OK, it's been a while in the making, but I finally have another "PVT Peterson" update… This is the first really big update, so it's taken a while to put together. Please don't be too critical of my typing and grammatical skills.
15-Apr-2004 - Kris has been out of the country for 21 days.
Kris called bright and early on Easter Sunday morning…very, VERY bright and early…(yawn!) The 11 hour time difference is going to create mornings like that. Honestly, though, that's OK. He could call anytime of the day or night, and I'd be thrilled to hear his voice.
Kris has arrived at his final post, in an area/town called "Taji". He says it's hot and getting hotter. The area is greener than he expected, with lots of palm trees, but still plenty of sand. It's a vast improvement from the "beach without an ocean", "sand as far as you can see in every direction" type of place that Camp Udairi, Kuwait, was. The trip from Kuwait to Taji was uneventful, but extremely boring. I'm OK with boring, really I am. If Kris was bored for the entire deployment, I'd be perfectly happy. That probably isn't going to happen, though.
On the Friday before Easter, I was reading an article on CNN.com…and my blood ran cold. The article told of a casualty and another wounded soldier in the 1st Cav Division (that's Kris), in a "quick-reaction force" team (that's Kris, too), in the Taji region (gulp!). As I sat there at my desk, nearly in shock, I'm certain that my face was the shade of a blank piece of paper. Needless to say, I was extremely happy (cried) to hear his voice. I asked Kris about the casualty, but he had no other information. He was not aware that anything had happened. He did say, however, that there have been times in the media when things have been exaggerated. It was just a great thing to hear him at the other end of the line.
Kris is in living quarters with 2 other soldiers. The space they're in isn't much bigger than 3 cots and a little storage space for their gear. Kris is very happy that the quarters have air-conditioning - it provides a place to escape the heat, even briefly. Kris had to procure (that's Army-speak for "steal") a cot. Until then, he had been sleeping on top of a HumVee…not in one, but on one. He plans on using MRE crates (Meals Ready to Eat) and other cast-off treasures to further enhance the living space.
While out on a recent patrol, Kris "captured" an Iraqi parachute - I think he said it was still packed and ready to go. Anyway, it makes for a nice decoration in their living space, and a good conversation piece. Other soldiers have "captured" similar neat-yet-safe stuff for their own quarters.
There have been other patrols where Kris has been the turret-gunner on a HumVee. This makes him somewhat uncomfortable. "Dad, I don't like the feeling of pointing a loaded gun at people," he says. "It goes against what you taught me!" I have to be proud. It's nice to hear about something said years ago that actually stuck. The people that he has encountered on patrols, with the exception of the children, are not really the welcoming sort. There are quite a few glaring faces visible from his perch on top of the HumVee. The area that his patrols have taken him through are filled with mainly bombed out buildings. Dirty and destroyed. The shocking thing, though, is that people are living in the bombed out buildings.
The camp where Kris is living (Camp Taji), is subject to regular incoming mortar attacks. Kris told me (calmly) that this happens several times a day. People outside the camp (which has an enormously large perimeter) set up home made mortar tubes and lob a shell into the camp from time to time. Apparently, though, the range on the incoming weapons isn't too serious since Kris wasn't too impressed with the whole thing. I wish that I could be as nonchalant. There was another soldier in Kris' unit, though, that picked up a tiny sliver of shrapnel in his arm from one of the mortar explosions. The soldier picked it out of his arm, had the medic apply first aid (a band aid - just what Kris said), and moved on. That soldier (it's NOT Kris) is the unit's first Purple Heart. My prayers are that it doesn't get any worse than that.
Kris reports that chow is good and plentiful. There are probably still plenty of MREs being consumed, but Kris has no big complaints about the food. That wasn't always the case, depending on where he was at the time during basic training and the days leading up to deployment, so in some respects he's moving up in the world.
Kris has been doing many jobs that he was told he wouldn't be doing. He tells me that he's thinking about volunteering to be a door-gunner on helicopter patrols. This does not sit particularly well with Linda or me, but Kris would rather get on with his job than sit around. Remember what I said about boredom several paragraphs ago? Kris is not one to allow boredom to set in. He'll do a job that needs doing. He's already there, so he might as well do a job. More prayers.
If you don't have Kris' email address and want it, please let me know. Just to set the correct level of expectations regarding email: Kris will only be allowed to read and write email from military computers. He will not be allowed to use his laptop on military networks. It's anyone's guess as to what the availability of those military computers will be for sending and receiving personal email…if at all. That being said, however, I urge you to send him a note, if you'd like. Email from him might be slim to none, but we can always hope.
Likewise, if you'd like to send a card, letter, or package, I have Kris' snail-mail address, too. The latest Battalion newsletter had some good tips and suggestions for helping your next care arrive quickly and with a minimum of fuss. If you request his postal address, I'll send it, along with the tips from the Battalion newsletter. The tips contain a nice little suggestion list of things that are welcomed. There are also restricted items, so please read the tips. The welcomed list is only a start, though, so use your imagination. Living space is tight. Kris has cautioned us that if we send a DVD or even a music CD (he can play them on his computer), a "slim" jewel case is best - the disc may end up going into a disc tote with lots of others, and there's just no storage space available for the original cases.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It's extremely important that the package guidelines detailed in the Battalion newsletter be followed. It reflects badly on the soldier if a package is searched (and there's a very good chance that your packages will be searched) and restricted or prohibited items are found. For that reason, please refer all requests for Kris' postal address to me. I need to be sure to stress the importance of adhering to the guidelines.
For those of you that I have already sent Kris' postal address to, there is more information about the request for flea and tick collars and sunscreen being shipped in separate packages. I was shocked…FLEA AND TICK COLLARS?!?!?!? I mentioned in previous updates that I would get clarification, and here it is. To quote the publisher of the Battalion newsletter: "Flea and Tick collars - when soldiers first went to Iraq, they experienced a horrible sand flea problem - they found that putting the flea/tick collars around their ankles kept the sand fleas away. The only bad thing was that flea/tick collars aren't meant for humans - so they gave many soldiers bad rashes from allergic reactions."
As for the separate packaging, well, they had an answer for me on that one, too. Quoting the publisher of the Battalion newsletter again: "The suggestion to send those items in a separate box was to keep them separated from food items you might be sending. The material the collars are made of could permeate the food packages. Same with wet wipes or antibacterial hand lotion, etc." Use your own best judgment. If you're sending an item that you wouldn't want around (or in) your food, it would be best to ship it in a separate package. A little more expensive, I know, but better safe than to get a soldier sick. They've got enough to worry about already.
Finally, Kris called us using an AT&T international phone card. Apparently, that's all that works over there. It looks like AT&T has a monopoly on the telephone calls to home. The rates are pretty high - about $0.37/minute. For my next update, I will do some research and find out where international phone cards can be purchased, or what it takes to add money to an existing card. More info to come.
If you know of anyone else that is not getting these updates that might want to start, please refer them to me. The list is getting longer with every passing day.
Your care and support is so deeply appreciated by Kris and all of the soldiers, and by Linda and me. The brave men and women are over there doing a nasty job that few of us would volunteer for.
Please keep those prayers for their safety and speedy return flowing.
Love to all.
Stuart
