Below is a compilation of text from a couple of emails from Armygirl as she arrives for her deployment in the Middle East. I just pasted it together from the exact text she sent. So it may not seem to flow well together, but it's verbatim.

I made it to Kuwait just fine. The flight was great, it was a commercial flight on a 747 operated by United. We had
stewardesses and everything and I got to sit in Business class. The first time ever and probably the last. It was a great
flight and I actually got some sleep on it unlike any other time I've ever flown.
 
Im in Kuwait now at a place called Camp New Jersey. Soon though they tell me I'll have to pick up and move to Camp
Pennsylvania. Not really looking forward to that move since we have showers here but not at the other camp. We run out of
shower water daily but at least we have some if we can get there early. Today it was a bottled water shower and we're not
supposed to do that but oh well.
 
It is hot as hell out here during midday but not too bad at night and early morning. We're surviving all right and Im getting
used to drinking tons of water all day every day.

Conditions here are very rough. We had to shovel sand out of our tent when we got here and we didnt have any lights in the tent
although we were supposed to since all the other tents to. There are tents here with AC though so its not as bad as you might
think. It's just a matter of it getting so darn hot during midday. We have to walk about half a mile to chow everytime but we
can pick and choose if we want to go or not. So far the chow has been pretty good. Since we are in a built up camp that is
permanent things are so bad. The shower water tanks run out of water daily, but they get refilled every day and the port-a-
potties get cleaned daily too. At our camp there are what they call Pads. I am on Pad 5 of I think 7 different pads. They are
about 800 meters apart and on each pad are about 2000 people. I got told yesterday tough that I may be moving to a whole other
camp though where the conditions arent as good. Meaning, no showers etc.

jhawk 8:16 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Sean Penn is suing because he says he was blacklisted for his trip to Iraq. Hmmmm. Other maybe more credible reasons.
> Not a very good actor.
> Ugly.
> Formerly married to equally bad actress.
> Like father, like son.
steer 11:12 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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As I get older I worry about what it will be, when people say, "Ole steer used to say........"
steer 8:30 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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This thing was coming through here looking for tornadoes. Well there were some, but not near here, a little south of me. They're trying to film for an IMAX movie about storm chasers. If they got the footage they want, it'd be pretty darn cool to see in an IMAX theater.

jhawk 12:53 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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The following email was sent from a friend of Armygirl who is already in Iraq right now. He sent this in response to Armygirl's going away email. I'm posting it in case anyone else didn't get to see this response.

to let you know.....hopefully things will improve drastically as more rip units get here, hopefully they bring more creature comforts...1. all of your packages will get destroyed...tape all the edges very well...2. this is the first time i have seen internet since the invasion and i am 'pirating' off a contractor....all and all life in Iraq isn't too bad. Baghdad is a pretty good place to be, hopefully 3rd ID will leave you some of the things they set up to help with your creature comforts.
 
Bring lots of baby wipes and your mosquito net, paper and envelopes, you won't need stamps, mail is free to send out.
 
Now, hurry up and get here so the rest of us can leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Be safe, and for the rest of you who have no clue who I am, "hi", be sure to send here lots of mail, trust me, on most days getting a letter even if it just says 'hi' can make a whole week better.
 
Now, like I said, L, hurry up and get here so I can go back home, I have had enough of Iraq, I think we took care of most of the bad guys for you though so hopefully you won't be running for cover as much :)

--M

rip -- Replacement in Place
3rd ID-- 3rd Infrantry Division


I didn't post his name, as I didn't get permision to post this.

I'll continue to post stuff as I get it. You should be able to get news about what it's like to be a troop in Baghdad as the rebuilding starts.

jhawk 10:54 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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A new study says that in the U.S. you are not an adult at 18, it happens much later. It says most people say it happens at 26. Darn. I was hoping it said 30.

jhawk 10:41 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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A little excitement at work. An attorney tries to enter with a handgun he "forgot" was in his briefcase. "How do those handcuffs feel, not to tight I hope". He is explaining to the ATF not only why he tried to enter a Federal Courthouse, but why the gun is entered as stolen. I wondered what happened to the client he was there to represent. "Ah, no thanks I'll try someone else".
jhawk 4:33 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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New stuff up over at the photoblog. I apologize for being so lax in updating it. I actually have a good backlog of photos now, so I can get more updates on there.

jhawk 2:39 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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When I'm bored at work I notice things like this...

When the FedEx guy comes to drop off a package and the UPS guy is already there picking up packages, I always imagine there is some secret animosity between them. The FedEx guy give a knowing glance to the UPS guy, and only they really understand.

jhawk 9:14 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Armygirl should be in Iraq now. She will email me as soon as she can. The infrastructure for the internet access isn't quite in place. Plus the bandwith usable will be very limited. I'll post any stories or anything she wants here. So keep watching here for her updates.

jhawk 8:58 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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The countdown is on. I have less than 24 hours before setting foot in an area of the world I hoped I would never have to visit and I'm sure I'll see things I undoubtably could do without, but nonetheless I am going and will do so willingly. Since you know, it is my job.

Not really sure exactly what to expect other than to be hot, sweaty and dirty for anywhere between 6 months to a year. We are told that our mission is 365 days or until mission complete, whenever and whatever that is.

Im excited and apprehensive. No one ever wants to deploy, but yet there is a lure. A lure that comes from knowing that you are doing something worthwhile (even if there are those out there that would disagree) and something you and your soldiers have trained for. There's always the unexpected but yet we're being relied upon to do a job and that's what we are going to do and to the best of our ability.

I will try and relate some stories through email to jhawk so he can post what is going on, since every news agency has some slant, you'll get it through my eyes and maybe even a few pictures will pop up here and there. I cant promise that though as the bandwidth is going to be severely limited for me.

I hope everyone the very best and hope everyone will keep in touch through one means or another. Dont worry about me, I'll be safely seated behind a desk somewhere. Worry instead about our soldiers that walk the streets trying to do what is right in a place where there has been so many wrongs.
armygirl 10:29 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Just saw the funniest stuff I've seen in a long, long time. Visit Read Me blog and go down to the heading of More Fun Than a Fat Kid Can Shake a Stick At. Download the first one and watch it, then come back and download the second one. I swear I laughed so hard...

jhawk 4:38 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Damn it. All this is happening and I still don't have a Mac. Let alone an iPod.

Cruel world...
jhawk 1:08 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Josh at Colonel Sanders reports on a bug in Internet Explorer. He points to the original article that explains the vulnerability. He suggests Opera or Mozilla instead. I of course, say Opera. :-) Just at least for the mouse guestures. :-P


jhawk 1:00 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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We were all sitting around this morning at work. One lady opened a can of orange juice and remarked, "I wish I had a straw for this." Another lady immediately replied, "Here, I've got one." She then pulled one out of her pocket.

Anyone else carry a staw in their pocket?

jhawk 12:51 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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jhawk 10:47 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Is anyone listening to me? Last night a couple of guys at work were talking about the man who had invented the 200 mph carb. for the car, but was bought out by the oil companies. I couldn't believe it. (But then you all know where I now live). They were adamanant about it. Nothing I could say would sway them. Then I get an e-mail about rat urine on the soda cans from Hawaii. These have been from people I thought were reasonably intelligent. Oh, wait. Anyway, my reply's are getting nastier about checking them out before sending. Does anyone ever look at Snopes? Oh, well, never mind.
steer 3:18 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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I have a strong hatred for Powerpoint presentations. Often in our training they like to use Powerpoint to make a training presentation. Wow, what crap it always turns out to be.

One screen will have a sentence or two on it, that will have to be elaborated on just to explain what the heck that screen is supposed to be about. Now mulitply that ineptness by 100 screens. You've got a typical meeting session here.

Today's was classic. We have this little training over a small departmental change in how we will be reporting to managers in different departments. We're just at this one person's cube, which is actually a large cubical. She wants us to crowd around her computer so we can see this powerpoint presentation, and then hands a hard copy of that exact presentation to us. Needless to say, nobody ever even took a glance toward the computer, as they had the damn thing right in their hands already.

jhawk 3:07 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Just read a very sad story over at Colonel Sanders Conspiracy. Seems Josh will be forced to get rid of their dog. :-( It's really too bad the way it has transpired too. I think I'd come to the same decision they did. If you want to adopt a nice Weimaraner or know someone who does. Head over to his site and read up. You can see the dog at his own blog at The Mr. Smooth Weblog. I feel bad for him and his family and the poor kid who got hurt.

jhawk 12:24 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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I don't know what this batsman is doing, but I think it's worth 50 runs... or points...

jhawk 12:20 PM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Apple's new music service is apparently selling good in it's first 18 hours of operation with over 275,000 songs being purchased. At $.99 a song that isn't too terribly expensive. Let's see how this continues. Plus Apple appears to be planning a PC version of the service. I even saw a rumor of iTunes being developed for PC.

jhawk 10:53 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Ever seen 3 people try to do a project that should only take 1 person to do? 3 people should make this job go quicker, right? Does that ever happen?

No, I wasn't one of the three.

jhawk 10:18 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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Pizza

Tonight is dedicated to pizza. I will order it, pay for it, and consume it. Possibly I will leave just a little bit of it for tomorrow too. Pizza deserves at least 2 days.

jhawk 9:28 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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DROOL

30 gigs, 7500 songs...

jhawk 8:30 AM - [Link] - Comments ()
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