The life of a military family is a series of ups and "Downs" - the "UPs" are the phone calls from your son in Baghdad - the downs are the 5 days without an email or phone call.

I just went through two of these cycles - I heard from Jeff last Friday (Jan 7th) and then nothing until an hour ago when he called. He just came in from a foot patrol and it was 1 AM.

The "UP FEELING" lasts a day maybe two but then you start to worry again. You start to pay more attention to the news about suicide bombs and IED's (road side bombs)that kill Americans.

With that said - Jeff is doing well. He is working hard not getting any sleep - the most is 3 hours at a time, and not eating well because he has to walk to far to the cafateria they are fed at and he cant justify the walk so they all sacrafice meals for sleep. The longest he has slept in the past 5 days is a 3 hour period without having to get up to do something.

He told me the inusrgents are warning about a DAY OPF FIRE on January 30th. Their attirude is to "bring it on and find out what the American soldier can do" (Jeff does not have a lot of repsect for the Godhe - insurgents)

He told me that they are going to be getting a "combat infantry badge" on Feb 14th but he will not wear it because he has not shot at anyone yet and does not feel it is right for him to wear it when Harris (one of his best friends in "B" Comapny is out in the shit every day. I reminded him of the mortars and he sad they dont count.

I told him that he was on a "low carb diet" and he laughed - he said he is on the highest varb diet he can find and still loosing wieght. I told him about the board members wanting to send SLIMFAST MILK SHAKES and he thought that would be great. He said if people send things that he cannot use he will set them out in the hall and the platoon will help themselves. (these guys only eat one good meal a day)

He did say that he would like Dinty Moore Stew. The US Post Office has these new PRIORITY MAIL BOCes that they give you that you can put as much as you wish in them and they only cost $7.60 to mail. So I will fill them with stew and slimfast shakes.

Jeff said that he has a pile of candy under his bed that Santa would be proud of. He fills his pockets when they go out on patrol.

I asked him if he was getting showers and if there was hot water. He told me there was only hot water in the middle of the night - never in the day and the water smelled like human feces. He said the water always smells like feces - which is why they onloy drink bottled water.

I asked him what he had been up to and he told me they do foot patrols and set up spontainous check points to sheck ID's and ocassional (once a shift) they climb up on the roof of buildings to watch the market place and while others check ID's - he said he gets bored - but I remind him how quickly that can change and maybe the reason he is bored is because they a re doing a good job. 10 year olds dont look at it like that.

He was porund of the fact that he joust bought the all the seasons for the Saprano's for an Iraq DVD vendor for $70.00. I laughed and asked him if he tried to negotiate the sale - considering the guy probably paid about $2.00 for it and he tried to explain how lucky he was to have it at such a cheap price - reguardless of the fact that an Iraq Guard on a checkpoint only makes $250.00 per month.

Well thats about all for now. I have a few more things to think about - I write notes when I talk to Jeff and then keep them in a note book to look at later. Some of the things he tells me I cant talk about.

He told me he would try and post to the board to thank people for being so erested. He just said that its hard because its the middle of the night when he calls and he has to wait in line for an hour during the day to get on a computer so he takes his sleep when he can get it.

i am proud of our service people and there family's, i know its not easy for anyone, thank jeff for standing tall and supporting our flag. there was no prouder time in my life, than when i stood in front of the flag.... instead of standing behind it. god bless jeff and his family

I thank you Ed for posting your correspondence with Jeff for us to be part of. The obligations and sacrifices that Jeff has taken upon himself and what your family is going through while he is in harms way makes any problems that any of us may have seem insignificant. As an American I am very proud and thankfull of your son and his peers and pray for their safe return.

I have a son who is a helicopter pilot for the Navy and proud of the 2 Mid-East tours he has done and my wife and I are happy that he is at Norfolk VA right now. He on the other hand says he can't wait to go back.

Jet Noise - the sound of freedom! I live about 20 minutes from NAS Oceana. *g*

Got lots of worried military families here - lots of local men and women deployed to some very hot spots. They've got more strength in their little finger than I think I've got in my whole self! Makes me hopeful that the world will be a better place when my babies start having babies. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Thanks doesn't even begin to cover it - both for the soldiers who went, and the families who have let them go.

Amber,
I used to live by the back gate of Oceana and worked there years ago. Hearing the F-14s & -18s fly overhead always gave me tremendous pride and often brought tears to my eyes. My best memory was sitting in a lifeguard stand one evening at Dam Neck Beach, watching a beautiful sunset, and a wing of F-18s flew overhead. Talk about being a proud American..it was awesome!

Ed, thanks for your updates. Your son and all our military are in my daily prayers. My husband was in Gulf War and I understand what you are going through - the mental rollercoaster is draining. It helps that they have access to email now because the days/weeks in between mail and phone calls back then was the worst..."Why didn't he call? Did I miss his call? Did something happen?" The peace I found was when I finally told God that I trusted that whatever decision He made for our future, and to give me the strength to accept it. I pray your son comes home safely, and SOON, along with the rest of our heroes!

Another nice call from Jeff in Baghdad this morning - it was actually 8PM in Baghdad and Jeff had been on one foot patrol and was going back out in a little while.

He prefers the day patrols because they set up temporary checkpoints and stop vehicles and check ID's. There is an night curfew so they cant do that at night so the night patrols are mounted patrols in up-armored Humvee's (he prefers to be the turret gunner)

I asked him how he calls and he told me they have a Hodge (Iraqi) phone store near their barracks where they can call for 25 cents per minute - the Iraqi's have it open 24 hours a day. He does not have access to any of the cheaper ATT style phone trailers that a lot of troops have.

He sounds bored - there are two battalions of 82nd Airborne troopers there. The other Battalion was sent to Mosul and he was complaining that he wished it had been his - he claims they would then be able to do some fighting - he feels what they are doing is a waste of time - he compares it to "being cops only with a lot bigger and better guns"

I guess when you are 19 you dont see the benefit to the fact that what you are doing is stopping suicide bombers or insurgents from getting into the Green Zone as being real exciting.

Although he did say that yesterday there was a shooting just over the wall from their guard tower - there were 4 shots behind and apartment building(they hear gun fire 24/7) and two guys then ran into the street and started to fist fight - that broke down into a rock throwing contest which eventually ended when they walked away from one another.

Jeff never saw the weapon or they would have shot the shooter. He said it was kind of like watching a Loral and Hardy movie. They were laughing at these guys - he said it was obvious they had never plaid baseball.

Jeff's defact (cafeteria) always has stail bread and as he says - the food sucks - he said “when an MRE looks better than the cafeteria food” - that pretty much says it all.

I told him that I sent a case of Dinty more stew and Slim Fast Milk Shakes and he got excited about that. So I will continue to send it. I guess one of the other companies has a microwave that he can use.

I told him Karmen Byrd had rounded up 4 more pair of binoculars (I had sent him my pair that Karmen gave me from her work). He liked that a lot and will make sure the other guys that need them in his platoon get the. they are small and work very well - he is the only one in his platoon with binoculars. So now there will be 4 more pair - they use them on tower guard and when the climb on the roofs of buildings to watch the market area and the perimeter of the builds as their squad goes door to door checking ID's -

I asked him why he was out of uniform in the photos that his Uncle Frank took (http://leerburg.com/baghdad1.htm - there are also photos ar http://leerburg.com/baghdad2.htm and http://leerburg.com/baghdad3.htm )

He said he had just finished PT and had run 4 miles - he said his squad is the only squad in the platoon that does PT and admits that they will be in much better shape than the other squads when they get back to Ft Bragg because as soon as they get back they have to go through a mini-jump school and start jumping again - he things they do 3 or 4 quick jumps as soon as they get back because they have not been jumping in Iraq (although they jumped a couple of weeks before he left)

He is hoping that the Army will keep their word on sending them home in March. They were originally told that they were only going for the elections and would then come home. But his written orders were for 365 days. He does not know yet but says they have orders to move out of the palace and into tents in early March. So maybe there is something to it - he hopes so.

I told him I could see a dog in the photo of him on my web site. He said there are dogs everywhere. He said the dogs dont seem to have owners - they just roam the streets and eat garbage. He said there is garbage EVERYWHERE. There is no garbage service - people just open their windows and throw their garbage out on the street.

I asked him if he thought they did this when Sadam was in power and his interpreter said the people would have been shot if they had done this during the Sadam period. He said the garbage is the reason that everywhere you go there smells like human feces. The water smells like it and the air smells like it. He said it smells just like you were living in a dump - he was wishing he had my nose (I dont have a sense of smell).

He said he would call again in a couple of days. I asked him to call more often than every 5 days if he had a chance – we talked about how that was too long to go with no news. I told him we did not really have to talk for an hour – if he just called to say he was OK that would be fine with me.

My nephew is a Recon Marine and was in on the initial invasion. He said all those street dogs mad it very hard to sneak any snipers into the city at night. They didn't pose any threat but they were very alert and would bark at anything moving. He commented they were training tools for the kids. The adults beat the $#!+ out of the kids, the kids beat the $#!+ out of the dogs.

Bob - you are right about the dogs barking at anything - Jeff said they are everywhere and they bark if you even look at the - although there is a puppy that hanges around their FOB gate and they feed it - hell if he stays there long enough maybe Jeff will have it trained to be a bomb dog

Hi Ed,
If we wanted to send things to Jeff and his unit, what address should we use? Are they allowed to recieve home made goodies like cookies ect.??

I have a ton of recent novels I thought someone might enjoy, but from reading your post, it appears thay would be an unwanted luxury no one could enjoy.

Let me know the address and other things they might like.

Char

Char - check your PM - I will send you Jeff's address along with the address for both Martin in "B" Company and Dave in "A" Company

The US Post office gives out free priority mail boxes that you can fill with anything and it only costs $7.60 to mail. Thats how I send books.

Jeff has enough books - but Harris and Perkins can use them Just include a note on yourself and how you found them.

When the three muskoteers come home I plan on going to Ft Bragg - hugging my son until people start to look at me like I am weird and then drinking beer with the three of them. We will toast you and the others who thought enough of our men in harms way to send care packages.

I dont know where the end of this will be - no one does - I do know that if Jeff, Harris, Perkins and their brothers in arms dont deal with these crazy people we will have a more problems here at home.