Has it been a month?

Believe it or not, Doug has been in Iraq for over a month now. In some ways it has flown by and in others time has crept along. He has been gone for just over 3 months with 6 and 1/2 to go. A family that lives next to my sister just had their son come home and they had all of their welcome home banners out for him. Makes me a bit sad that we still have over 6 months to go but happy that he returned safely and excited about the day that Doug comes home.

He seems to be adjusting to life over there and fortunately or unfortunately so does his unit. Like all things in life, when you are spending 24 hours a day 7 days a week with the same people, I get the sense that there are male catfights to be had. And Doug thought that he was getting away from hormonal outbursts. I have been fortunate enough to talk to him about once a week and emails are sporadic. Update on his contact info:

You may want to email to both GardnerDW@1DIV7MARDM.1MARDIVDM.USMC.MIL
and dgls_gardner@yahoo.com

The military email has been off and on and internet is a bit more reliable these days.

The packages I sent took a little less than two weeks to get there. I asked him if there is anything else that he needs or that the unit might need. Generally, any healthy snack is Doug's preference. As for the unit, anything goes. Not sure if they have much of a library but I am sure that some good books along the lines of Clive Cussler or Tom Clancy would be appreciated.

I have attached the picture of Doug and the Iraqi general from his meeting a few weeks ago.