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:
Occasionally I feel like I need to explain a few things about these notes, so here is my first attempt:
1) I need your input - both from what you hear from your soldier and also from news articles that I might miss in my surfing of the web. If in doubt, send it to me and I'll make the decision whether to use what you send or not. Virtually everything I include is what I receive from the time an update goes out in the morning until the next one goes out the next morning. I seldom carry anything over from day to day (except for half of the weekly Gunner Gazette). The same applies to news clippings - I try to deal only with the most recent 24 hour period. Many of you ask about specific units - my searches are 4ID specific, seldom unit specific within 4ID. If you find unit specific information, please send it to me and I'll include it if I can.
2) I have two email addresses that I use - babcock224@aol.com and Iraqnews4ID@aol.com. They are interchangeable so feel free to send notes to either one of them. I spend more time on babcock224@aol.com, so if it is urgent, that's the best address to use.
What Our Families are Hearing From Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) It's about 1 am central time (July 8) and I just got a call from my husband!! He's in Bravo Troop 1-10 Cav out of Ft. Hood. It had been about two weeks since I heard from him, so it was really good to hear his voice again. He said they're doing fine, where they are at is safe (as far as Iraq goes) and they're still pretty much in the middle of nowhere (which is absolutely fine with me). He said their troop finally got a phone (a permanent one), so he will be able to call more often now. My husband is an avid fisherman, so he said he was pretty excited to have gotten the chance to go fishing over there, and he caught a couple of little fish. Most of the conversation was about what was going on back here, our future plans, and how much he missed everyone and everything back here. Some things he asked to send were more gatorade packets (small ones they can mix in their canteen) and he asked me to put more minutes on the calling card b/c the calls eat up a lot of minutes from over there. So basically he said that things over there are going well where they are and he can't wait to come home (still no idea when that will be). I'm just happy to hear he's ok and will be able to call more often.
2) My fiancé is currently serving in Iraq and since he left over 3 months ago, I have stayed away from the news. Your e-mail is the only thing that I read daily...it's uplifting and great to hear all the families talk about their loved ones. I went 7 weeks without hearing from my Joe, but in the last month, I have been fortunate enough to receive 3 calls...very short... and 5 letters. During the time when I had not heard from him, it was comforting to hear the other families stories.
3) I got a call from my son on Sunday the 6th and he is still in Baqubah. He is with the 588th Engineers Bn. ALpha Co., 1st platoon. They have stopped the night raids for now and they did get a meal for the 4th of July. He said it is still stifling hot there with no end in sight of the summer. They are staying as positive as possible and are watching each others backs. They do now in fact have access to the phone on Sunday's and everyone gets to use it in his unit at least every other.
4) I received a phone call from my son, HSB/3-16 FA from Doha, on July 7th, while in my hotel room on a cell phone. The call came in loud and clear, so if anyone has to be away from their land based phone, give your cell phone number to your soldier! He sounded good and was setting up morale booster tents with supplies for the soldiers; ie., weights, DVDs, televisions. He has supply line responsibilities. While receiving his phone call I was visiting the cite of Flight 93 crash in Shanksville, Pa., home of my wife. While visiting the Flight 93 memorial chapel for the victims, there are photos posted of each person who died with a personal summary of their life and mission while on the flight. It is a stark and humble reminder of why our soldiers are on their mission in Iraq! A "must see" for military families! (Ed Note: If anyone isn't familiar with Flight 93, that is the 9/11 plane that went down when the passengers fought the highjackers).
5) We got a phone call on Sunday from our soldier (A Brty,1/17 with 10 CAV) about 8:00. It was a morale call- 10 mins. On Monday at 8:00 we got another phone call from him. Our first response when we saw it was his calling card was "Are you hurt?" Between the fade out of the satellite phone and the anxiety of the call it took a few minutes to get the message he was fine and was able to call again. He said the generator was being installed and at last the water was up and running where he is. He said he was not eating much because of the heat and had dropped enough weight to wear a medium pant. (He was an xlarge when he left.) He asked for lots of D batteries and a battery operated lantern. He also said the mechanics gloves or batting gloves are a "hot item" and please send. (We found two types-Stanley Mechanics Gloves-Wal-Mart 6.97 or batting gloves 11.97-PX. ) There is plenty of water, but would appreciate Sports Drink in the bottles as well as his staples of Gatorade, lemonade ect. The heat really saps his energy and he thought the electrolytes in the drink might add a pick up and help with the effects of dehydration.
6) My husband called me Thursday of last week and Sunday Night! I was greeted this morning with two Emails from him sayign how much he misses me and longs to come home although he states that he is doing great outside of just simply missing being a "Hubby and Father" to our only child...since he has been gone for a total of 9 months now, between school and Deployment...she has changed dramatically! He seems very strong and very ready to come home, although their deployment has not been but going on 4 months he was already gone for 5 before that and is just ready to come home! HE says that they get the Satellite phone every three days and get to call home for 10 minutes, he also said that the 4th was a blast, he even did some Kareoke (sp)! What a blast that is to see him do! (Ed Note: No unit given - please always include unit your soldier is in).
7) My son is with A Company 404th DASB. I have talked to him a couple of times in the last month and he does send e-mails once in a while. I don't know exactly where he is but he says that they do now have some cooling capabilities, can take regular showers and have a PX available. Although he is married and I am very close to his wife, I miss him terribly as we would talk on the phone at least once a week just sharing thoughts and our "computer problems" - we are both computer geek wannabes. Your information keeps me going and makes me feel a little closer to him. I pray every night that God keep our men and women safe and bring them home soon - as I'm sure all of their families do. (Ed Note: I'm a computer geek wannabe, too - and I have no idea how to get rid of this line by this entry).
8) It was great that my phone rang at 1:30 this morning because it was my husband (A-CO 2/8)...I was really starting to get worried since I hadn't heard from him through letters in about a week, I guess I got used to getting a letter everyday...than it just stopped...He sounded so good and in the best of spirits...he said that he was starting to receive mail everyday and it was lifting his spirits...
9) I heard from my son early Sunday morning he is with the 3rd Brigade, 4th Inf, 4th Engineers out of Fort Carson. It was only the second time he has called since he left April 2nd!! What made it extra special was that our whole family was in town for the holiday weekend. He only had seven minutes to talk, we passed the phone around everyone saying hi, I love you and miss you. Before he left his grandfather requested that he pee on Saddam's palace walls like he used to do on Pa's fence when he was a little boy, my father asked if he had and he answered "Many times!!" Needless to say I didn't get but a few seconds with him, he sounded a little tired and afterwards my selfish side wished I could of talked the whole time to find out more of how he really was doing. He made sure to tell me not to worry (right!) He did say he was getting our packages and mail. That call sure made our weekend!!.
10) Thank you so much for your updates, I forward them to family members and we all appreciate the news. I spoke with my son in D co. 4th FSB, who is in the Tikrit area. He sounded tired but upbeat. He said they have only been under attack once (some mortar rounds) and no-one was injured. (I hope he's not just trying to keep his Mom from worrying!). It has been hotter than Hades and he is looking forward to receiving the battery operated misting fan that is on the way. He said he still has some of the cola-flavored candy from the last package because he's limiting himself to one a day. He doesn't have a pillow and was happy we are sending one (thanks to this newsletter for the idea!) His tent has a tv/vcr combo and he said vhs tapes are better than dvd's because the sand scratches them. The manager of our local Safeway is donating a case of drink mix and I will be hitting up the other local merchants this week. He misses home and his wife and children and we sure miss him. I reminded him that he is surrounded by angels (angels in camo!)

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