Home of the Soul Cookie

Tom sent out an “I landed safely” email to a bunch of people, which Scott was kind enough to forward to me, as he did with the “I’m going to Iraq” email I reposted here. Seems Tom was still using an old email address for me that I’d abandoned years ago after it started receiving thousands of spam messages that weren’t getting blocked at the server level. (This just in from “Duh!” Magazine: I hate spam.)

Oh, and I’m not sure if I knew and forgot, or if I never knew (thanks to the outdated contact info he had), but Tom has apparently earned a promotion to lieutenant junior grade in the last few years. Woo hoo!

Tom’s message from Camp Slayer is after the cut.

Here’s Tom’s email:

From: Bender Morris T LTJG
Date: Nov 10, 2006 4:39 AM
Subject: [U] I made it…
To: [a bunch of people]
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Everyone,

I wanted to drop a line while I had a chance to let you know that I made it safely here. In all, the trip here was long. From Baltimore to Doha, Qatar, I was traveling for 24 hours straight (straight time…no time changes). There I was able to get a little sleep, a shower, and some food. Then, it was on a C-130 for the flight here. We finally landed late evening on the 8th. If it weren’t for the fact that I caught a cold enroute, it might have been a more enjoyable flight…but I’m taking medication and trying to get as much sleep as possible in hopes I get over it soon.

It turns out I had some bad information. There is no wireless internet available in my room. Also, I think the site I got most of my information about the living quarters had Camp Slayer and Camp Victory confused. My room is one-half of a long trailer. I share that with someone else, so we each have one-fourth of a trailer (I hope I didn’t lose too many with the fact there’s math in this email). There is indoor plumbing…just not in the same place as the room. But at least it is a short walk to the latrine trailer (and the shower trailer is right next door to it). Fast food is a short drive to Camp Victory/Liberty away but I don’t think I’m going to tackle driving around here until I’m sure I can get places and get back without getting lost.

All in all, it’s not too bad here. The people are nice, the food is decent, and I have a bed to go to at night that is not under a tent. The lack of internet in the room means that getting to emails won’t be as easy (there is an internet café next to my trailer, but I haven’t looked into it yet), but you can always email me here at this address (redacted). [Kevin's note: I'm not going to repost the address here, lest a spambot harvest it. If you want it, just ask.] My hours will be 11:00 p.m.-11:00 a.m. Eastern, so if I don’t reply right away, wait until the next morning…

Take care,
Tom