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

Click to Send us your news


What Our Families Are Hearing About Our Soldiers in Iraq:
1) I got an E-mail from my Boyfriend A Co. 2-8 IN (M). Hes at Camp Normandy fixing his Track. I was just glad to hear from him. While he is there, he gets 20 minutes of internet access, but the computers are very slow, so he really only gets the chance to send one. ONE IS BETTER THAN NONE! Said every thing is good over there and he is getting all his packages. He said hes running out of room to keep everything! Take care and thank you for all the information you give us.. I look forward everyday to your updates, especially when they say.. no US casualties for 4 DAYS!!
2) Although I haven't talked to my son in a couple of weeks, I know through his wife that he is okay; and the most wonderful news is that he reenlisted on Sunday for three more years while located somewhere north of TIKRIT. He is a SSG with the 404th DASB, 4ID. It's simply amazing that although the soldiers are over there living in such conditions, they still want to reenlist and continue to serve our wonderful country. Never thought that one of our sons would follow in their Dad's footsteps; his being a Vietnam Veteran and a retiree with 24 years service. Our hats are off to them, and they are truly "Our Heroes". My husband and I are so very proud of him, and just pray for his safe return home when the time comes, as well as all the other soldiers over there. God Bless America, God Bless Our Soldiers and their families, and God Bless President Bush.
3) My son is with the 4th ID Band and one of his fellow soldiers with them sent me a e mail saying how they have moved to another palace in Tikrit. This palace is 74 stories! (??? - never heard of a building that tall in Iraq) That they stay on the 4th floor and yes have to climb those stairs. That they have air conditioning now and the weather is getting easier to deal with. That all in all things are going well and the morale is good. My son called the other day and said how excited he was to get to ride in a tank. That for the most part the people are very good to them there. They work very long hours and not for me to get worried if I don't hear from him often. So we must all stay positive and keep the letters and packages going to our loved ones. He needed (toilet paper, the soft kind hehehe) Pipe and tobacco, anything I think he could use. So God Bless our troops and America.
4) I heard from my husband this morning. He is located in Khan Bani Saad just outside of Baghdad, C/3-16 FA stationed at Fort Hood, TX. He only were able to speak for about 10 minutes, his section chief hadn't been able to call his wife in 2 weeks, so my hubby called me and then let his chief use the rest of his calling card to call home. Anyway, he sounded ok. Spirits are somewhat low. Their unit came under attack 2 nights ago and 3 soldiers were slightly injured. But thankfully no serious injuries. I had sent him a portable DVD player aboyt 2 weeks ago and he got it a few days ago. Man now it seems like the mail is getting there faster then theirs gets here, go figure. He said it was the best present so far. All the guys crammed around the little 7" screen to watch movies I sent. He said please don't send any more wipes, or hygiene products that he has enough. Oh well, too late, big box already on its way the day before. So I will focus now on sending more DVD's and lots of Gatorade and Kool-aid. I have been able to receive a call every week for the last 3 weeks, however I am sending him $50.00 in cash every week so that he is able to buy calling cards from the Iraqis. We were told by our head of the FRG that our guys should be getting more phones and internet connections soon. Well that's all for me for now. Keep up the sharing, I look forward to reading all your letters every night. Brings me a tremendous amount of comfort to know that we are all feeling the same way and can at least not feel so alone during these hard times.
5) My husband got to call me today (August 5) at 9:30am. After saying hello he wanted to know if I can talk at work. I quickly informed him work could wait! He is with 4MP CO, 5th Plt and all is going well. The heat is really getting them down and causing problems for some of them, but that is their only complaint. They are staying very busy so time is passing fairly fast. One of his friends finally got to ETS and is on his way home, though he will be missed the guys are mainly jealous and want to be on the plane with him. They got to see a CNN report on 4ID raids and were very excited. They were not in it , but he said it was nice to know that 4ID was getting their job done and that America knew about it. May God continue to bless our troops and bring them home safe when the time has come.
6) Yesterday, the 4th, my husband called me for the first time in 5 weeks. I recently had our first child on the 30th and thought he was calling from the Red Cross message I sent. To my suprise he hadn't gotten the message yet and was so happy to hear that I had her. He was a little mad that it had been 5 days and he still hadn't gotten the message but he got over that fast. He was so happy and sounded like he was going to cry while he was on the phone. He can't wait to get home and see her for the first time. She looks exactly like him and nothing like me. He thought that was pretty funny. He will be home the end of this month and can't wait to hold his little girl and I can't wait to hold him. (No Unit Given)
7) We received a phone call last night 12:30 AM form our son who is in the 2nd brgd 1-67 C Co. He told us he was doing fine. Never complains about being there. He almost sounded like he was wound up from his mission last night. Could not go into details of course. He got those cakes in a jar, (that I had already sent before I knew they could cause botulism). He got them July 21, and he said they ate them and they were good, and they all are still okay! Thank goodness.
8) My son (HHC 3/67) requested an old fashioned wash board to assist with his laundry. We found one at a flea market for $10, but if your soldier would like one as well, The Vermont Country Store has a galvanized washboard, item #41071 special order for $13.95. The Customer Service Number is 1-800-211-4741. Gosh! Would I ever love to have a photo of my son using one!
9) Our son called us at 2:23 am yesterday( 4-42FA)...It was so great to hear his voice it had been 3 weeks since we last heard from him. The 10 minutes is never enough but just to hear his voice and know that he is ok is fine by me. He said they finally got a microwave and washer machine so that makes things a little easier for them. Said they had been out in the field for a week and when he got back he had 10-12 packages and tons of letters waiting for him. That sure made his day. And he did confirm what I already heard that he will not be coming home until April of next year.
10) I heard from my soldier about 11:45 p.m. last night (8/4) He's with the 3rd BCT 1/12. He's been able to call the last three Mondays so I've been in better spirits lately. He seemed to be doing pretty well, but sounds very homesick. Fortunately for us he is scheduled to be coming home by the end of this month to ETS, which he was originally suppose to do in May. He said that there's not much going and he's just looking forward to getting back as soon as possible. The phone connection was pretty bad and he hung up before the time was up because he said the phone wasn't working right and there was a pretty long line. He said he'd call again when he could. I don't care if it's 30 seconds or ten minutes, just hearing his voice is enough for me.
11) On a personal note, I like to share this with you. We received a long handwritten letter from my son last week, including a copy of the Bronze Star award, and the Combat Medical Badge. What was more poignant in this, is that he related this to my having been awarded the Bronze Star, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge in 1944 with the 44th Infantry Division. I was a grunt. He has my awards shadow-boxed framed, now his will be proudly displayed along side mine, to pass on to his son. If you're looking at the arithmetic, I am a much older dad. I think there aren't too many proud dads of soldiers in Iraq who served in World War II, the big war that is :-). (Ed Note: No unit given but great story).
12) My husband is with the 1-22 Bco 4id In Bayji. I had an idea about a gift for the Christmas box I will be sending in the next few months. I was thinking about sending a mini cassette tape (because he already has the recorder) with the family singing carols. So that way he can hear the carols on Christmas. What do you think about this? Do you think it is a good idea or do you think it will be too hard for them? Just a question. I have really enjoyed your updates. I have been forwarding them to my family members and they are hooked. I havent heard a lot from my husband. It took a month for me to hear anything from him so I was beginning to get nervous. He said they have been REAL busy. Going on missions looking for Saddam, but he seems in good spirits. Really ready to come home and see our son, who will be a year old on the 23rd of this month. When my husband left he was only 7 months old. Anyway.. just wanted to get your opinion on my idea. Keep up the good work. (Ed Note: My response back to her was - go ahead and do it. Christmas will be tough on all of us but he might as well hear the voices of his family singing familiar Christmas carols, may make him cry but that's okay).
13) Suggestion from an A/1-22 Infantry wife: I just thought I'd share this Info with some of your readers regarding the Voltage to charge up Little appliances. I had sent my husband a Portable DVD Player, which he loves but he told me that he needed a Transformer as well since they are on European Voltage which is 220 and they can't charge their Gadgets without transforming it ,since it is 110V over here in the States. I still had several Transformers around the House from when we lived in Germany that I'll be sending his way, but for anyone who doesn't, I'm sure the Thrift stores on post have them available as well. (Ed Note: And for us civilians away from an army post, any travel store in a mall has voltage converters. This is first time I've heard of this problem, so be sure it applies to your soldier before worrying about sending the converters. Some units may have generators that don't need conversion).
14) I got a nice surprise yesterday! A package of cd's, disposable cameras, and disks full of photos from my soldier (B2/20 FA, 4ID) @ Taji Airfield. I got some great photos of him and all our soldiers, and of course Iraq. I feel so much better now that I can see that he looks good aside from losing weight. He mentioned that things are starting to get better now; a/c, fridge, dvd's, etc. He also as access to the computer and also got my first email from him over the weekend. Also what works for us is that I met a wonderful lady whose husband works with my soldier and whoever gets a call first we relay messages for each other that way just in case one misses a call or one is unable to call that day they know we are thinking about them. (Its mostly just mushy stuff). (Ed Note: Musy stuff is what our soldiers fight for, even the toughest and most gruff ones - keep it going their way...)
15) My daughter-in-law contacted you last week because I saw my son on CNN on Friday. If you call 1 800 266 6397, you can order an hour's tape, to a specific hour, for $44.45. That is with a discount for family members of the military in the video. They are very friendly people, too. It takes 2 weeks to get the tape in the mail if you use a credit card. My son is in HHC 2BDE in Baqubah, his wife lives in Killeen, and I live near Niagara Falls, NY. Your up dates tie us all together! Also, I print your up dates daily, and put them in a loose leaf note book. These books along with the CNN tape and his pictures he has taken, will be something for my son's grandchildren to see! He has been emailing his wife on a regular basis, and got to IM yesterday for the first time. She had to be patient because of the delay, which should "get better" soon. I'd like to thank all the wife's and mothers in Killeen for sticking together and taking care of each other. My daughter-in-law is alone in Killeen now, just turned 20 last month by herself, and going to college there. I'm as proud of her as I am of him!
16) I just wanted to let you know I heard from my Fiance' this morning at 5:30 AM. He sounded much better this time than the last time he called. I asked him if he needed anything and all he really wanted was some magazines to read. He is with the 4th Infantry, 1-67 Unit. It was so wonderful to hear his voice. Him and I are both counting down the days until he returns. He also said the others were doing good. It is really hot but they are adjusting. Please keep all our soliders in your prayers. God Bless.
17) I have received two phone calls in the last 2 weeks from my son...4ID 1-4 Avn Reg. One was almost 30 minutes and the other was about 15 minutes...and yes both were in the wee morning hours. He sounds good, just getting a little antsy since he will soon be heading home (ETSing). His dad had been worried about him having to convoy out of Tikrit but he has now let us know that he will be flown from point to point. Thank Goodness! He laughed at one of my emails where I had gone to weather.com and pasted the weather from here and the weather there. The weather for Baghdad was listed as 77 degrees (night time). He said "I don't think that was right!" I was trying to show him that the heat index here has been around 105-110 each day (Louisiana). He also had a good laugh about the powdered milk I sent him...Said when he opened it up and started mixing it that the smell (yucky) reminded him of when he was around 10 and had to get up and feed a calf at 6:00 am each morning before school. He said Homer's (bull's name) milk smelled just like it. Comment on packages...keep them with in the 20-25 lb range to get them there in approximately 2 weeks...anything over that tends to take a month or so. If you send a large box ...line it with a garbage bag first...Son's large package had something leak on it from an outside source and made some of the stuff inedible. Hopefully he will be headed home on the 14th of this month and will be home for the first time in 8 years for his birthday which will be his 25th!! We are all looking forward to that party. Please keep me on the email too...as this has become my routine along with my coffee each morning! Keeping all our troops wherever they are in our hearts at all times!!!
18) My son is with C/2-20 FA. I have heard from him quite a bit lately which makes me feel so good! He has been able to phone me four times in the last week and a half. Seems they are working 24 hours at a time and then have two days off. They are looking for things to keep them occupied ie: books, magazines, small games, CD's or anything else that will boost their morale and give them reminders of home. He wants me to send him a laptop. If anyone has sent one to their soldier, please give me some pointers as to how to ship one over there. I am worried it may not arrive to my son and wonder about insurance etc. Any suggestions would be appreciated. (Send me any info and I'll put in a future update).
19) I finally heard from my son today! He's 2nd Brigade 3-67 Armor in Baqubah. I had been so worried since the news of recent attacks there. I know... no news is good news... anyway, he e-mailed today. Wow! I didn't know they even had the capability! His e-mail was very short. It read: Hi Mom, I don't know if this is going to work or not, so here goes. How are you? I'm fine. It's really hot here! Besides that, all is well. I don't know when I can use the phone again, as it is hard to get to. I love you, be safe, (Name)
Our son is 19, and a super son, I'm so proud of him and all of our troops there! God Speed!

Back to Active Unit Main News Page