‘Spirits Are Still High’

The bathroom conditions are not bad. They do a decent job of cleaning them out. I only stay in as long as necessary though. :) Not much else going on at the moment. I'll talk to you soon. Love Trish

Jameson, 34, of Omaha, Neb., was killed on her first convoy run July 14, 2005 in Trebil.

Army Spc. Rafael "T.J." Carrillo  Jr.
April 30, 2005 (An e-mail to his mother)

hey mom heres some pictures... i got quite a few of them hopefully its not too big of an email... its gettin bad out here again... a car bomb blew up 15 feet from our humvee yesterday... we were all ok... the humvee got messed up though... but it made it back to the maintenance bay on the fob and got fixed... today we got caught in a little ambush... this is happening because they anounced the seats or something and the sunnis got mad... thats just what my LT told me... maybe u know more about that from watching the news... hopefully it calms down... but I feel that God's been watching over us considering what happened and we are all still ok... well ill talk to you later... I love u and miss u...  TJ"

Carrillo, 21, of Boys Ranch, Texas, died June 28, 2005, in Baghdad during his second yearlong tour, when a mortar detonated near his Humvee.

Army National Guard Master Sgt. Chris Chapin
Aug. 3, 2005 (An e-mail to his wife)

Hey baby, it was really good to hear your voice last night. I was up at 0450, went and got chow, and am now on duty. Your family readiness does not change. BCT is Brigade Combat Team. That is not us, that is PA., who we fall under.   I was doing good in the TOC in HQ. Leadership thought I was doing excellent. I tried it, but it wasn't me. Part of it was that I felt caged in, you know? The other part was that people like Auggie and Keith are doing missions, and I am not, and feeling guilty.

So I now have a new job. The Marines are running the ISF, Iraqi Security Force, which is the new Iraqi Army. They were looking for volunteers, there you have it. We are in Camp Defender, which is the Iraqi camp inside FOB Ramadi. Eight of us Army guys are living here with 10 Marines and the ISF. I am an Advisor, which means training and mentoring the ISF officers and Sergeants. It's just like before, a train the trainer role. The difference is that now we go on patrols in Tammin and 5K, the 2 cities right outside our FOB (Forward Operating Base). That was why my feet were killing me, but really were just a little sore. We go out with our VT Infantry right behind us as an overwatch element. It is really quite safe, as The ISF is one of their people, and they are respected and well received. They are also very good, we just need to tweak them a little bit. This is the actual main mission over here. These are the guys that are going to make the difference, they will be the ones holding the bag when we leave. And, as I do not want to be back here in 5 or so years, or having someones son have to come over here, I will do what I can to see that doesn't happen. I am the most qualified person here, having just done this in Afghanistan. ...

Most of the weights are now in place, I will work out today/tonight. We got in some furniture, a tv, and dvd player from our Company Commander for our little MWR (Morale-Welfare-Recreation) setup. He says there is a ping pong table on the way. Is good, but finding time to play will be a challenge. Have not played one game on spades yet.