Moving Forward

Dear all,

IT has been busy with our USO people here. We have gone from one meeting to the next brain storming this that and the other and working hard to finalize our plans and begin to get this center up and running. We will have a United Through Reading Program and we will need books, books, books! I am thrilled. Sherri, I NEED you!

Balad is like a little city. Picture a rectangle that is about 4 miles by five miles. All around the preimeter is a tall, tall chain link fence with the big round sharp wire around the top. I never leave the interior area of the base. I will never see out side the walls or wire. It is like a little city. The car rental place and airport where I picked our USO people up is all right here within the wires. For the most part all the streets at paved. It is very hard to figure out what is what as all the building have ten to twelve foot concrete barriers around them. They are about six feet away from the buildings. The openings are covered by another overlapping barrier they comes out another four feet. So kind of piture a bit of a maze to get to any building. No big signs announcing what the building is and very little lighting at night. Safety you know!

Okay every one, I am sitting here writing you and the gentleman next to me is on the computer on the phone talking to his daughter. He is talking to his little princess and I am crying like a baby. It is so precious! The sacrifices our troops are making is amazing and I can't thank them enough. This conversation I am hearing makes be so proud of our troops and proud of their families at home that support them.

Back to Balad. We are in trailers. Each trailer is divided into three rooms. Some have two to a room and some just one. I am fortunate to have one to myself. I am slowly meeting my neighbors and they all seem very nice. Everyones hours are different so you rarely see anybody. Women are not to be alone outside after dark without an escort. Hence the slop bucket. It is even un-nerving to open your door at night as the doors open to the outside and so you can't just crack the door and look out, the whole thing has to be opened in order to see. For me, if they don't identify them self, I don't open. There is a porta potty right outside the maze of my trailer but I don't do there either after dark. I admit it I am chicken, to go out after dark to get to the porta potty and go through the maze is a little scary for me. And I am not a big fan of porta potties anyway!

Lt Ramirez is incharge of the heliopad and has invited me to come and spend some time out there. I can't wait! That is where they bring in the wounded and also where they out process the troops that they are transfering either back home or to there units after being here in the hospital. He says there is a big, big need for assistant there and he would love the USO to be a part. You can just imagine how much I want to help there. Those wounded troops coming in need a mother and certainly the ones going back out need a mother to love up on them.

One more thing...girls you will hate me but I did not get Hard Body pictures. Being a judge was way more serious and important than I thought or knew about. I mean I had to learn the poses and count how many they did and there was not time for pictures. After is was over they all took off and I didn't get a one. They are having another in December and I will plan on getting pictures then.

I love you and miss you and appreciate so much your support.
In His Mighty Grip,
Linda