troop letter: Sandra

May 30, 2009

Bob and the wonderful support team of Our Troops Online,

It’s been awhile since I’ve written and since our last email I have
received more boxes from “Our Troops Online”. 

The coffee, pretzels,
candies, cookies, personal hygiene items, DVDs, books, etc. have been
distributed to the many US and Coalition troops (including our
civilians) here at Phoenix Base.  They are much appreciated, keeping a
steady stream of “guests” to my little cubicle to see what new goodies
have arrived. Our Coalition troops are simply amazed with the generosity
and support of the American public.  They just don’t get this level of
support from their respective countries.  I’ve handed cigars out to the
wonderful Rough Riders who travel in and out of the Red Zone her in
Baghdad, taking us safely from one safe area to the next to get our job
done.  They’re a wonderful group of young soldiers taking great pride in
their job!

If I could ask for your help...I see your group is wonderful about
supporting wish lists.  Here in the IZ (MNSTC-I) we’ve been running an
Advisor School for military and civilian US and Coalition members who
come to Baghdad to be Advisors to the Iraqi MinDef and Min of Interior.
These are individuals who did not receive any advisor specific training
prior to their arrival.  If it’s possible, could you track down some
rubber duct cord protector covers, about 20 ft?  It’s to prevent
students from tripping on the computer cords running on the floor
between desks.  This may be stretching it, but is it possible to get one
of those small (6-12 can) coolers on wheels?  We haul ice and drinks
back and forth between our DFAC and the classroom and in this hotter
weather the ice doesn’t last long.  No worries if that’s over the top.

For the personnel here, there are a couple of “request” items if you
don’t mind: pretzels, (military approved) sunglasses if you have any,
black or tan sunglass “croakers” (go around your neck so you don’t lose
the sunglasses), more Starbucks (love that over here!), car/room air
fresheners, dry erase markers (variety of colors), cheese/peanut butter
crackers, variety of treats/candies (they go fast), and love the
cookies!  While we have a very small PX here, we don’t get a lot of
variety in stationary or greeting cards so if you’ve got generic (or
blank) cards that would be great too.  It’s always nice to write a
personal note back home or to the wonderful groups that are supporting
us over here.  We do have a cigar club here that meets weekly.  They
appreciate what I’ve given them so if you have more of the cigars (not
so much the cigarillos or flavored ones) they would love that. 

Thanks again for the wonderful work you and your folks do every day to
make our lives here in Iraq, Afghanistan and all over the world feel a
little closer to home.  Your generosity and that of the companies and
individuals that support your effort are appreciated more than you can
imagine.  Thanks again!

v/r,
MNSTC-I US/Coalition members
Baghdad IZ, Iraq

Sandra