iraq and is in Kuwait. Funny thing is, we received a letter from him yesterday dated July 13 talking about his hope of leaving Iraq by August 1. The young lady left a phone number with us and told us to call back on Sunday and she would have an update. My feet have not touched the ground yet. When my son does return to the US, I will continue to read your updates and support the troops. My son has made some life long friends during this experience many who remain in Iraq. God Bless our Troops.
(Ed Note: Just so as not to confuse anyone, some soldiers are coming home now since the "stop loss" order has been lifted. Primarily the ones coming home are the ones who are scheduled to get out of the Army (ETS - Estimated Time of Separation) which for some has been extended past their original date due to the stop loss that went into effect late last year or early this year. Other soldiers not scheduled to ETS will continue to serve their 12 month tour in Iraq).
7) My son called last night and for the first time we got to talk for several minutes. He is in the 1-8 Inf. B-Co out of Fort Carson. The most important requests were for phone cards and guitar strings. It's a great comfort to hear his voice and know the men are doing their best in a tough situation. Keep praying, as that is always needed.
8) In response to the woman who sent her son the pillow and pillow cases. I had already done that except that on one of the pillow cases I printed out on iron-on fabric paper pictures of our 5-month old, pictures of our wedding, and pictures of our family and friends. I talked to him yesterday and he told me that he had received it. He absolutely loved it!! I had sent two pillow cases so he used the plain one to cover his pillow and hung up the picture one on his wall locker so as not to ruin it. The project was fun to do and didn't take but 1-2 days to complete. (No unit given)
9) I got a much anticipated letter from my son, B Co, 299 Eng Bn, currently in Tikrit..He's very grateful for all the boxes I send...He told me about one night he and some others were guarding some sort of fence line when they saw a man running away in the night..Well they made chase after him, and as they drove (not sure what the track is specifically since he's not a tanker) by a bunker, it exploded...he described a massive explosion and his words were "We hauled a** out of there as debris was hitting us all over our track". His CO was in another vehicle close to them and they took off after the man and saw there were 2 of them, they jumped in a pick up truck and they drove off quickly in the dark...turned their headlights off...TO which my son said they called in Apaches that are assigned to their area..with the night vision equipment they picked them up almost immediately..My son said he could hear in the distance another explosion and then over the radio, he heard "Target distroyed"...He gave much praise to the "dirty birds"....I hope that's a term of endearment.. The CO explained later that it was a trap..the one they saw running was bait to get them to give chase and drive by that bunker when it exploded and by the grace of God, my son wasn't hurt...
On a much lighter note, as my son was writing this letter, he described where and what he was doing..He was with his new good buddy from Puerto Rico, and they were outside shaving...He said his buddy was standing there in nothing but his underwear and boots, shaving and he was sitting there with a cigarette in his mouth, shaving slowly, writing, and talking to his buddy all at the same...and he commented, that he just started laughing and laughing cause the scene in his mind was hysterical...His buddy was confused as to what was so funny, and he told him, "Look at us"...then they both just exploded in laughter again! I'm sure it's a picture he'll keep in his mind forever...I'm so happy he's still laughing...God Bless you son..and your buddy in his underwear and boots.
10) I was at work today when my receptionist intercomed me to tell me my brother was on the phone!!!!! He just got moved from A-3/29FA to HHB-3/29FA. So he is now in the desert. That kind of bummed him out because he was in a place with lots of trees and shade. He has made new friends and says they have been really nice and welcoming to him. He was able to use the sattelite phone for about 10 mintutes and even though we were disconnected twice, I was able to find out that he's getting his packages now within 2 weeks. He has asked me to start sending packages and writing to one of his best friends because he does not have much family and barely gets any mail. I told my brother I adopted a soldier so he knew I would not mind doing this for his friend. He told him that I would, and his buddy got pretty excited to know he'll soon be getting stuff from us. My brother said he will be able to call us on his birthday, too. Their birthdays are an exception for them to make extra calls. He also said that "they caught the #3 guy on the backlist yesterday" I told him I thought # 3 was one og the Hussein brothers, but ne says since they are dead, it's now Saddam,Chemical Ali, then this other guy they got. I'm assuming he was talking about the bodyguard, bu I'm not sure if HHB3-29 FA is attched to the guys we saw on TV. No matter, because I told him we are proud of each and everyone of them and that all of their jobs are important and dangerous. He did say keep the mail coming, that's what he looks forward to the most!

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