Erick Called Home Today

Pop just called to tell me that Erick called. He was told today that they'll be leaving Fallujah on October 2nd. Fred says he sounds like he's in good spirits, things have been pretty quiet over there and he hopes it stays that way. I think we all hope it stays that way.

Still in Fallujah

Erick is still in Fallujah. The unit that is replacing him is there, they are from Ohio. Mom has informed me that his departure has been pushed back to the week of October 2nd.

I will post any new details as soon as we have them.

THREE MORE DAYS

I believe Erick is scheduled to leave Fallujah in THREE DAYS!!!

Krissy has been following the blog of a soldier on FoxNews.com. He is with the Army and is also leaving Iraq soon. She emailed me an excerpt of his blog describing what it feels like to be coming home. I copied and pasted below.

I know we are all SOOOOO excited for Erick to get home, I can't even imagine how he is feeling. I guess this excerpt gives us some possible insight.

We are now into single-digit days, awaiting our exit from theater. With our departure date being so close, the feeling actually transcends into a physical reaction. The best way to describe it is to compare it to waiting to wake up to 10 Christmas mornings, 80 nights of Hannukah, or any other present-giving holiday factored by 10.

Thanks for sharing Kris!

I believe a celebration is being planned in honor of our favorite Lance Corporpal. I have heard the words, "tent", "kegs" and "DJ" thrown around...

Details to be posted.

COUNTDOWN CONTINUES

A picture of Erick and his friend Kurt.

Katie and Martin Got a Letter

September 4, 2006

Dear Katie and Martin,
Greetings from the middle east. I hope that the both of you are doing well and enjoying life in the city.
As for me, I'm just working on getting through these next 3 or 4 weeks until I'm finally out of this place. It's pretty tough, you're anxious to get the hell out of here but can't stop working until we're done.
Other than that not too much else is really new. They say that it is supposed to cool down this month but all that really means is it goes down from unbearable to uncomfortable, awesome. We've been keeping pretty busy lately doing this, that and the other thing. There's a lot of people coming into the city from Baghdad and Ramadi. You know some of them are bad because the enemy has been changing their strategies and doing things we haven't seen before. Ah, what are you going to do though?
All right, I gotta saddle up and head out soon so I must be on my way. Just wanted to say hello and see how everything was going. Take care and this guy will see you soon

Love,
Erick

Oh yeah, one of my buddies here lives with Mickey from Biscotti in Brookfield. Weird.