14 Mar 05
Greetings from Arifjan! I am back at my original base now. We got everything all packed up last night and today and headed back this morning. I was greeted upon my return with THREE (3) wonderful packages! Thank you so much Eileen, Em, and Mom. Eileen, I broke open the cookies and shared them. Everyone says thank you. They weren't even stale yet. Quite delicious. I also loved the DVD that was made for me too. Kels, Rae, Em- wonderful cheerleading moves! Tams, Barb, Mom- loved the bedside conversation! It was all so cute, even the kids doing the Army Crawl on the kitchen floor. They are all growing up so much. I look forward to the reinactment of Quentin for the next video...So now for what we were doing up there...We ran a mission called Four Corners. How or why it is called that, nobody knows, but what happens there is soldiers coming back from Iraq have to stop there. They come directly to us once they get through the gates. They can't eat or sleep or anyth
ing before we see them and what they do is drive their convoys (sometimes 20 vehicles and sometimes 120 vehicles) through our lanes that are all set up nicely and organized. Here they drop off anything that they don't want anymore, which should be just about everything from boxes of MREs to water to cots to fuel to a broom in the back of their vehicles. It is the beginning of the whole process of getting their mindset out of war and into going home because that is where 99% of them are headed. We heard many horror stories about how mean and rude they were going to be when they came through with all their gear, but they were nothing but super appreciative. It made us feel like we were helping them out in a small way. They all seemed to have a look of relief on their faces from knowing that their year was up, and they were heading home to a much safer place. I personally was responsible to take all of their extra nuts, bolts, fire extinguishers, spare tires, engines, etc
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-anything that they had extra on their vehicles. It was great to help them out. Plus, the 40+ days went really quickly. I still can't post pictures yet because my computer just got mailed back to me today. Hopefully, it will be here in the next couple of weeks because I GOT A PICTURE OF A CAMEL TODAY!!! Yes, I saw it with my very own eyes! Up close and Personal! You all will love the pic! Anyway, I best be going. Talk to you all soon!
-Mere
posted by Meredith Petersen @ 7:35 AM
3 Comments:
Hey Mere-
Glad to hear you made it back. I got your email today about you getting my package. I hope you find the contents useful. Have fun laying in the sun. I have a turtle neck on right now.
Mom and I went to a Pampered Chef party last night at Stephanie Kortan's. It was fun. I went and had lunch at Dak today with some of the girls that I worked with last summer. I am getting a job there again in the Personnel dept. It should be fun. I know I will have stories for you. I love you and miss you. Can't wait to hear from you again.
Love
Mallory
Glad you liked the box - bet it took awhile to get into it - they always say anticipation is often the best part of a present. I had those cookies wrapped up so many ways they couldn't have gotten stale if they'd sat for a month!! What's the next kind you'd like to try? I'll make them during packing breaks - they say a house should smell like fresh baked cookies anyway - so you'll be my reason for achieving that wonderful fragrance for potential buyers. Were the Peeps still soft and squishy too? They're sort of hard to vaccum pack!!
I've made great progress - packed up a whole lot of stuff today - little by little it's all getting done. Showings start on April 4th - can't wait till it's over!!
Next Spring we'll get together for fruit smoothies & maybe some stuffed shells at our "temporary" house!
Daughter called today and says baby should be here by tomorrow - keep your fingers crossed. Doctor told her to walk alot so she said the kids are going to make her walk around the neighborhood a few times - they're very excited and want to meet the new baby. I'll keep you posted.
Being the ones to welcome troops on the beginning of their journey home has to be a real "feel good" type of task, bet you really saw the full gamut of emotion on that assignment - they couldn't have a better gal doing that job. Will you be heading back to it any time soon or don't they tell you in advance?
Stay well - God Bless!
Hugs, Gracie
Mere-
I am glad you are done with that, though it sounds like you enjoyed it. I suppose it would be rewarding to be on the "way out of Iraq" for the soldiers. Do camels just run free out there like rabbits or what? that is strange. but be careful they don't spit in your face. not much new here, we are expecting a big snow storm but now it sounds like we may only get an inch or so. I suppose i will have to bundle up. Well, glad to hear you are in good spirits! Love you very much, kinky
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