A Soldier's Journey: Michael Mundell

Hello to all from sunny and HOT Ft Hood!
The team I am on consists of 11 men (no women). ... We are short two men, an NCO [Non-Commissioned Officer] to help me and another major to oversee maintenance. They will be here this week, I am told. Good men, all of them and I feel confident going with them. We work hard together and are developing a team spirit. Our brigade nickname is the "Lobo Brigade", which none of us like. We have decided to call ourselves the "Banshee Battalion" and my son Zach, the artist, is creating a logo for us to paint on the sides of our HUMVEEs and so on.
All is well at home—except that [my wife] Audrey is slowing going crazy, I suspect. Knowing my kids, I can understand why. She is doing a great job taking care of business and it is a great comfort to me knowing that my kids are in the best of hands with their mom. She is one tough lady!
I hope to hear from everyone and hope that everyone is well!
Mike

John Wayne and Fudge
5/23/06 8:33 AM

Hi to All!
One of the captains in 2d Battalion is an IRR [Individual Ready Reserve] call up like me. He was within a month of the date when he could resign his commission and to top it all off, his wife is two months pregnant with their first. Needless to say, he is not the happiest of campers. ...
This morning, I ended up next to him as we were shaving. He was still downcast and unhappy, almost morose. Understand that it was around 5:30 in the morning and our faces were both lathered with shaving cream:

ME: Josh, am I gonna have to take you out behind the barracks and adjust your attitude?
JW: Sir, I dont think you can do it. And besides, I dont think it would work.
ME: Well, dammit, it worked for John Wayne in the Sands of Iwo Jima, didnt it? Straightened Forrest Tucker out. And yeah, I could. I am bigger than you.
JW: My parents often said that old people have strange thoughts.

Not the greatest of humor, I assure you, but he laughed, and I laughed and another day had begun.

Aunt Shirley mailed me some fudge yesterday, which I thoroughly enjoyed. However, I forgot THE cardinal rule of food shipments and the barracks—one should NEVER let anyone know he has it. Especially fudge. Homemade fudge. I felt as if I were in the swirling center of a shark feeding frenzy. As people returned from training, the word went out—"hey, Major Mundell has fudge, from HOME!". Aahhh... I have about half of what she sent remaining, which I locked in my wall locker and steadfastly refuse to admit that it exists. Especially the peanut butter stuff. This is, of course, a blatant hint to all my other relatives who would like to become famous in the barracks and in emails.

Some other random thoughts:

* Although the battle armor will keep my hind end safe, I HATE it. It is heavy (35 lbs- we weighed it), uncomfortable as hell and HOT. Add to that weight a helmet, a rifle (8 lbs and awkward), another 4 lbs for a pistol, 15 lbs or so of water and another 20 lbs of "other stuff" (1st aid kit, ammo, etc) and I end up feeling like a damm mule. Add onto all of that heat into the mid to high 90's and the unpleasantness is manifest to all. Watching guys trying to run in this reminds me of the turtle that raced Bugs Bunny in the cartoons. It will, of course, only suck worse over there. Something to look forward to, I suppose.

* I still like machine guns. Yeah, I know that's a little weird, but they are neat. Lots of bullets and shoot real fast.

* Firing tracers at night has a beauty all it's own... little fireflies that zip and spin and bounce, red flashes against the dark night. I took pictures, by the way.

* My son Ryan wants me to mail him "things" from Iraq—helmets, equipment, etc. He even asked me to mail him a weapon. All of that caused two thoughts—why does he want a rifle from there and how long before he asks me to send him a real Iraqi person?