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 just wanted to let you know that the "Army" isn't all bad. My ex-husband passed away at age 46 on Aug 3. We were divorced but still really close and "Frank" has been both my sons' father since 1988. He was in all aspects my sons' dad. I got a hold of the Red Cross so they could inform my son. I knew he was going to take it hard and explained to the Red Cross about their close relationship and to please ask that the news be broken to him gently. I also requested him to come home. I thought they never would since Frank was not his biological father and the fact that we were now divorced. To my surprise, they let my son come home. It took from a Sunday night to Friday night to get him home, but he was able to say good-bye to his dad. I cannot tell you what comfort this brought to me and of course to his younger brother. Sadly to say, I must send him back to Iraq this Wed. It will break my heart; but I'm so thankful that they let him come home. I'm am also grateful for the Red Cross. The people who helped me were so helpful and caring. (Ed Note: Those of us who have been around the Army know there is much much more good than bad to it - good news just seldom gets reported. Thanks for sending this info - and we are sorry for your loss). No Unit given.
2) I heard from my soldier who is in 1/67 AR, A Company, 1st platoon. He called last night. It was so wonderful as always to hear his voice. He said he is doing ok. They are staying very busy. He has gotten all the packages we have sent him and enjoying all the magazines and snacks. As always I am so proud of him and all the men and women serving. May God watch over them and bring them home safely.
3) Yesterday I talked to my husband ( HHT 1/10 CAV B-TROOP 4TH) on the internet, then he later called me. He was on a mission with some guys. Of course he couldn't go into details, but I find that better then I don't worry as much. He's good but says it hot, he says he can't wait to get home and hopes that the 4th ID can get all the bad guys so they can come home earlier. He said that he hasn't gotten mail from me in awhile so the mail must be hung up somewhere, but he did send me a package that had a t-shirt for our baby boy that said " MY DAD IS OVER THERE" and it had an arrow pointing to Iraq. It's cute........ God Bless our soldiers. I will always love mine.
4) We found out yesterday that my nephew who is with the 1-8 Infantry (MECH) out of Fort Carson was involved in the convoy ambush. He is in the Kuwait Hospital and had surgery to remove shrapnel from his back. I thank God that he is going to be ok. There were others involved and I just want to let the families of those brave soldiers to know that my thought and prayers are with them at this time. No updates on him as of this morning since they only have one satellite phone I was told...... God Bless Our Troops.
5) I heard from my husband who is with B 3/29 FA yesterday afternoon.We got to talk for about 20 minutes. He said that he is doing well. Although he is still sleeping in a tent.He sounded tired.. But he still continued to laugh and joke around some, even cried for a second. He did request a couple of items, one is ketchup. The other was "taco bell." Specifically he wanted chicken,steak queseda's(sp) I think it was to make me laugh. But i think it will also be hard to accomadate his taco bell wish. He also asked for PT's..(Physical Training uniform) I asked how all of his soldiers were doing. He said they are all fine. That they are all EATING fine. They are all getting WATER! He thanked me for his battery operated shower's that I sent.(You can get these on walmart.com for 25.00 a peice). He said it's almost like a real shower.
6) Last night (1030 PM, CDT) received call from grandson with B Co, 1-67 AR, and just hearing him was great. He was in good spirits and mainly asking about finances, but did say not to sned him any more junk food. To just send Ramen noodles (in the package not in the soup cups), and I suppose to be proper not to send the pork flavored, and tuna fish, along with mayonaise and pickled relish..... GOD BLESS ALL OF OUR TROOPS ALONG WITH ALL COALITION TROOPS.
7) I heard from my husband this morning about 3:45AM PST. He's w/HHC Medics in 1-68 Armor. Still in the Sunni Triangle. He delivered good news to me. He's scheduled to get out of the Army and was supposed to be leaving there mid Sept. Now he's coming home in about 1 1/2 weeks! I'm so excited! Hopefully this means that any other guys that are supposed to PCS, ETS, etc. will be able to come home earlier than expected!!!! He said he's safe and that's about all......
8) I received a short email from my brother in B CO. 1-4 AVN out of Fort Hood who is in camp Anaconda in Balad. He said that he he is receiving all my packages and still likes the beef jerky the best. Our outlet up here says that when I get a big order like I had the last time to call it in and they will vacuum pack it at no charge. The other 5 soldiers that family and friends adopted have also started to receive packages and they were thrilled. I read that someone was going to send a camp chair. I sent one awhile back but my brother has not received it yet..... Anyway, this past weekend I organizied a bake sale at our church with the Brownies and we were able to raise $800.00. We ran out of baked items but people were giving large donations anyway. (It was amazing) The $ will be used for postage to send artificial Christmas trees over. I was able to get a local nursery to donate them. They are the prelit kind. The support of people is great, all you have to do is ask. My brother say's they finally have wood floors in their tents. He said the living conditions were improving daily.......
9) Got an e-mail from our son HHC Co. 3-67 Armor Ft. Hood, Said that he got the package that I sent 2 weeks ago. He asked not to make or send any more cool ties, but one of his friends was jealous because I made a cool tie out of Texas materiel and he wanted one. My son also said that this guy doesn't get hardly any mail so I'll be sending him the Texas cool tie and other stuff too. School started this week so I plan on going to the elem. to see if the P.T.O. could help with getting stuff together for our former students that are over there. And to get some of the classes to write letters too. ............ Maybe he can get some time in Qater. God Bless all our men and women.
10) My husband called home Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We were a little worried on Sunday because he was suposed to call early that morning and we didn't hear from him, until 4:00 in the afternoon. The package I sent him only 8 day's ago he received yesterday. It had an Xbox in it. Me, and two of the other girls were wondering why the guy's haven't called and were getting worried, but the reason why is they were busy playing the xbox all night! He was so thrilled to have something to do at nights! It felt so good to be able to talk to him three day's in a row. He is doing good, just ready to come home. He asked for me to please send him a fan and a couple of more items.... Can't wait for our guy's to finally come home. May God be with them, Protect them, and Bring them home Safely and Soon!!! Co. B 890th Eng BN Richton, Mississippi!!!!
11) We received a call Sunday morning that our son of the 4th MP company, convoy came under attack and was wounded by shrapnel near Baquba, 45 miles nothest of Baghdad. The attackers detonated a roadside bomb and then opened fire with RPG's and automatic weapons. Most of the shrapnel hit his face and ear. He is expected to recover fully. His Sergeant called informing us that he is being transported to Kuwait for surgery. He said further that our son fought very honorably protecting other soldiers while he himself was wounded.
12) I received a letter from my son's 19 year old friend with the 4ID C TROOP 1-10 CAV and it was so good to hear from him. He was thrilled to receive all the hometown newspapers and magazines I sent. Also he loves the little things he can't get over there....skittles, M&M's, applesauce, red licorace plus the rest...he never ask for anything, even tho I ask what he wants.......... Said they were training police, setting up government and setting up border patrol so the town remains safe when they are gone........... He hasn't had another chance to call but hopes to find a phone after he leaves this area he is in......makes me really realize how small my problems really are!
13) I got another call from my soldier yesturday (8-17) he's with HHC 3rd BCT- 4th ID. He says he's doing o.k. He is in Balad, and is still working hard. He's kind of glad to be working so much; I guess it makes time go by faster. Other than that...not too much more new news. Still hot, still Iraq, still not home. But all the guys are doing fine and are all waiting to come home to good ol' America!! God Bless Our Troops!! I love them all for all they do for us!!
14) My husband is the wounded soldier that was traveling with Sgt White who was killed when the vehicle hit the mine. He is with HHB 4-42 FA. I just wanted to let you know he is doing OK. He suffered from a broken tail bone and minor burns. He is now in Germany at the Ramstein hospital. As of now, we do not know what the next step of his journey is. He has been in touch with me, quite frequently, with his updates. My son and I would like for Sgt White's family to know that they are in our thoughts and prayers. I would also like to say how proud I am of the soldiers in Iraq. Keep up the good work guys! Thank you so much for the updates. They have really kept me going. Once again, our condolences go out to Sgt White's family.
15) I received a phone call from my son (1LT; 3-29 FA, Charlie BTRY) on Thurday, Aug 14th around 2:15pm our time. He was still at Samarra air field north of Bagdad. He sounded pretty good. He received a box I had sent around 10 days before. This is the quickest so far. It sounds like mail is moving much faster now. He was very happy to receive new socks and underwear and books. The only requests he had was for a protein powder called whey which he said I could purchase in a local health store and tuna. His girlfriend called my other son last week (home from college) and talked to him about 20 min. Apparently my son in Iraq gave her my other son's phone number. I told my son when he called that his girlfriend called his brother and talked to him for 20min. He said, "Well don't let him steal her away before I get back home!". I had to laugh. Of course he was kidding. We talked around 10 minutes and then got cut off. He tried calling me back about 3 times only to be cut off each time. It was really good to hear his voice......
16) On Saturday I heard from my son (HHB 4-42FA). It was not a very easy phone call for him or me. He (a medical specialist) was there when the mine exploded under the the carrier that Sgt. White was in and he with the help of another soldier got him out of the carrier and my son attended to him medically. My son is having a heard time right now dealing with this, he is having nightmares. I know this has to be so hard for everyone in the unit. I send my prayers that they all are able to handle this. And my prayers and sympathies especially go out to the family of Sgt. White.
17) I received a letter from a 4ID 3rd BCT HHC 4th Eng BN soldier today 8-16-03. The letter was dated 29 July and postmarked 5 August. He is in my nephew's unit & I had sent him something the last week in June. He thanked me from the 'bottom of his heart' and said to also thank my mom because he had received something from her on his birthday. This was a nice coincidence because we had no idea when his birthday was.
18) Two days ago I got the first phone call that was longer than 10 minutes since my husband-1-66 AR around Samarra-got over to Iraq. What a treat to hold an entire conversation! The conection is still bad and since then he's tried calling a couple times but the phone keeps disconnecting and he's tried for hours at a time to get through with no luck some days. But I can't complain-that call could get me through the next month at least! He got to talk to the our kids and got to finally hear our 1 yr old saying "Dada". He said right now his schedule is allowing him to call a little more often but that there is no telling how long that will last so we'll try not to get used to it. He said they really aren't allowed to tell us much about what they are doing or where but he has been doing checkpoints and patrols. He said that it's HOT during the day but they are freezing at night when it drops down to about 80. He said the entire country has run out of chewing tobacco and said not to worry about sending anything but chew, vienna sausages, and a maglite. He's enjoyed the games and toys we've sent, especially the lawn chair. He said it's not quite so sandy now and they've gotten to play a little volleyball with a makeshift net. The past couple weeks his morale had been pretty low after the confirmation of the later return dates but it was definately rejuvenated after this call. (Mine was too!) He just asked us to keep the prayers coming for their safety and for April to come in Godspeed.
19) My 2 year old son just received a postcard from my Hubby (4th MP Co 3rd Plt) on Sat. It was postmarked Aug 1 which means it took 15 days to get here. It said: "Hey littleman, Daddy misses & loves you! Daddy is busy at work and will be home soon. Keep Blue {our dog} in line for me and make sure Mommy is ok for me. Tell her to give you some candy. I hope you have fun at the Wiggles concert. Be good for Mommy. Love Dad" He ended with a little note for me that said: "Please send me my magazines. Love & Miss you!!" I'm a very lucky woman!
20) Bob--Today was our grandson's first day of kindergarten also! As his mom was walking him into school in Killeen two Kiowas flew over. She told him "See, Daddy must be thinking about you right now." (He's a pilot in E Troop, 1-10 CAV) and our grandson said, "Yep, and I'm thinking of Daddy, too." Brought tears to my eyes that his daddy wasn't there for his big day. Do people REALLY understand the sacrifices of our military???? How proud and thankful I am of all those serving our country in the service.

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