Saturday, September 29, 2007

A letter from Iraq

This email is from a guy I graduated with. He is in the war over in Iraq and we have been writing to each other for a few days. I suggested I would like to send him a care package and asked what he wanted. Below is his response. I plan to collect some of these things over the next few days and thought if any of you had any DVDs you didn't want anymore maybe you could get them to me and we could include them. As you read, you will see he mentions some scary ones for the Halloween season, of course, I do not have any of these, so if you do, let me know! I know we are all into thrift store shopping and thought just how much the "one man's junk is another man's treasure" saying applies in this instance. How much "junk" do we take for granted that might really make a difference in this soldier's life.

I have also sent an email to Nathan asking what he might be missing already and what he would like. I really think we should all plan to pitch in and send him something at least once a month. Maybe we could rotate who's turn it is to pack and mail it each month or if no one else wants the responsibility, I will take it to make sure it gets done.

Below is Erick's email - he is from Hendersonville and has a wife and three children who live in Augusta, Ga.

In a message dated 9/29/2007 3:16:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time, erick.kramer@iraq.centcom.mil writes:

Paula,

Sounds like you see a lot of the old gang. Sounds like everyone is doing well.

As for the Care package: send me some Halloween junk. Looking for a some scary masks and costumes for people to have a party. DVDs of new/old/scary...We watch almost anything over here if we get the chance. Nice break to sit and watch a movie every now and then. I can't believe how many people I remember from the list. Wow-brings back a lot of memories. I can't wait to get back next year to see the gang. We will have to get together and have a picnic at a park and celebrate. Sounds like it could be fun. I am not sure where I will be next year, however the thought is good for now. Hard to plan some things with the war going on. We had a couple of rockets the other day and almost took out a lot of people. Too close for comfort. You guessed right-Hard to explain this place unless you have been here. There is nothing to compare it to, except video games, and when your time runs out-Game Over. We have a pretty tight group of Nurses and Doctors in the hospital. We all kid around and joke and play games during the down time. People say there is a time to get serious and in between lets have a little fun. ER gives guitar lessons and we play the occasion poker and drink "Neer Beer". I think a lot of us need to join (NAA) Non-Alcoholics Anonymous (Ha-Ha). We have been ordering some stuff from "Michaels" Spooky Town collection to build a village. Bad thing ordering online it takes a while to get here. If you want to send some movies or anything, I am sure we would all appreciate it. That is for sure, mail is the highlite of the day. You either walk away excited or depressed you didn't get anything. If we see someone not getting mail-we will usually mail them something from a care package and resend it to him/her. Makes them feel good. You would be surprised how people go crazy over getting some things. It's kind of like X-Mas. Great Moral Booster........Again, no place to shop except on-line over here. No restaurants or places to go. Surrounded by T-Walls, Wire, and of Course off limits. A lot of check points, and guards everywhere. At least it is cooling off at night a little. Well, I am sure I have put you to sleep now, so I will let you go. Talk to you soon.

Thanks for the Support.

MSG Erick Kramer
Chief WardMaster
31st Combat Support Hospital

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