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 got a letter from my son, 2/8 Bravo Company. He says thank you for the ninja turtle, have it hanging over his stuff. Likes the game boy and all the stuff I sent. He says they are very busy over there. Lots of work and a lot more before they can leave. He sounds so much older and more confident, makes me feel so proud of him.
2) We got a phone call from our son, HHC 2-8, Although the connection was not good it was still great to "hear " his voice and know that he was OK. He says he is running at least 3 miles a day and doing other PT daily. I can't imagine doing that much in that heat, but he says he's used to it and that 90 degrees is cold to him now......
3) My Husband called at 1:30am today 8-23 (4th MP 3rd Plt). We got to talk for 30 mins on our 250 minute phone card. He now has a cold but other than that said he was doing well. He was in Tikrit & said they were picking up another satelite phone because theirs was still broken. He loved the MP3 player I sent for his birthday & asked if I could send the software to it because one of the guys there has a laptop. He said he loves the Steak Chunks that my Mom sent. He said they are gone all day & when they get back to camp it's late so he hasn’t gotten to the post office lately. The box he got from me he received in 12 days!
4) I was woke up this morning (8-23) at 4am by my husband. Best way I know of to be woke up at 4 am!! He is with HHC 3-66 AR in Bayji. He said he is getting along just fine. I asked about the 5 ton truck that hit that bomb yesterday and he said that is was not a truck from 3-66 or any other unit that is stationed there at K2 in Bayji. He said if the news had not released the unit that he couldn't tell me either. But I thought this info would be nice to pass along for those who are worried about 3-66 or 1-22 who are stationed there. My heart goes out to the families of the soldiers who were injured and hope and pray that they will all be ok. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS
5) Our son called from Taji, Co. A 3/29 FA from Ft. Carson. He said they have a new chow hall with hot meals and AC. He sounded real upbeat. For some reason he and his brother in Afghanistan (10th Mountain, Ft. Drum) cannot get mail to each other so I told the guys to send their letters to me and I would mail them. We started a magazine drive and folks have been so generous, I am wondering how to afford to send hundreds of magazines over, I could use any hints on that. (Ed Note: I get that question frequently. I think key is to ask people for postage money as well as magazines, many would be happy to give $1-$5 and wouldn't miss it. And, send them via media mail or book rate (post office can tell which is cheaper) to save cost. It will take a little longer to get there but will save money.
6) I heard from my husband today. He is with the B CO 1-22 3RD plattoon in Bayji. (Ed Note: I used to be platoon leader of that platoon in Vietnam!) Right now he is in Tikrit at a medical facility because he has a really bad case of prickly heat. The doc's are trying to treat it with steroids and other things like a/c. I was so relieved to hear his voice especially after hearing the news about the truck that ran over the mine outside Bayji. He said he is doing okay, just homesick and very hot. He wished our son a Happy Birthday since our son turns 1 today, and of course said how he wished he could be here to help celebrate with us...... All things considered his spirits sounded high. He said they are living in a concrete house with no running water, or electricity but that within a month or so they are supposed to get those things. He also said that he had a rude awakening a few days ago. He had been on patrol and just dozed off from pure exhaustion when he heard a loud explosion. Turns out that the base where they are living came under a morter attack. About 6 rounds hit the base, thank God no one was hurt, but I can't imagine how scary that must have been. I asked him if he was scared and of course I got the male answer "NAW, I am getting used to hearing things like that around here." Isn't very reassuring for me but at least no one was injured. He said he was still getting along with the other guys but he said that sometimes they really do get on each others nerves, being in such close quarters and seeing each other all the time, but he said everyone was doing fine. Oh yah, I also asked him about the weather during the winter months. He said he had talked to some of the locals and they said that it could get down to 32 degrees. His comment to that was "Great, I won't have to worry about heat rash or stroke just frost bite" :)
7) Our son called Wed. 2nd bgde 3-67 Armor. They are no longer in Baqubah. Currently in an undisclosed location. .... Seems like box mail shipping time has dramatically improved. It had only been a couple of weeks since I had sent a mini screen dvd player, and that was in one of the boxes he has now! Great! He sounded really good! Says I am sending too much food! I'm sure he will share with others. He had no special requests. My husband had me include a bag of milk bones in one of the boxes that we recently sent over. I thought that it was kind of silly, but I did. Our son told me that their unit has a dog. So, I guess it wasn't so silly after all.
8) I WAS SO HAPPY TO HEAR FROM MY HUSBAND TODAY(C-BTRY 1/17FA FROM FORT SILL). HE SOUNDED SO GOOD. THEY ARE GETTING READY TO MOVE ACROSS TOWN. THEY WILL HAVE BETTER E-MAIL THEN.THE MAIL MUST BE GETTING BETTER BECAUSE HE SAYS THAT THIS LAST PACKAGE I SENT HIM ONLY TOOK 11 DAYS TO GET THERE. HE SAYS THE TEMP. IS GETTING COOLER DAY BY DAY, BUT HE STILL WANTS A FEW MORE FANS TO HELP WITH A LITTLE BREEZE.
9) This weekend my family, who lives about 300 miles from here in Houston, came up for my mom's 50th birthday party. My brother, who is with the HHB-3/29FA called while we were all here at my house celebrating her birthday. I got to pass the phone around to each person(about 20 of us)for a very quick hello. My family is VERY close. We spend holidays together and all of them are so supportive of my brother. This was such a treat for him to get to hear their voices and to know that we think of him all the time. My 83 year old Grandma was able to hear his voice for the first time since he was deployed. She said our family reminds her of the family in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. So needless to say, to hear from him while we were all together was great. He knew to call at that time because I told him we'd all be together this weekend. It was the highlight of our weekend even thought it was a quick call!
10) Bob, reference your suggestion to acquire the names and SSN's for the soldier's
serving together in Iraq. I just looked at my husband's orders sending him there and there is a spreadsheet attached with the whole battalion roster listing names and SSN's. As long as I keep that for my husband he should be set. Of course this roster won't have the folks listed that joined the battalion after the April 03.
(Beats me why this has a blue line down the side of it).
Also reminding the family members to save the email notes. I save all the ones from my husband. I plan to make a CD scrapbook for everything I've saved during this deployment. Including your daily updates.
11) My son called last Sunday a.m. and said the scout platoon had been given a TV and DVD player, but they did not have DVD's. They had purchased some in an Iraqi store, but quality is really "black market." So, I went to Wal-mart and requested DVD's for the troops and that I would take care of the postage. Each Walmart has an employee in charge of contributions to organizations - ask for that person. On the spot she gave me a gift card for $50 and I purchased 9 DVD's from the mark-down bin to send to my son's unit (mostly comedy movies - no war movies). This most helpful employee is also going to make a request to management for more to be allotted and she said she would also see about opened packages that cannot be sold that can be donated to the troops, such as underwear and socks. All families are spending hundreds of dollars for their loved ones in Iraq and if you ask, you will find someone willing to help out. Thank you Wal-mart!
12) To the mother's who have 2 sons in Iraq. I also have 2 sons there. One is 1-10 CAV, E Troop somewhere (?) and the other is with the 101st in Mosul. They both arrived in Kuwait within 2-3 weeks of each other, have missed each other by 2-3 hours at Baghdad Airport and have still not seen each other. I know it would help both if they could actually visit by phone or better yet visit in person but so far that has not worked out. They have sent letters to each other but only been successful once--it took two months for them to get them. I think they have e-mailed one time when the 1-10 CAV pilot had limited access to a computer. These are great men--even though I think of them as my "boys". Both will celebrate birthdays in Oct.--two weeks apart. I fret and stew about their safety but realize they are doing what they want and need to be doing for the protection of their families and all people worldwide. We have got to be positive and help them get through these tough times. As someone at church said to me--"We have got to be prayer warriors and send those "scud" prayers to the Middle East". An interesting way of putting it but one that might just help get the job done! By the way--every letter I send to them I include a self-addressed envelope folded up--just put my return address label in the middle of the envelope. All they have to do is write free mail in the upper right hand side and their return in the left. I sometimes enclose a sheet or two of paper. I think they get the hint!

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