I received an e-mail about a week ago from Darci who is a friend of Julie and I that contained an attachment from her husband Dave. Dave was recently sent to Iraq about a couple of months ago, the day after his son's birth. The attachment contained a letter from Dave about how things are going for him over in Iraq. I was moved by his letter and thought I would ask Darci to ask Dave if I could share the letter on my website. She asked Dave and he said that I could.

I don't know about the rest of you but it sure makes the war more real when it affects someone you know. Please pray for Dave and his family as well as the rest of the troop's severing over in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also please feel free to leave your comments and words of encouragement and appreciation to Dave and his Family!

For beginners, I would like to thank so many of you for all the prayers for Darci and me and all the letters/goodies I have received from everyone. The kindness and generosity expressed by all of you has truly uplifted me, especially during this holiday season. Add in all the help that many of you have given Darci in her "new" single mother role, and we have a lot to be thankful for.

Nearly everyone is wanting to know the who, what's, and when's about where I'm at and what I'm doing. I was slotted to be a Host Nation Supply and Service Officer. As defined, it would have been my job to purchase all the stuff our subordinate units need which are not available through the Army supply system. However, there is no Host Nation mission in Iraq yet, since we really don't control anything outside of our little bases.

I am stationed at a place called Al Asad, and very fortunate to be here. Al Asad was the premier Iraqi Air Force base during the 1980's. The hard stand buildings, bunkers, and runways were all built by the Yugoslavians and are of good quality, along with the Olympic size swimming pool (used to store base water now), indoor pool, coliseum, and theatre. Taking this base (the Australians captured initially) intact was of importance because it has the second longest runway in Iraq . The base is about 120 miles WNW of Fallujah about 10 miles south of the Euphrates . It is currently garrisoned by about 8000 Marines and 1000 Army folks. As a matter of fact, we were the first Army unit to arrive here during the first week of November. The Marines were very leery of us being here at first, but many now realize that when the Army comes in, base improvements come too. Every Marine will tell you that they are an expeditionary force (meaning their mission is to kill bad guys), not an occupation force (meaning they care very little about how they live). That, coupled with the fact that Marines are only here in 6-7 month increments, meant that very little infrastructure development was happening here. I am tasked here as the Project Manager for the development of a GS hub (big warehouse) that will take up 117 acres with its yard and container area's. Basically, the Army wants to support the Western (Anbar province) part of Iraq from Al Asad. Currently, the base is getting the bulk of their supplies from Balad, which was/is the central hub in Iraq for all supplies. The convoys coming from Balad must pass Fallujah and Ramadi to get here, and are hit frequently. To make a long story short, it has been decided to support the entire Anbar province with convoys coming from Jordan to here, which is a much safer route and getting our soldiers off the Fallujah/Ramadi road. Below is the view looking out our office, and a very normal view for around here. Not much for playing golf.

Our living conditions are currently a little less than ideal. Most soldiers in Iraq are living in containerized housing, which is basically a forty foot trailer shell with a wall divider(s) splitting the container into two/three sections. Then based on rank, they stick one or two people into each living area. Needless to say, I can only dream about having the 10' X 20' living area I should. I'm on what I like to call the plywood plan, as a common sheet is 4' X 8'. Basically, until our containerized housing units come, there are 55 of us (all E-8 and above) living in a 60 man tent. This is a view from one of the corners. How you get 5 more guys in, I don't know? I live on the left hand side of the tent next to the heating/AC unit about half way down the length of the tent. As a matter of fact, you can see my rifle leaning up against it.

The weather through the first two month's has been similar to what we would be having at home, although now it is surely warmer, with the average's now being 40L/60H.

In my free time, I'm playing on the unit basketball team and singing with the Al Asad choir (who knew? ...actually they don't kick anybody off). We are the only Army basketball team on post, and are 3-2 currently. Needless to say, the Marines sure don't like losing to a bunch of Army Reservist. The softball league kicks up here in February (can you believe that?), so I'm looking forward to that very enthusiastically. Most of the Marines are so young (or I'm getting old), and I can't wait to nail a ball down the third base line to some whipper-snapper. Of course I'm sure I'll be pitching, so they'll be trying to kill the old man.

Our office on the other hand is much better. They stuck 7 of us in here, but we are in and out so often that there are never more than a few of us in here at any one time. As you can guess from the decorations, 3 of the 7 in the office happen to be women.

I hope this have given you all some insight as to the 5 W's about what's going on in my world. I sure miss spending the time with both the families this time of year. Thanksgiving didn't hit me as hard as Christmas (BTW- I'm finishing this up Christmas Day in the office), and anticipate this being a huge "hump" to get over during my year here. I really don't know what to expect for this country/Al Asad during the next year, or have any idea what God's plan is.

At Al Asad we don't get any local people to come onto base to work. At most camps, the government is paying $5-10 a day for general laborers, with as many as 1000 a day coming at places at Anaconda/Balad, where they have a full size movie theatre, are currently planting grass along the side of the roads, and have painted the curbs. At Al Asad, the insurgents/intimidators/local thugs have threatened/killed enough people that no one comes out here. There is a little town (5,000 people) called Baghdadi about 5 km off post on the Euphrates , but I have yet to see a worker. It's so bad outside our gates that there are 4 gravel quarries within 10 km of this base, but the owners will not sell anything (to include the whole quarry) to us because their/or their families lives have been threatened. As a result, our only current alternative for us is to truck gravel in from Jordan (220 miles), but that goes against our whole purpose of being here, which is to get soldiers off the roads.

Now don't get excited that I'm in a hot spot, because I'm not. Remember the 8000 Marines? Yeah, they have itchy trigger fingers, attack aircraft and helicopters, an easily defendable perimeter, and would never trust an Army guy for their security. OK by me J . They have actually tried to mortar us a couple of times from the local highway, but can't get the mortars into the base. They land on that big ridge you see in the first picture. Then it's a race across a barren landscape on a fairly abandoned highway against a Super Cobra or F/A-18, not usually won by a Mitsubishi pick up truck.

I can't wait to get back and be reunited with everyone into reality. I think of home often, and am thankful everyday for all the support I've gotten from family and friends. I can only hope that every soldier over here has all the personal support y'all have given to me. May this holiday season remind us that we are just all part of some big picture, unbeknownst to us, and that we wouldn't be in situations if God didn't think we'd pull through.

And no... I'm not losing weight over here. And Yes, that shelf behind me is now FULL of food.