Letter From Iraq #12

One more week has passed and that means one less week until I can go home again.  Actually when it comes down to counting down the days until we leave, we have hit a huge milestone.  We are now out of the triple digits and into the double digits, but that of course really depends on the actual day that we leave.  With the military nothing is set in stone until it’s finished.

We are coming up on a very busy time here on FOB Diamondback.  This weekend we celebrated Veterans Day.  Actually, for us Veteran’s Day is like most every other day.  There aren’t too many big events planned for the holiday and most people celebrate it by saying the occasional “Happy Veteran’s Day”, but that’s the most of it.  Actually the gym organized a Veteran’s Day 5K fun run.  From what I hear the turn out was pretty good.

In a couple of weeks we celebrate Thanksgiving, which is one of the more celebrated holidays on overseas bases.  It is usually a slightly more relaxed day and it gives everyone a chance to get together and have some fun.  When I was in Germany I would get invitations from people at work to come to their house and spend the holiday with their family.  It would receive the same invitations from friends at church.  The problem that always arises is that I can never figure out where to spend the holiday.  I would like to attend everyone’s get together but that just isn’t possible.  But one thing is always guaranteed, there will be a lot of food and a lot of fun.

During the same week as Thanksgiving is a milestone for me.  It is the one year of dating anniversary for my girlfriend, Megan, and me.  The last couple of months have been hard with the deployment but we are able to talk most days with AF chat and so we have it better than most.  Before I move on I just want to say, Happy Anniversary and I Love You.

So after Thanksgiving the big holiday season really kicks off.  Of course around here we are already seeing an abundance of Christmas stuff at the PX.  I understand the rush to get it out here in Iraq and other deployed locations since everyone has to mail all of their Christmas stuff back to the states and even though the postal system is pretty efficient around here it still takes a while for things to make it back.  The issue is that there is a huge increase in both incoming and out-going mail and so it may take things longer to get back and forth.  The post office has gotten it down to a science and has informed us that in order for packages to be delivered by Christmas they should be sent by December 4^th.  It seems really early to me but they have said that they have already started to see an increase in mail due to the holidays.  I still think that it’s too early to think about Christmas since we haven’t even made it through Thanksgiving yet.  I’ve always felt that Christmas decorations shouldn’t be put out in stores or homes until the day after Thanksgiving at the earliest.  Of course that’s just my opinion and obviously it’s not shared by the retailers who put out their Christmas stuff before they even put out Halloween costumes.

The sun outside has risen on another beautiful day and that means that it is time for me to sign off for another week. But before I do I want to take a moment to say hi to a couple of people.  First I want to say Happy Birthday to my grandpa Baldwin Ternes, from whom I got my middle name.  I’m sorry that it’s late but mom just reminded me the other day and I don’t have my calendar here to remind me.  I hope that it was a good day.  I also want to say hello to Allison Guthmiller and her fellow classmates at Robert Miller Elementary School in Bismarck.  I also want to thank Allison for her letter and to let her know that Cassie made it in one piece.  We took a trip to St. Elijah’s Monastery here in Mosul and I will be sending her back soon with tales of adventure.  I also want to thank Paul and Cindy Brandt and Family for the very nice Veteran’s Day card.  You don’t see cards for Air Force people too often and I thought that it was a nice change.

I also want to thank all of our veterans from wars past.  Most people think that what I do is a huge sacrifice, but in comparison to the sacrifices that were made by our older veterans in previous wars, my life is easy.  Some of them ate C Rations and lived in tents and no matter how hot it was there was no air conditioning and sometimes not even heat in the winter.  I am fortunate enough to get up to four hot meals a day, with made to order omelets in the morning from my omelet guy.  I sleep in a metal box with my air conditioner and heater and my biggest complaint is when the internet goes down.  I have life made and it is all thanks to them and the sacrifices that they have made.

If you have a question that you would like to ask or just want to say Hi feel free to email me at john.iraq@hotmail.com.  If you would like to write and send the letter through the post office my mailing address is:

SSgt Ferderer, John B.

F Co. 5-158 AVN (AF Weather)

FOB Diamondback

APO, AE 09334

Until we meet again, Have A Great Air Force Day!