Email from Eli

The desktop on my computer has a counter that says "Bye Bye Iraq." It has been counting down the days until April 13 and today it says 30 days! When we got out of bed this morning it was 1:00 PM in Iraq and I knew that Seth and Eli were spending their last day in their room, were probably busy packing and cleaning and getting ready to send some of their gear home. Tomorrow evening they'll be in transitional housing, living in a tent. Last September I worried about how we would survive this deployment. I worried about Katy and Brittany and thought how unfair it is to ask these young brides to deal with something of this magnitude. As the days grow shorter I don't find that I'm worrying any less. I think it's more like holding my breath...waiting and hoping that the next 30 days will pass and Seth and Eli and all the Virginia boys will be back home with their loved ones.



Here's an email from Eli that arrived this morning:
Dear Family and Friends,
I have meant several times to sit down and write another group e-mail, and since I will lose my Internet tomorrow as we move into tents, I thought now was an appropriate time to finally write. Today we will take two duffel bags and a foot locker down to our motor pool to be loaded up into a connex to be shipped home. We're sending off gear we don't need any longer and personal items. Next week we will have to drag all of our stuff back out of the connexes, empty everything on the ground so customs officials can make sure we aren't planning on taking home anything we're not supposed to, and then we will load everything back up. For the next four weeks we will live in a tent with 40 other guys and sleep on cots. We have to pack in a ruck sack and an assault pack (one big bag, one medium sized bag) and live out of just that for the remainder of our time. All this sounds like a giant sized pain in the butt, which it is, but it is also wonderful because it signifies the end is in sight.
Here soon Seth and I will be leaving on a convoy mission to Baghdad, and we've got flags we are going to fly from the ASVs (Seth's flag is the one he carried with him in Afghanistan). That has become the big thing over here, flying American flags while out on missions. Seth and I are also going to go to Saddam's palace while in Baghdad. Seth has not been yet and I have only walked around the outside. We're going to see if we can get inside the palace this time.The palace houses top US military personnel and officials, and you have to find a sponsor to take you inside the palace, so we'll be doing some sweet talking. The last time I was at the palace we walked around with some Australian soldiers and got some pictures taken with them.
One quick story from our last mission. We were out for 8 days and spent over 60 hours on the road...but it didn't need to be that long. We left TQ to drive the 10 hours to CKV, and after four hours on the road the HET crew we were transporting lost some major points in our book. On a security halt to take care of personal business and check loads the HET commander came to our commander, the convoy commander, and informed them that one of his soldiers left his weapon at TQ. That is a big deal over here! We waited on word from Battalion as to what they wanted us to do, and they told us to turn around to retrieve it. So we did. However, on our way back to TQ we ran into a sand storm and had to change our course and go to Ramadi. The storm did not let up and so we were forced to stay there in a tent with no heat that felt like a fridge. Some people actually chose to go sleep in their vehicles so they could at least turn the heat on.
The next morning Seth and I were woken up at 5am to take a four gun truck element from Ramadi to TQ to retrieve the soldier's weapon. We took just four of our gun trucks so we could move at top speed through the desert. We were able to go about 55-65 mph and made great time. We joked around that this was like a modern day Saving Private Ryan...taking a group of soldiers away from their assigned mission to go on a questionable mission because of one soldier. Not exactly the same situation, but you can see the similarities.
I hope you all are doing well and are ready for Spring to arrive. We bypassed that season over here and jumped right into Summer. We have already had days in the 90s! The picture I enclosed is just one I like a lot. It is of two of our gun trucks going through a town called Little Baghdadi on Al Asad road...which is right outside our base. The second vehicle is our third gun truck, which is where I ride. Seth and I will be out of touch until we get home, but might have the chance to go to an Internet lab and write a time or two. Take care and thanks for the continued letters and support.
Love,