[Chat] Re: [Discussion] It's almost the 4th of July at the Palace - 6 months left

Tue Jul 1 00:57:59 EDT 2003

brad,
please don't take this personal. i am so upset about this 'war' and the
senseless loss of life on both sides. the USA invaded the homeland of these
'knucklehead's.  the u.s. seems to be having a difficult time bringing order
and stability to a country that had order & stability, had green vegetation,
had running water, had electric power and had air conditioners.the lives of
the iraqi people are worse now.  no wonder they hate americans.

have  u  heard the news today? v.p cheney's former company got the NO BID
contract to clean up the oil fields.

judy

----- Original Message -----
  From: william.schlegel at us.army.mil
  To: BaltSymphChorus at yahoogroups.com ; Chat at charlesvillage.info ;
Discussion at charlesvillage.info
  Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 12:02 AM
  Subject: [Discussion] It's almost the 4th of July at the Palace - 6 months
left

  HOOAH!  This is the word we use to indicate agreement with most comments
made to us in group by our commanders.  It kind-of is like a big OK!!  Also
like a group cheer. Anyway, I thought I would have found time before now to
write, but I have been working very hard keeping track of the “knuckleheads”
still running around this country.  Knuckleheads go by many names and have
various political affiliations, but their common goal is to disrupt our
efforts to bring order and stability to Iraq.  Our goal is to find them and
put them out of business, kill them if necessary!  As you know by now, we
have lost many soldiers over the past month, the recent kidnapped ones being
one of the sadder stories.  We must bring the perps to justice or our
ability to succeed with other ventures is seriously diminished.  On a
positive note, the Baghdad Airport should open by the end of July to
international flights, so you can all come and visit.

  On July 4th, we plan to have lots of stuff going on.  Arnold
Schwartzenegger is to visit and premier Terminator 3; there is a talent show
(I may sing in a future one, but not in this one); we will have our first
“class-A” meal (nothing pre-cooked); there is a 5K race – (I am not
running); and rumor has fireworks happening at night.  More on this in my
next newsletter.

  Once again, I will be moving, both for work and sleeping.  My work area
moves to a smaller building (where our PX – Post Exchange was until a few
weeks ago) which is close to where I am now sleeping.  At the same time, we
are moving our sleeping quarters to pre-fab buildings of some sort, complete
with AC and showers.  I imagine we will also get new outhouses.  Of course
this new sleeping area will be closer to where I am working now and probably
a mile from our new work location.  They call this progress.  In the
meantime, we have an uninstalled 36,000 BTU AC unit sitting on the ground
outside the window – it only needs a generator with the proper 3-phase power
supply.  Supposedly one exists, but who knows where.  Isn’t the Army fun??
We do at least have three fans now!

  Daytime temperatures are approaching 113 degrees now and nights are in the
low 80’s.  I now have two bug nets, and plenty of bug repellant, though the
insects have taken a siesta for the time being.  The Crystal Light is really
good, especially with the ice-cold water now have – courtesy of the chest
freezer the unit bought.  Someone actually put a whole watermelon in the
bottom to keep it cold – but I believe it has frozen.  The water does not
freeze, unless left in for several days, because of the 40 or so bottles in
the freezer.  It sits right outside the “warrant ward”, so it is very
convenient.

  One of my pet peeves is the lack of attention to the green vegetation.  It
makes me very sad that all the trees and flowers will probably die due to
lack of water.  When we arrived all was green, but now most of the palm
trees (some loaded with dates) are turning brown, along with the locust
trees.  The designers of the grounds provided lots of irrigation ditches and
berms, along with a water system - using lake water.  Unfortunately, very
little of that is working and probably will not be repaired in time to save
the vegetation -= a real loss for the place and the future users.

  My latest spiritual adventure has taken me to attend classes on the origin
and meaning of the Catholic mass – which in turn helps me better understand
the Lutheran mass.  The priest is originally from the Philippines and is
sometimes hard to understand.  We have met for the past three Thursdays from
7:30-9:00pm – right before I go to work.  We have covered the aspects of God
’s covenant with the Abraham in Genesis, the various types of sacrifice and
offering as described in Genesis – Leviticus, and the role that sacrifice
plays in the celebration of the mass and of course how this all ties in to
Christ’s death on the cross.  Last week we ended with the start of the
discussion of how the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of
Christ during the celebration of the mass and how genuflection is only
proper when the consecrated host is present in the sanctuary (when the
sanctuary lamp is lit).  There is a lot more I could write about, but my
fingers are getting tired at

   this point.

  I have been receiving mail quite regularly and truly appreciate all the
letters and packages.  If I do not have your e-mail address, please send it
to me at:
  william.schlegel at us.army.mil.   I actually received a package today (June
30) that had been mailed on June 21 – a record for speed.

  We are being told we might leave by  12/23/03, but I never believe
anything until it actually happens.  As always, I will let you know the
details as soon as I do.

  A friend of mine has designed a website where you can find pictures and
other items of interest regarding my tour over here.  The address is:
  http://home.earthlink.net/~wbsphotos/ I also recommend my HQ website at
http://www.vcorps.army.mil/www/default.htm.

  Well, that is all for now.   I still hope I'm home by early January.  I
want to go skiing in Cortina at the end of February and golf at Myrtle Beach
in mid-March (providing I'm home from Italy in time).  Also please forward
this to other people who might enjoy reading it.

  >From the Palace,

  Brad

  CW4 Schlegel, William
  V CORPS, 205th MI Bde, A Co/325th MI BN
  APO, AE 09302-1382

  PS: My only needs at this point is more Crystal Light - lemonade flavor,
and red grapefruit are the only ones I've tried - but I'm sure other flavors
are good too - it comes in little plastic containers which each make 2
quarts.  also macadamia nuts or cashews and beef jerkey - Oberto or Pacific
gold.

  _______________________________________________
  Discussion mailing list
  Discussion at charlesvillage.info
  http://charlesvillage.info/mailman/listinfo/discussion_charlesvillage.info

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://charlesvillage.info/pipermail/chat_charlesvillage.info/attachments/20030701/49c3a044/attachment.html>