A Day Off in Iraq and R&R Plans

Mom (and Dad),
Another Thursday in Iraq. I'm taking today off, thankfully no one's come looking for me yet... It's been a while since I had an entire day off, without going in for something.

I woke up to rain this morning. I think its the first rain in a while. The rain also brought cooler day temperatures, it was getting rather warm the last couple days. Like hi 70's.

The construction engineers left a couple days ago, so I've been just a little less busy. But my friend and co-worker Lt Rolly Holcomb leaves Sunday for R&R, so I will have to do his job while he's gone. He is going home to his family (parents, brother, sister, nephew) in South Dakota/Iowa border. His Mom's a town doctor, and Dad's a sort of entrepreneur farmer/construction worker. Rolly has become a pretty good friend these last several months since deploying. He reminds me a little of Zach, but not quite as free spirited outdoorsish.

Have a great time in Motown, I love hearing about what you get to do while in my old stomping grounds. Please say hello to Riegel, I really haven't heard much from him since deploying...

It looks like my R&R date will be 22 March. Basically I will leave FOB Iskan on the 21st, fly to FOB Kalsu, wait a day there, then fly to BIAP (Baghdad International Airport) wait at BIAP a couple days for a flight to Kuwait, hopefully there will be an civilian charter waiting in Kuwait, but that could also be a couple days wait, from Kuwait I will probably stop in Germany, then fly to either Houston or Atlanta, those are the two points of entry for troops coming back home on Leave. There I will hop on a plane for Alaska. Total it takes between 5-7 days getting home, and 5-8 days to get back. Those days don't count against the 15 days leave we get. It seems like such a long way away. I will probably bring a small assault pack (day pack) with my laptop, iPod, shaving kit, and that's it. Then just the cloths I'm wearing. I can't wait to strip off these ACU's for 15 days and slip into my old regular civilian cloths...

Have a good visit with Molly.

Love you,
Sam