didn't plan to do this in Iraq...

Ugg I have phone watch...it's a stupid post that was invented to punish certain people, now we all have to do it. I sleep next to a phone in the office, if it rings I have to go wake up the Major....but if the phone doesn't wake me up, it will automatically forward to his room anyway, completely pointless.

No fridge in the office?

Not a problem for us! The air outlet portion of a standard window ac unit (like the 4 we have powering our shop) will hold 2-3 soda sized cans perfectly. Any more than 3 and the A/C will start to ice over on the front.

weather relief

It is finally cooling off a bit in this place. In the mornings it is a nice 70 degrees and sunny. Although twice in the past week it has clouded over and threatened to rain. I assume they were rain clouds and not just overcast from all the burning in the dump next door. During the day it is getting to the mid 90's to low 100's, which is a big relief from when I arrived and it was 120+. Everymorning I sweep my can (aka my trailer I sleep in), and every evening there is a fine layer of dirt on the floor. Not sure where it all comes from (well outside would be the obvious answer). I want to thank everyone for all the goodies I've received in the past week. It means a lot getting mail and packages.

Sgt Ellis

Promotion

"When people ask what I do out here the easiest way to explain it is I am the UPS/FEDEX/ and USPS delivery guy for the shop. Actually I don't deliver anything, I organize and sort and then let them know their stuff is ready to pick up :)

-W"

Congrats to Will!! He was promoted to Sergeant on October 1st. This has been something he's been chasing for a bit now, and it is nice to fine earn the title and recognition. His address will change slightly now on the first line. Update your MotoMail accounts and mailing addresses to refer to "Sgt" rather than "Cpl". His mailing address will always be current on the blog.

make mouths happy

I got the goodie box from work. I love it...yummmmm It made my morning to see all the yummy treats in there. Sgt bowen and I have already eaten half a bag of twizzlers. I was ordered to "hide them". I put them on a shelf and was chastised for not hiding them LOL. I guess I am supposed to save the Sgt from his own will power.

Pass the A1

The other day we were sitting in the chow hall wondering, "Where is the steak sauce?" Sure we all came to war, but Wednesday night is surf and turf night and here we are eating steak and shrimp in the desert. Of course we were only joking about not having steak sauce on the table. One has to wonder though. I can't say its terribly fun here, I still havn't made it to the MWR center yet or the base movie theater. One good thing about my section's job is the simple fact that all of a sudden someone will go "Wow its 17:00 already" and its then you realize you've worked all day and really havn't noticed the time.

-W

working hours

"Sorry I have been kinda MIA recently. They have posted us on 16 hour mandatory work days. We really don't have any free time!

-W"

Induction

Yesterday we inducted over 100 pieces of gear. A typical day is around 20-30. Inducting gear consists verifying all of their paperwork is correct, and filling out more paperwork, as well as logging the gear into the shop. You have to love grunt units. They turned in 37 pieces of the same type of radio. A little motorola hand radio. Apparently they are not desert proof. When asked "How do you break 37 pieces of the same gear?" The response was "Easy, you line them all up and then run over them with a Humvee.

Tired

I've heard from Will and things are getting up and running in his new job. Right now he's still getting acclimated to all of these changes.

He's been super busy and worn out. It sounded like his days have been a blur between WORK, meals, and sleep with work taking up a good 12 or more hours a day - 7 days a week. He hasn't had much of a chance to do anything other than those three things.

Evidently a common thing is getting sick when you first arrive. Your body needs to adjust to the foreign country just as if you were traveling. Different things in the food or water than what you are used to. At the moment, it sounds like that is his hurdle he's facing.

MotoMails have been arriving to him at the address, so I'm glad that system is up and working. He says they arrive sorta like bills. You rip off the three sides, and get the letter/email printed for you inside.

He also passed along this URL:
http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/main5/90398464FCA173998525734F00454E64?opendocument

Arrived and How to Communicate

Will is now officially at his 'home' in Iraq for the next 7 or so months. He was able to call on Saturday and say he was there. He says the chow hall had a wide variety and was happy to see things from home like "Coke" were available. He is very grateful for the kindness of CEC for the phone cards. They work perfectly and certainly help as a morale boost.

I have moved forward with trying out a few communication techniques. I want to get a feel of the different types so I could answer or help anyone else with questions. Check out the post early on this blog about "Investigating communication" for specific details about these avenues.

First I called the post office and requested the Military Care package set. That was super easy. About half a week later a big box appeared with great supplies in it. They shipped me 6 boxes (of 3 flat rate sizes), a role of tape, customs forms, address stickers, and the baggies for everything. I have completed my first box which will go out tomorrow morning. From the address link on the side bar, I've linked to an example of how to fill out the customs form. It was VERY helpful to me, since this is all new to me. From what I understand it should be $8 and some change to ship this package. I've read that you should not mix food and hygiene style products in one box. So the box I'm sending has no food, but other goodies that can be useful. I will try my best to send them about once a month, so if you want something to go in one let me know ;).

Next up, I've also tried MotoMail. I think I really like it, and once it is confirmed that all went as planned with it, I think I'd recommend it to anyone fairly computer savvy who would like to send letters or notes to our troops. MotoMail is a hybrid email / letter provider for the troops. We write into the system similar to an email, then it is printed at his base and handed to him like a letter. I've written one and it appears it was printed for delivery 14 hours after I wrote it. Not too bad of a deal. It stepped me through the process for setting up his address in the system. If this first test one went well, I plan to send these on a fairly regular basis. Maybe to tell him what I've been up to that day or any little tidbits from home. They are super easy and hopefully if it all went well a great way of adding a regular taste of home.