Hey guys, been busy, which has been kinda nice. But also really hot. We've been doing a lot of work on our trucks. Worked on a Humvee for a couple of days only for them to change my truck to a caiman so now we had to start all over again. i guess it's good, caimans are safer and have much better air conditioning. I would rather drive a humvee because they are smaller and easier to move around. Since we will be in a new place I have no clue what to expect from the roads which is not much fun. Some roads can make a caiman very difficult to maneuver! Umm things are changing around here and Ill let yall know more as I do. Sorry I don't have too much info. Love you all

Happy Daddy's Day everyone!!! Hope all the Dads have a good one. We packed up the connex today with our extra stuff. Should be moving sometime soon. Looking forward to the move. We're just biding time here, played volleyball last night for about 2 and a half hours, lots of fun. thats our entertainment around here, that and the gym. Um nothing really exciting going on, wish I could give ya'll more excitement but I just don't have any. Love everyonnneeee lots and lots

Hey guys, so we're doing absolutely nothing these days. Our leadership finally decided to start giving us busy work classes to fill the day. Still not much going on. Had a dream last night about r & r. It's sad how when you're this bored all you can think about is home. We need something to go on just to keep us focused on being here and to let the time go by faster. It's no fun sitting around all day watching everyone else's life keep going through facebook or myspace. Doesn't everybody realize their life is suposed to be on hold until I get back? gahhhh... ummmm Carrie you need to update your blog so I can hear about your first lesson. That or email me or something. Guys feel free to send me emails, even if it is something that doesn't seem all that important it's nice to hear from home. I love ya'll
Katie
(email katie73421@yahoo.com just in case anyone doesn't have it)

hey.. so Id like to say we are staying busy but we're really not. Each day some people go on detail and do some work but the majority of us are just bored. I hang out in the MWR a lot because it is air conditioned well unlike my tent. Ive already read a book and a half in the last 2 days and watched about 4 movies. Yesterday it was fairly cool, may have actually been under 100 degrees but I don't know if it was THAT cool, so I was able to get some sleep in the tent during the day. I'm going to buy a fan today so hopefully tomorrow I can sleep past 7 or 8 (by that time it is too hot in the tent and you wake up sweating). We're in limbo, just doing a bunch of inventorying our new gear so we can start doing stuff sometime soon. Probably wont be running any missions this week though, maybe next week. Not too much exciting stuff to update, just wanted to show that I am going to update more just don't have anything worth saying!
Carrie, hope you have an amazing lesson today.
Love yall lots.

Basra

We made it to Basra. It is southern Iraq, close to the Kuwaiti border. It is a lot more like a desert than Baghdad so it is hotter. Were being told to expect about 10 degrees hotter here than in Baghdad. Were living in tents, 5 big tents running parallel with a hallway running between them connecting them all. That is where the females live. Each half of a tent is an 8 man room with bunk beds and wall lockers.Def. not as nice as Camp Liberty but is also not as bad as we expected. The female latrine is part of that group of tents. The males live about 50- 100 feet away in the same type of structure which kinda stinks. It will make it a lot harder to get in touch with each other when something comes up. The chow hall is like 15-20 minutes away, not sure about the PX yet, headed over there shortly. We have an inbrief this afternoon from the Command Sergeant Major to learn more about all the rules here and such. There is no internet inside the tents, there is a tent fairly close by with 20 computers that we can use though. We don't even know where the trucks will be or where the command will be when we start running missions yet.
The thing about it is.... I'm not actually going to be living here. Found out last night when we got off the bus that 3rd platoon is going to be moving out to a smaller site inside the city. We don't know too much right now but we will moving sometime soon. I'm excited, we might actually have more luxuries at that place since it will be smaller and a more central location. The CO also said we will be living in buildings again instead of these tents so I think we're getting the best end of the deal.
Be prepared for me to start using this as my major means of communication. Until we move it will be easier for me to just come update this in the mornings instead of when it's super busy when yall are all awake.
On the flight over here the crew let some of us go sit in the cockpit while they were flying. It was pretty cool watching them and seeing all the different controls and sensors and such they have in there. Got some pictures but since I'm not on my computer it will be a bit before you see them.
I'm off, let you know more as I know more but I am safe, hot but safe. Love you all

MOVING

soooo sometime soon I will no longer be calling Baghdad home. our company is moving. I don't really know any details, just that there is a lot going on trying to get everything packed up and inventoried again. the main point of this post, if you are planning on sending me anything anytime soon, please hold it until I can get you a new address. anything already on its way will either reach us before we leave or be forwarded to our address at some point. thanks, Ill let you know more as I know more. Love you all
Katie

soo quick update. we were suposed to be doing fiji this week butttttt it got cancelled. theres a big issue right now with the US feeding local nationals. as we get closer to turning over control to the iraqis, the military is wanting them to take over more of their own work. including feeding the nationals. since we cant feed them anymore, nobody at fiji knows how they can feed the iraqi police; therefore, fiji has been shut down until they figure out the food deal. so instead weve been running missions all week. since im still on profile, i cant run the missions. soooo im laying around doing nothing all week. kinda nice because its relaxing but its also boring. and i feel bad that my squad is out when im not. just a couple more days though and ill be back. it was good timing because ive been able to watch some of the softball world series at night and then sleep during the day.
my team leader and squad leader are both going on leave here in the next week. im glad they get to go home but it is going to be interesting to see how the squad is run without them. were going through some changes with our mission, going to be adding some night missions and some crazy stuff here soon. it will be weird to make those changes especially without my team leader or squad leader.
carries moving on. kinda sad. im proud of you for being an adult and all that junk... but im not ok with knowing how different things will be when i come home and youre not there anymore.
love yall lots hope all is well.