PHONE CALLS FROM AFGHANISTAN

We've been getting phone calls from Daniel about every 10 days now. The first phone call, about two weeks after he arrived in Afghanistan, he sounded a bit nervous and understandably so. Being in a foreign country where people you don't know are shooting at you, who wouldn't be nervous? He had yet to receive any mail and asked us to send warm boot socks.

The second phone call Daniel sounded more at ease. He was adapting to his environment, getting to know the area and the people. He had been out on several night patrols, heard some gun fire but nothing too close. He said he had mailed us a few letters and he still hadn't received any mail yet. And to please send warm boot socks.

The third phone call he was pretty chipper. He had just gotten back from a patrol where they had been shot at. He was sounding like a real war veteran now. Talking about how another company had gotten "lit up" and how his company was going to help them out. A Marine in his company had been shot in the face, but lived. He still hadn't received any letters or packages and that he still wanted warm boot socks. We had received one of his letters by now.



Early Thursday morning, 2 a.m., we got Daniel's fourth call. He always calls around 2 a.m. This time Daniel sounded a little bit nervous. By now they had been in contact with the enemy a few times and were in the thick of it. He said that his unit had been hit by an IED (improvised explosive device - the big killer of U.S. troops, other than car bombs) but no one was injured. Only a big hole in the ground. He said it had rained hard and that they were in mud up to their necks. He talked about maybe renting a boat and going fishing when he comes home and that he only had five months left of deployment. He said a truck came and brought a big load of mail, included our package we mailed him. The boot socks were nice: send coffee!

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts for Daniel and his squad and platoon: 3rd platoon, 3rd squad. Check the post below this one if you want to write Daniel. The address is listed there as well as an e-mail address for moto mail.

Take care