Pippin

Just Playgirl/Playboy, that sort of thing. Cosmo is sorta iffy since it's somewhat mature themed but it should be fine since it's women's health and fashion, etc. I really doubt anyone would say anything about it. The Iraqi people don't allow things like that to be mailed to their country because it's against their religion, but I think it only applies to hardcore porn magazines.

Well, I had a whole post typed out in reply but the flipping Internet went down and I lost it. Here are some ideas: nuts any dried fruit like raisins or banana chips granola or oatmeal bars individidual bags of chips and cookies because they stay fresh longer than the full sized box and are easy and lightweight to carry around on patrols for a quick snack. I like to get the big boxes of them at Wal Mart and send a few at a time. instant mac and cheese instant oatmeal instant ramen noodles those individual sized boxes of cereal trail mix Pop tarts Little Debbie snacks coffee beef jerky dip and salsa for chips and crackers in plastic containers crackers Gatorad and Kool Aid mixes with the sugar already added. cheese and sausage logs like you can get from Hickory Farms or Figis.com my husband likes potted meat, you can find it next to the canned chicken and tuna. I think it looks really gross, but he likes it for some reason. It's kinda like pate, just not as *em* sophisticated, lol. Spam makes it to give you an idea, hehe. plastic, individual containers of fruit chicken and tuna in pouches with the water or oil already drained off: skips the step of that and is lighter to carry than the cans. salt, pepper, tabasco sauce, etc. I think it's http://www.minimus.biz that you can buy restaurant style packets of many different types of condiments at cheap prices. napkins disposable silverware and plates toothpicks hand sanitizer sunscreen wet wipes/baby wipes: good since they don't get to shower very often shout! laundry stain wipes deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, mouthwash, soap, shampoo, shaving cream, razors or razor blades, etc. I don't know how well you know him, this could be embarrassing to send for both of you if it's not that well. Many servicemembers get hemorrhoids while they're in Iraq, so preparation H cream/gel, Preparation H wipes and stool softener is good to send. cough drops and sore throat drops. Noxzema. sunscreen, lotion, foot powder or foot cream, bug spray. small handheld, battery operated fans towel and washcloth because the military issue ones are rough and scratchy batteries Ziploc bags in various sizes socks eye drops like Visine because of all the sand and dirt books magazines newspapers crossword puzzles small handheld electronic games, mini puzzles and games small toys like hackey sacks, footballs, Nerf balls, Koosh balls, etc. those squeezy stress balls *** The only mailing restrictions Iraq has are no pork products and no adult magazines, even ones you wouldn't really consider 'risque' adult ones, like Maxim, sports illustrated swimsuit edition, and Cosmo. Chocolate, sweets and homemade cookies should only be mailed September/October through March. The rest of the year, it's too hot to mail them and they'll turn rancid or melt before they get there. You don't want to mail anything in an aerosol container at any time of the year because it can explode at high altitudes in the plane on the way over there, and can explode and catch fire in high temperates as well. Don't worry about stamps or phone cards because it's free for them to send mail from Iraq or Kuwait, and they can get the best deals on phone cards over there. Pens, paper and envelopes are a good thing to send though. Cigarettes are ok to mail but not lighters or matches since they're flammable. Seasonal boxes are fun to send: beads and stuff like that at Mardi Gras Easter basket at Easter small Christmas tree, lights, ornaments and stocking at Christmas plain store bought angel food cake, container of icing, party hats, party favors and toys, birthday hats, confetti, streamers, napkins, disposable plates and silverware at birthday This should be enough to get you started with some ideas.

Parade Pictures, last set...sorry it's so many http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...cs/2d4d9dda.jpg Military working dogs and their handlers http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...cs/e2a5aee7.jpg

Parade Pictures, set two My husband's unit marching: He's a humble and down to earth person and didn't want to march in it, but they were short a few people and we were going to it anyway, so he volunteered for it. Me being the spaz that I am and being so excited on the day of the parade, didn't even notice him waving at me and walking right past me until my girlfriend that went with me smacked me on the arm and said "there he is, he's looking right at you!" I was looking everywhere for him but where he was, lol. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000043a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000046a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000047a.jpg Float http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000090a.jpg Helicopter fly over http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000067a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000068a.jpg WWII era military car http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000034a.jpg tank http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000081a.jpg

Parade Pictures, set one Ft. Carson mounted colour guard: The main unit at this post is a cavalry unit, so they still use horses for sake of tradition in ceremonies and parades. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000021a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000022a.jpg Various other colour guards http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000023a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000056a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000056a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000057a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000059a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000083a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000084a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000093a.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...cs/4c905795.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/Lit...s/S3000073a.jpg

Pippin: I know it's easy to see the folks who do the nasty things, like stealing the magnets or being rude to soldiers, etc. But there are many of us who have never lost our respect for the military and haven't fallen into the trap of blaming our protectors for the mistakes of our leaders. God bless our military (and their families) with safety and the strength to do what is right, and God bless them and the innocents who pay the price of conflict. Hi Sue: I am grateful for those people and know there's many of them out there. As it usually goes, it's the negative ones and things you hear about, and not the positive ones. There has been a lot of scams targeting military families here since the main unit at Ft. Stewart deployed; which I was unfortunately a target of. It was a large group of people running a long distance scam, they were calling military family members and telling them that their spouse had been killed in Iraq and to stay on the line for more info, during which they'd be charged a very high long distance rate. Thankfully, I know that the Army doesn't notify people of KIAs in that manner and just hung up, but there are a lot of wives and families new to the military life who may not know that. There was also one man who actually had the nerve to come into the housing area and knock on the door of a deployed soldier's family to tell them he had been killed in person. I'm just glad she knew that wasn't how the Army handles that, but there are some really sick people out there. Both of the posts and military towns we've been stationed in have been very supportive of the military during both of his Iraq deployments, and I'm very thankful for that. Most military towns are like that because of the amount of jobs and revenue the military provides for the town, and the feeling of patriotism and support is always high, not just when they leave and when they come; but support and help is provided and offered during the deployments as well for those left behind. Like here and in Colorado where we were stationed before, nearly every place offers some type of military discount and the cities have held fun events and outings throughout the deployment for the families. Colorado Springs had a nice welcome home parade for the military, it really touched my heart to see all the people that came to it to show their support. But on the flip side of that, for the people in military towns who aren't supportive of the military; their negative attitude is also more concentrated than anywhere else. I actually know of a few people who have had notes reading "I hope your husband gets killed over there" slipped under their windshield wiper by people who saw their "half my heart is in Iraq" and "keep my husband safe" magnets on their vehicles. I just try to overlook those people though and ignore them unless they do something personally to me or a friend of mine. This country is big enough for all our opinions and viewpoints, so I try to be "live and let live" until something has been done to me. Then, of course, it's on; but this country was founded for people to have differences of opinion on important matters and for people to be able to live as they please, and it's not my place to judge them for believing or living differently than I do. Heaven help them the day they cross or attack me personally though, because I'm not one to turn the other cheek then.

Hi Kristen, Wait until the homecoming ceremony, it's going to be one of the best days of your life, if not the best one. It's a complete reversal from when they left months before; because everyone's happy and there's this feeling of relief in the air for the personal side of the war being over, for now. It's not over for good until everyone is home and things over there have been resolved; but it is nice to know that at least for now, it's over for you. Please feel free to post on here for me or PM me if there's anything you need to know about Ft. Stewart or the Army! I know learning all the military terms and such can be overwhelming, so just let me know if there's anything I can help you with. What job/MOS is she in? My husband is in combat support, he's a Bradley Fighting Vehicle mechanic. (it's similar to a tank, but smaller) She'll be in Kuwait for a few weeks before actually going into Iraq, you'll get her address there a little while after she arrives in Iraq. Letters need just one stamp to be mailed over there. Letters take about a week to get there and packages take about two weeks to get there. Be sure to mail them priority because they'll go from the post office to a military mail processing center in New York and all packages marked priority get flown over, all others go over on ships and can take months. You can get free flat rate boxes that cost just $7.50 to ship and you can put as much stuff in them as will fit without making the box sides bulge out. Ask for them at the post office counter. You'll have to full out a customs form there since it's going overseas but if you are mailing anything valuable like CDs, DVDs, etc. do this: Fill out one form with what's actually in the box and place it inside the box. Fill out another form just listing "food", "books", "toiletries," etc., stuff people wouldn't want to steal, and give it to the post office clerk to place on the outside of the box. Unfortunately mail theft by other soldiers is a big problem in Iraq right now; this way you can safely mail her things like that without customs being able to say it wasn't listed on the form since it will be on the one inside the box. They'll see you were just protecting yourself. I do that with my husbands so I can mail him DVDs and stuff without having to worry about them getting stolen; and I hide them carefully inside the box. Grocery bags make great packing material for packages and that way you're reusing your bags too. After this month, you won't want to send any chocolate or hard candy because it will melt or spoil before it gets there. The same thing for homemade cookies, they'll spoil in the heat due to all the fat and sugar in them before they get there. Let me know if you need any care package ideas. Another thing I've found that works well is to not use address labels on envelopes, write out your address instead. The heat can dry up the adhesive and make it fall off, or sand and stuff can get stuck under it and make it fall off too. Iraq and Kuwait are about 13 hours ahead of us, depending on where you are in the states. It depends on where she's at in Iraq and what's available there how often she'll get to call. At the start of the deployment, communication is pretty limited because each unit has to set up their own secure phone lines and Internet connections, if the Internet can be connected at all. They'll have phone and email centers set up but the lines for them are really long and most times they are limited to a half hour of phone or computer time. Sometimes the lines are just too long to call often when they don't have a lot of free time to stand in them. My husband deployed in January and so far he's only gotten to call four times, about every two-three weeks, and talk for about 10 minutes. That's normal for us though, it was the same way last time. A lot of how often you get to call depends on what your job is along with where you're at. His MOS isn't one that is around phones a lot and he always goes to isolated, small camps that don't have many phone lines set up for people to use. I'm rambling again..anyway, drop me a line if you have any questions or need anything, or if your daughter needs anything before she goes, or just to talk! I'm not an expert on the Army or anything because we've only been together for three years and married for nearly two, but he's been in the Army for nearly eight years and this is our third deployment and second move/change of duty station in the time we've been together; so I've learned a lot in a short amount of time. We have been here at Ft. Stewart since August. My husband came home from Iraq in April and we got orders to come here the month after that. It's definitely been a whirlwind experience! He was in Korea for 15 months before he came home from there, deployed to Iraq three months after coming home from there, was there for four months before he came home (wasn't longer because the unit he was in was wrapping up their deployment), and went back to Iraq for the second time nine months after that homecoming. Throw getting married, buying a truck in Illinois and renting an apartment in Colorado when we lived there, buying a house here, four dogs and two moves into the mix and it's been wild, but it's been fun too. We pretty much got married on the road after he came home from Korea, lol; we call it our "road trip" wedding because I picked him up at the Atlanta airport in Georgia and after spending a few days in Georgia; we went to Tennessee and did some tourist stuff in Chattanooga, went to Kentucky and saw Ft. Knox, visited his dad in Indiana, visited his family in Illinois and got married and got our truck there, visited his brother in Wisconsin and then drove through Nebraska and Iowa to get to Colorado. It had been a long time since either of us had had a vacation and since we had to be on the road anyway, he took a month of leave and we did it all.

I think it was just an idea. I was glad to read that, even though they were all against the war, they support and respect our troops. It hasn't always been like that in this country, unfortunately. I've got to get to bed. Goodnight. I'm glad to read that too. I know what you mean, it's amazing how the way our country treats our military changed from World War Two and the Greatest Generation to the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten much better since then. Here and in many military towns, there's a huge problem with people stealing patriotic magnets off other people's vehicles as a form of protest. There was actually a 300+ lot of them for sale on Ebay a few months ago that the seller of them was bragging about they'd all been stolen. The things some people do. Good night!

Did she actually spit on him or just thought about it? Stuff like that makes me really angry. It's extremely rude and disrespectful. I'll be one of the first people to admit that I don't believe in or support the Iraq war because I believe we went into Iraq for Bush's own personal agenda to boost his popularity under the guise of freeing Iraq and helping the Iraqi people. We're doing that and doing some good things over there but only doing the right thing isn't enough. The right thing should be done for the right reasons and I don't think we're there for the right reasons. But I do support my husband and our military and do a lot more for them besides slapping a "support our troops" magnet on my truck. I always have and I always will because this is what they do and while they did "sign up for it" as I hear so many times, they aren't the ones who make the decisions on where we go to war at and for what reasons. They didn't make the choices or the rules, they just have to follow them and execute them. Our country wouldn't be what it is today without the military. People don't understand that servicemembers DON'T have an option about going to Iraq or not. If they choose to go AWOL and/or not go, they will be charged with desertion if found and will be arrested, court martialed and put in jail for not going. AWOL is leaving your duty post for another country or another state, refusal of orders is simply not going on a ordered deployment and staying where you are. At our post here, there is one soldier who filed for a conscentious objector status a few days before his unit returned to Iraq and he chose to not go with them. That's currently what's happening to him. I see bumper stickers all over the place here reading "My husband's in Iraq, where's Sgt. Benderman?" I'm only posting his name because it's been made public record on the news. I don't have one of them because while I don't agree with him not going, it's rude to call him and his family out on it. It's not hard to realize we are a military family when you walk in our house though, lol: we have American flag and Army stuff all over the place. Most days I find strength in it. Sometimes it makes me mad and miss my husband more, lol; those days I throw a sheet over it so I don't have to look at it. I know he's got a job to do and he'll be home when it's done and not a minute before. Anyway, I'm rambling here...my point is it is possible to not support the Iraq war and still support our military without a conflict of interest. It's our military that has given people in this country the freedom to spit on them and call them baby killers for doing their job. *** It is the Soldier, not the reporter who has given us freedom of press It is the Soldier, not the poet who has given us freedom of speech It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer who gives us freedom to demonstrate It is the Soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag. *** My husband is a soldier so I must live from day to day for tomorrow could bring what he wants most, a chance to fight for his cause, for his country, or for his life. I could find myself alone and afraid, not knowing where he is, or how he is, or if I'll ever see him again. I live from day to day-and give him my love in every way I can. When he needs me, I'm there. When he's restless, and anxious to go and when he tells stories from "other wars" I smile and agree nothing else could compare. I hide my tears when he asks me to be strong, to accept his flag if he should give his life in battle. I silently pray I shall not have to give him up this way, that war will never take him from my arms. But I promised I'd be with him through it all, stand by and support him in all that he has to do. Because he was a soldier long before he was my husband, and for him there is no other way of life. So I will be strong. I'll try to give him everything he needs, to love him with all my heart and with all my soul, every day and every minute we have together. Because I'm married to a soldier, and tomorrow he may be gone.

Thank you again everyone. Ruth and Wufnu and the others, thank you for your and your family members' service to our country as well. One of my uncles is a USMC Korean War veteran, my grandfather is an 82nd Airborne Battle of the Bulge in WWII veteran and Purple Heart recipient, his brothers were also in WWII and my dad was in the Vietnam War. That was all before I was born (1981) so I never have dealt with it on the family member side before now. When people ask me how I do what I do, I just tell "When you love someone the way I love my husband, you find strength in yourself you didn't know you had to get through anything and faith that can move mountains." Miztiki, that's really wonderful news about your husband! I know you both must be excited and happy about it.

Thank you very much, both of you, for your kind words. I'll print them out and send it to my husband in his next letter.

I'm going to print this out and send it to my brother, he's a bit lacking in this particular department, LOL.

Thank you very much, things like this mean so much to me. My husband is in Iraq again for his second tour and we've got a long road ahead of us...he won't be home for at least another ten months and it's very likely to be sixteen-eighteen more months before he does come home. I haven't seen that show because I don't like to watch those sorts of things while he's away...I live every minute of my life with the fear and worry that I'm going to get that knock on the door to tell me my husband was killed; and I worry I'm never going to see him again alive. It's something that never goes away; no matter how cheerful I seem on the outside and I do try to be, it's always there. I just hope one day that more of the American public realizes that our military are real people with families, lives, hopes and dreams; and not just numbers and bodies. I belong to an Army Wives bulletin board and a woman on there recently lost her husband in Iraq. I don't know her personally but I feel so sorry for her and their two boys (ages 8 and 11). It really hit close to home. Here's some other things you might like to see. http://www.veteranscava.org/photos_that_wi...er_make_the.htm http://www.clermontyellow.accountsupport.c...h/UntilThen.swf

Must be one of those "don't trust anything that bleeds for seven days and doesn't die" types, lol.

If he seems like he's getting dehydrated, give him some Pedialyte. Some vets say Gatorade but it can make stomach problems worse with all the sugar in it.