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02/15/04
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James is home!! Thank you all for your continued prayers. God brought his entire unit home safely!
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02/07/04
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James is now safely back in the United States!! He arrived at Ft. Dix this afternoon.
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12/28/03
| I got an e-mail from James telling about his Christmas. It really touched me, and he said I could share it. Here’s what he wrote on December 26: |
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We had a pretty good Christmas yesterday. The meal was real good and the Brigade Chaplain came to the Company area and did a Christmas service for us. It was really good. He pointed out that we were probably celebrating the most authentic Christmas we will ever experience. He pointed out that our story closely follows the Christmas Story in Luke, Chap 2. We are in a distant land on government orders, just as Mary and Joseph were; we are living in substandard housing just like Mary and Joseph when they were in the stable; and wise men came to meet Jesus yesterday (about 31 of the people we are guarding became Christians yesterday and were baptized). It was a really awesome message and made me feel a lot better about being here for Christmas. I would rather have been home but it helped looking at it like he put it.
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12/11/03
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James may not be in Iraq long enough to receive any more mail! :-) He won’t be coming straight home, and I don’t have specific dates yet, but he says not to send anything else. It will probably be at least a couple of months before he is home, so he will still not be here for Christmas. If you have anything for the village, I have a different address for you to send it to, in case he leaves before it gets there. I will be sending postcards, but as always, you can e-mail me if you want the address before the postcard arrives.
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12/07/03
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James was able to come home for two weeks on emergency leave, but he has now returned safely to Iraq. His mailing address has changed, and I will be sending out postcards again. If you want his new address before the postcard arrives, please e-mail me. If you have moved or did not get the last postcard, please let me know. Many postcards continue to be returned. Thanks!
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10/10/03
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I got a phone call today, and I also got some letters recently. He said on the phone that things are going well. They are getting one good hot mean a day. It’s not “home cooking,” but it’s better than what they had last year. |
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He wrote in a recent letter that his unit has “adopted” a local village. They have already taken them some food and water, but they would like to do more. He is asking for people to send “kids clothes & shoes (from infant to teenagers), toys, soccer ball & net, canned foods (NO PORK!), basic first aid supplies, and anything else they think a missionary type visit might take.” He says to send donations to him, but make sure you label it so he knows what’s to be donated. Here’s more from a different letter: “Some folks have mailed kids clothes and toys to take them. I’m hoping a bunch of school supplies will come also. Their school starts in another week or so. We also opened a contract with the contractor who is fixing our buildings to go up there and fix up their school a little. He’s going to repair the bathroom, fix the doors & windows and paint. I wish there was a way to do more for them.” |
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Here’s what he wrote in another letter: “It seems to have started cooling off here. Last night was the first night I was able to sleep inside comfortably. Up until now I, and everyone else, have had to sleep outside in order to survive. I don’t like sleeping outside though so yesterday I dug my fans out of the conex & tried sleeping inside. With the slight drop in temperature & the fans it was tolerable. It never really got hot today either. When I took a shower this evening the water was actually kind of cold. Of course, ‘not hot’ means the temp only got to the mid to upper 90’s. :)” |
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Here’s part of yet another letter: “I can never tell you in words how much I love you! I can only hope, when we’re old and gray, sitting in our rocking chairs holding hands, that you will have seen a glimmer of the love I hold in my heart for you. I thank God every day for the gift of our marriage.” I couldn’t have said it better. I am very blessed to have such a wonderful loving husband, and I thank God for him!
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09/12/03
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James and his unit have arrived safely in Iraq. He called me today. He says he will probably only be able to call about once a month now because he is not near a phone. I also received a letter in which he describes their living conditions. He writes: |
| (18 Aug 03) Well, today was our first day in our new camp. It definitely isn’t as nice as we had it. We’re living in an old Iraqi military camp. It’s basically just a loosely grouped bunch of mud & stone buildings. We’re in the process of cleaning them out so they are semi-livable. There isn’t any power so I’m writing this by the light of my little lantern. We’re back to the three hole crappers again, too. At least this time there is a divider between each seat. We do at least have a “shower.” The engineers came over & installed a water tank on the roof with a couple of lines coming down into what used to be a crapper. It’s only a trickle of water but at least we can get clean. |
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(19 Aug 03) I had to stop last night. I was so hot I was dripping sweat on the paper. |
| We’re making rapid improvement on our living conditions. We now have a generator & lights in our TOC building, which is where I live. So, I’m not having to write by the light of my lantern. :) Hopefully soon we’ll have enough generators to be able to run them all night so we can use fans. |
| In about a month or so we’re scheduled to get “living conexes.” They’re basically a 20 foot long box with a door, a couple of windows & heat and A/C. They house 4 men in each trailer. It’s cramped but it beats living in a tent. Right now we’re being told E-7’s and above will only house 2 per trailer. If that holds true it will be a little better for a few of us.
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08/27/03
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James has a new mailing address. I will be sending out postcards to friends and family soon. If you want his new address before the postcard arrives, please e-mail me. If you have moved or did not get the last postcard, please let me know. Many of the postcards were returned last time. Thanks!
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07/11/03
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Here is an update from James: “The temperature is averaging a high of around 122ºF and a low of around 93ºF. It’s expected to get as hot as 150ºF before it starts to cool off again. We’re doing various missions like Force Protection/Physical Security (protecting troops and interests vital to the National Defense), Law and Order for the camp and surrounding areas, and US Customs Pre-Clearing Operations in which we inspect baggage and equipment for prohibited and restricted items prior to departure back to the United States. We don’t really know when we’ll be coming home yet. However, the bright side is that, due to the rules of the President’s Partial Mobilization order, the absolute longest they can keep us on Active Duty this time is 14 months. That means we would have to leave here no later than March in order to have enough active duty time at the end of our tour to use our terminal leave and out process. Of course, we’re all hoping we’ll be home long before March.”
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06/08/03
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James has arrived safely in Kuwait.
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04/16/03
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Since everyone is asking . . . James is still at Ft. Dix preparing to deploy. Nothing has changed for him at this point.
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03/20/03
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James and his unit have arrived safely at Ft. Dix, New Jersey. They will be deployed from there, but we don’t know yet when or to where.
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