First emails from Iraq

I received a phone call from Tom last night (well, this morning!) at 2am letting me know he had arrived safely and had met everyone he needed to. (I have a feeling I’ll be getting quite a few of these off-timed calls…but it’s well worth it to hear his voice!) What follows is a compilation the first few emails he sent me.

I am now the late night watch officer, from 12-8am, it isn’t bad. I have been sleeping on such a shitty schedule that I don’t mind having to work it. I didn’t get any sleep yesterday, so I slept like a baby from 10am to 730pm. There is so much tactical gear that I am in the stupid seat now, and am spinning myself up on everything. After a few weeks I will be doing other stuff as I am more familiar with everything.

The Camp is small but not bad. A little about the place I live. It is a marble house, in a row of about 4, all looking the same. There are 4 rooms and a small entry room. Kyle [a friend from Camp Lejeune] is in the first room with 2 Majors, a Lt Colonel, and a Captain. I am in the next room with a Captain, 2 Warrant Officers and 2 Majors. We all are in bunk beds and everyone has gear stuffed everywhere! I am glad I brought my pillow, because there are none here! Another thing you could send me are a couple of fitted sheets and a blanket, I have to use my poncho liner to cover the mattress. There is a gazebo out back full of camping chairs and a large Sony TV that they watch DVDs all the time. They loved the movies I brought! All in all, the place feels like a fraternity house with a bunch of old frat boys. Not too bad at all.

I wish you could send Diet Coke, they have no diet POP here! Ugh, I hate the taste of that nasty syrup. The chow hall is AWESOME here. For breakfast they have an egg chef that will cook your eggs to order, tomorrow I will get the western omelet. They have anything you could want. I slept through lunch and dinner, but they have a midnight meal, which was yummy. I had a polish sausage, veal parmesan, and onion rings, yummy!

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