Letters from SSG Dan, Part 2

Here's more from Staff Sergeant Dan. These are mostly letters to his wife, Sherrie, which she has been so kind to share with us. While you pray for Dan, please pray for her too!

Sherrie edits Dan's letters, many of them handwritten letters. After that, I edit them again, reformatting and removing last names and such. If you have concerns about opsec let me know.

December 27, 2004
Kuwait

I am sitting in a hummer with gear stacked all around me, so I’m sure this will be pretty sloppy. I’m at Camp Arifjan today. We brought 12 trucks down here to get MTS systems installed in them. The MTS tells where you are at any given time anywhere in the world. We are still planning on leaving here the 2nd and going north. We are supposed to be at our new camp Jan 4th.

I will be glad to be at our permanent place so I can unpack my stuff and get organized a little better. The company we’re replacing is scheduled to go home by Jan. 17th, so after that, we will be doing all the missions. I really hope that after the elections, things will settle down a little bit.

December 28, 2004

I’m back! Doesn’t time fly? We were up last night till 11:30 PM trying to get spare parts and convoy clearance for our trip back to Camp Virginia. Camp Arifjan is a huge camp in southern Kuwait. I was here last year for a few days before I went to Oasis. Our sister company is at [Camp] Arlington, and I went over to visit them last night. I saw Tony, and Doug. Doug is in charge of operations and intel for the 778th [Transportation Company]. Remember when we played baseball with him and his boys at the picnic?

I want you to know I’ve been praying for you every morning before I get out of bed. I hope you feel secure in knowing that. I think of you all the time and I can’t wait to see you again.

January 1, 2005

I hope you had a wonderful birthday. I really enjoyed talking to you on the phone, although I know it’s an expensive luxury. We are leaving for Baghdad tomorrow afternoon so we have been busy packing and lining up our trucks. I’m sitting outside my tent in a lawn chair and it is absolutely beautiful out here. 70 degrees in the shade and a clear blue sky. The only bad thing is the noise from the generators. Our trip to Camp Cooke will take 3 days. The camp is about 12-14 miles north of Baghdad. I’m really glad when I get mail. I’m glad Gary and Marsha came to your birthday party. They are really good friends to us. Tell them I said Hi and that I love them.

P.S. I arrived in country on Dec. 12th, so we are counting down from there. By the time you receive this letter, it will be down to 11 months. That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? I really look forward to being at home and never having to leave you again. We can plan vacations and trips again and live normal lives.

January 6, 2005
Taji, Iraq

We are based at Camp Cooke, which is called Taji. It used to be an Iraqi base before the war. Our barracks are long buildings with 16 man open bays. I have a little cubicle I call my home. I have a bed, locker, a fan and a plywood storage area. It sounds like we will be very busy running missions. We are replacing the 1072nd TC from Fresno, CA. They said they were really busy all last year. I’ll be glad when we are training our replacements.

We will be drawing dates for our 2 week R&R starting soon. It will be like a lottery so no one will be able to choose their dates. Leaves will begin starting in February and ending in September. I would like to have mine in June or July, but a lot of guys have graduations in June, so I said I would trade if I got June. I can’t wait to be with my family again.