August 5 Email From Shane

Hello Love,
Sorry I haven't been able to e-mail in the last couple or three days. They have had the internet closed while they did some work on it and for others operational concerns.
Yes I loved the ham packets they were great (Packaged in Foil - Ready to Eat).
Those little packets of ham and chicken have come in real handy. I liked them a lot.
I like the picture of Drew at Dogwood Mall and the statue that was cute.

02 August 2005
Me and Dye got off pad 2 at about 3:00 A.M. and we had to be up by 5:30 A.M., so there was no reason to take off my uniform and go back to sleep. So I just took off my boots and laid there and watched the last of season 2 of 24 until it was time to get up. We got up and loaded the track for 24 hours duty at Dog Patch.

I love going out to Dog Patch, I don't think the rest of the guys in my Patrol Group like it, but I do. There is about 14 to 16 people in my Patrol Group. We are never together because of detail like internet duty, KP, then OP 3, Pad 2 and the 'hey you's' that come up.

We got there about 8:00 in the morning and had to clean up. Another company that was out there covering it for our company left it a complete mess. So we had to do some major cleaning up for the first hour or so. The we got down to the real work. Well lets just see it was SGT Ford, SSG Eubanks, SFC Odom, SFC Mote (My Platoon Sergeant), CPT Lyons and the 1SG that came out.

Oh yeah we had a reporter with a TV Camera come out with us the we the Dog Patch. I think he was free lance. But said some local TV station back home was going to pick up on it. One of them was WLBT.

When the commander and them got there the real work started. They brought us a generator and a big A/C and started putting some floors in the two rooms we sleep in. It is only a three room house and all the doors go out side. We use the third and smallest room for storage. So me and two other guys started pounding pickets on top of the dirt walls we built the first day out there.

CPT Lyons even got up there with us and started running wire. He earned a lot of respect from me doing that. He is a fine officer and a good man. I would do anything for him because from what I see he gets out there with his troops and work. Both times I have been at Dog Patch with him he has done that.

I had guard duty at 1300 till 1530 (1:00 P.M to 3:30 P.M) that intails me and one of the other guys standing on top of the roof with a 50 Cal Machine Gun and a MK 19 over looking the village. After our shift was up we went back to pounding pickets and running wire. We got finish about 1900 (7 P.M.) we ate a little something and I went to bed, because of the little sleep I got the night before, working all day in the sun and getting up at 1230 for another shift on the roof. God I love it!!

Did me second shift on the roof with no problems then went back to bed until about 630 when we started doing some clean up and getting ready to get out of there.

03 August 2005
Got back from Dog Patch about 8:30 and fuel the tracks up and got them unloaded and then went and ate some Breakfast. Then went and took my dirty nasty body to the shower and got cleaned up. Then I was off until 1900 that night when me and Dye went back out to Pad 2.

So I did what any good soldier would do and put on a movie and got some rest. Got some rest until 1900 and then went on duty. Got relieved off that at 1230 in the morning.

Came in and called Penny for a quick minute. (Man it was good to talk to her.) Then I went to bed. Found out we weren't going out to Dog Patch in the morning.

04 August 2005
We had a mission last night at one of the Villages and so we sent all day getting ready for it. Well my time is up and I will get back to you tomorrow about the rest of the 04 August, but the mission was great no problems and nothing else.

To My Lover and My Best Friend
Shane