Thank you

Thank you for all the goodies I have received in the last few days. We are going to have to go run an extra mile or two just to work off all the cookies and peanut brittle. Hopefully all of you back home are getting ready to enjoy your nice break off from work for the Holidays :)

To be a P38 or not to be a P38

A question was posted to me in an email and I figured the all the readers would like to know the answer. The P38 is not still issued to American service members anymore due to the fact that MRE (Meal Ready to Eat) are all in bags. You can still buy replicas of them in the PX back in the states for a few dollars. When the question was originally posted to me, I thought the submitter was referring to the Walther P38 pistol that "an old timer" had given them. A nice gift! Then I did a little research and I assume it is the can opener that was the gift. Either that or it was a P-38 lightning (a WWII aircraft). Ahh the military and its acronyms

To read about the P-38 can opener

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_can_opener

to read about the Walther P38

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walther_P38

to read about the P-38 Lightning

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-38_Lightning

Thank you

To the Ladies of Upper Essex Church,

Thank you for all the goodies. I have shared them all with my fellow Marines in my shop. I look forward to heading home in a few months. Have a Merry Christmas.

Sgt Ellis

Winter Changes

Silly as it may seem, chocolate is a luxury out here. It's getting better now that the winter months are here; they will ship the stuff over without it getting ruined in the transport over. The PX had tons of snickers imported the other day. Do we buy just 1 snickers? No, we bought a whole box!

The weather went from hot during the day and warm at night to warm during the day and cold as soon as the sun thinks it is going to set. This took place in the span of a week it seemed, then again it might actually have been a month. I am not really sure as it doesn't feel like the middle of December.

I appreciate all the Christmas cards I have received in the past week or so. They get hung up inside my little workspace in our shop. We are all missing you guys back home and can't wait to get back. On a positive note, today is our 100th day in country for our band of misfits.

To you, From Iraq

-Shipping & Receiving

Base PX 101

I am not sure if it’s a funny story, but it's an odd perspective on the PX system here in Iraq.

I will confirm the story of another entertaining milblogger in the fact that the PX has lacy frilly women’s underwear. I am pretty sure they are not combat/field expedient. Maybe they wear them in their cans to feel like a woman in the desert? I guess I have my rifle to help me feel like a man, so whatever works? I jest, their underwear are not a hot ticket item for some reason.

Another aspect of our PX system here, the prices don’t match. The PX on mainside is much larger than the one we have on lakeside. A 25 pack of DVD-R’s on lake side is 1.50 cheaper than on mainside? I am not sure how this works but whatever, I’ll buy the cheaper ones.

Cheese in a can anyone? I am pretty sure no one in the states has the stuff anymore, because they shipped it all overseas to sell in our PX (or at least all the expired ones).