Permission to put them on the inside cover of my books going over?
EIGHTH WAVE
Mailed February 18, 2005, to a company in Stryker brigade at Mosul.
Box 1, postage $10.90, insured for $182.00 10 DVD movies:
Witness (Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis)
American Pie 2
Deuce Bigalow (Ron Schneider)
Gone in 60 Seconds
Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis, Wes Studi, Russell Means)
2 Fast, 2 Furious
Dennis Miller-the Raw Feed
S.W.A.T.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson)
3 Books:
Russka (Edward Rutherford)
Then Sings My Soul (hymns and their histories)
The Virginian (Owen Wister)
Toiletries:
4 packs of Mach 3 Turbo razors each with a refill shaving head
18 travel sewing kits
Misc
1 letter and 1 card from troop supporters
smiling face stickers
a freebie child's pearl necklace
Box 2, postage $11.90, insured for $213.00
5 VHS movies:
The Fast and the Furious
Chronicles of Riddick
The Day After Tomorrow (Dennis Quaid)
Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
12 DVD's
The Scorpion King (The Rock)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Stargate SG-1 Seasons 5 and 6 (Richard Dean Anderson)
Magazines:
Street Trucks
Army magazine Feb 05
Toiletries:
3 travel sewing kits
travel size shower gel, body lotion
******
Mailed to new MI unit at Kirkuk, February 18, 2005:
1 box, postage $10.90, insured for $200
12 DVD movies:
Shanghai Knights (Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson)
The Rookie (Dennis Quaid)
Lawrence of Arabia (Peter O'Toole)
Glory (Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick)
October Sky
Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson)
Lethal Weapon 1 (Mel Gibson, Danny Glover)
Frequency (Dennis Quaid, Jim Caviezel)
Airplane! (Leslie Nelson, Lloyd Bridges, Kareem)
Shrek 2 (Mike Myers, Carmen Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy)
The Right Stuff (Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn)
Troy (Brad Pitt)
3 VHS movies:
The Fast and the Furious
2 Fast, 2 Furious
The Scorpion King (The Rock)
Magazines:
Men's Health
Truckin'
AUSA newspaper
Crossword Puzzle Book and pencil
Filler:
3 packs gum
roasted pistachios and almonds in the shell
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers." My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.
WE ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL EVERY NIGHT!
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.
RIP Richard.
Here's a story that might be of interest to the list:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1552636/posts
Read the thread, but it is basically a fundraiser for the children of Sgt. Andrew Farrar, killed in Iraq nearly a year ago.
It took a little while but I've got a pretty good pile of paperbacks to send - I've culled out things like Robin Cook - always some evil capitalist is the villain, Kurt Vonnegut, some junk - for the most part these are all good reads.
Is there a book rate for packages to Iraq? ;-)
TH54
Books Robert Ludlum 8.5 Dick Francis 2.5 Lawrence Sanders 2.75 Dean Koontz 10.75 James Michner 4.5 John Sandford 2 Stephen King 5.75 John Grisham 3 Carl Hiaasen 2 Sue Grafton 1.5 Sara Paretsky 1.25 Raymond Chandler 1.25 Joseph Waumbaugh 1 Tony Hillerman 1 Michael Crichton 1 SciFi 10.75 Mysteries 6.5 Japan based novels 5 Various Novels 10 Military Novels 5.25 86.25 pounds total
Permission to put them on the inside cover of my books going over?