Letter 24

8/6/06

Hey everybody,
Just wanted to say hello and hope everyone is doing well. Amy and Kayla are doing good, they are currently in Kentucky visiting with my parents for a couple of weeks, so hopefully most of you will get a chance to see them. I'm doing good, staying busy as always. We should be working on getting out of here and getting everything ready for our replacements, but with the ever changing situation here in Baghdad, we are going to know just about as much as our replacements do. We can let them know how these guys operate and which criminal organization or militia they work for but they are talking about moving us outside of Baghdad and even possibly further down south to Basra, near Kuwait. If that is the case, we will have to pack up and move again with just a few months left in country. There is another rumor that our replacements will be in Iraq at the end of September. Don't get too excited, it doesn't mean we leave at the end of Se ptember. They will have to go to Taji for a week for training before they link up with us, and then the RIP/TOA (relief in place / transfer of authority) is supposed to take about 10 days. So the current rumor is mid October. Of course everything is still subject to change, just letting you all know what I know. Things are going to be really crazy for the next few days to few weeks with a bunch of operations planned, so I will try to write when I can and reply to emails as the opportunity allows. Here is a picture of FOB Falcon (Forward Operating Base) taken from outside of the FOB, something that most people inside Falcon have never seen and a picture of our Team Chief directing traffic. Take care and I hope to hear from you all soon.