10/31/06

pardon the bizarre typing but these german keyboards are crazy. I have arrived in leipzig and am waiting a couple of hours before continuing to kuwait. all is well so far. no real sleep yet as the plane is crammed with weapons, bags, and boots. still hasn't hit me that i will be gone for a year. hope all is well with all of you. I'll keep in touch as much as possible. should be in kuwait in the next 7 hours or so.

much love!

Mark


11/01/06

All,
So far so good here in beautiful Kuwait. We have 24 food (good buffet style), access to the internet (hence this email) and lots of other things to make the first few weeks of deployment tolerable. Of course, a great deal of this will change once we cross the berm, but until then I will write as much as possible.

The weather here is hot and humid. There is a certain mildewy smell that hits you when you get off the plane very typical of tropical climates (think Jamaica sweetheart). So far I haven't seen any camels but I think that will change once we get out to the weapon ranges. No precise date on when we are heading it but it shouldn't be too long. I'll keep you all posted as often as possible. Thanks to everyone who shot me emails and myspace comments. Makes me feel much closer to home!

With Love,
Mark


11/05/06

Mom,
Forward this email to anyone who is interested...


Received the email at 1251 on Sunday. I probably would have checked sooner though but I was so damn busy I couldn't make it to the internet center. Thank you so much for making Janet a key. That will mean so much to her! And do take her to see Borat because it will definitely make her laugh. As for reading, I am in the middle of Thomas Paine's The Crisis. You could probably find all the text online for free but I know that is not as fun. You will be amazed at his writing and how many great quotes there are. Needless to say he is one of my favorite writers.


So I know you like details about what I am doing day to day and what my life is like so I'll give you the last 24 hours as well as the next 24 hours. Yesterday we had a battalion sized weapons range with a variety of weapon systems that my company had to support. So I had to wake up myself and half my platoon at 3 am (me at 2) to go to the ammunition holding area to transport the ammo to the range. Interestingly enough, the range was outside of the base so we were driving on Kuwaiti roads past camel herders and the like. I definitely didn't feel like I was in Kuwait until I saw a flock of sheep being herded across a highway and a herd of camels near our range. Anyway, after we fired all of our weapons we headed back to the base (our escort got us lost!) and finally made it home. After producing an excel spreadsheet showing how my platoon in Iraq was to be organized, I showered and passed the hell out. Woke up this morning at 4 and went to the gym with a fellow LT and the Commander. After lifting I had breakfast (bagel, omelet, fruit bowl, juice, oatmeal with strawberries) and took my guys back out to the ammo holding area to turn in the remaining ammo. After that, I read for about an hour and went to the lunch with the Commander and the 1st Sergeant (NCO equivalent of a captain). My lunch consisted of 2 egg rolls, 2 tacos, an orange, and a hot dog with sauerkraut. The food here is comparable to the soup exchange, lots of variety and quite good (though disastrous when you mix the way I do!).

The next 24 hours will consist of me completing some paperwork and planning to take my platoon through convoy live fire exercises where we practice what to do in case of an emergency (flat tire, ambush, etc) Things constantly come up that require my tending to, and many of my soldiers are starting to get nervous, so I've experienced an increase in cot side conversations about war, life, and whatnot. The weather is quite temperate, but the wind is what gets you. The sand is so fine that you don't really feel it hitting you but suddenly your eyes become irritated and your vehicle looks like someone shoveled sand on top of it. There have been some beautiful lightning storms in the distance and the occasional light shower, but that is about it. Still trying to avoid buying goods from the merchants who visit our base, but I figure I have to send something home to prove I'm here and not secretly partying in Fiji.

Anyway, hope all is well with the fam. Love ya lots and I'll call you later as it is a little past midnight where you are.

Just happy to be here,