Mailing address

I've been in 130º heat, outside Phoenix, Arizona back when I was driving semis & it will suck the breath outta you !! I had the A/C running wide open & stopped @ a little restaurant that was popular on State Hwy. 85 - we used to split off I-10 onto I-8 to go around Phoenix then take 85 back up to I-10 & that restaurant would let us cash our paychecks. Great food & service too - can't remember the name of it though.

Opened the door on the truck & before I stepped down to the ground it felt like Hulk Hogan hit me in the chest !! I'd heard on the radio it was 107º in Phoenix, but it was a lot hotter @ that point. A waitress said it's always hotter here, looked out the window to a thermometer they had mounted outside & it was showing 130º - it was shaded by the roof overhang too, not in direct sunlight.

It was certainly "dry heat" which isn't as misearable as high humidity heat, but it just drains you. I'm quite sure AFN knows all this, but drink LOTS of water, Gatorade, etc.

Back when we were going to the Bonneville salt flats, we always had someone holding an umbrella over the rider while waiting for his turn @ the starting line & always had a cooler with bottled water & Gatorade iced down. The salt out there is like standing on a mirror & the air is so dry you don't think it's all that hot. But you can get dehydrated in a very short time without even realizing it & that's downright dangerous - it's like being on drugs you didn't know you were on.

Here's hoping AFNurse has a safe trip over..and back..from the hell hole in the mideast.

I heard my bro-inlaws brother was in Kuwait, so I know he's outa Baghdad..thank God and soon to be welcomed home. I hope we level Sadr City.

Glad to see you got there ok Chris.

Here's hoping al Sadr's cease fire pack will diminish the rockets flying into the Green Zone from Sadr City.

Just keep that clock ticking 'till you get back - in as good health as you were in when you left !!

Hey Chris! How many pair of boots did you take this time? I managed to wear out my Jungle boots and two pairs of steel toes in very short order!
The sand box in May - July was hotter than anything I ever saw growing up in Phoenix... Then it was colder than hell at 0300, go figure.

We played jungle rules Basket Ball at 1200 hrs every day. Invited the Ops pukes but they liked the AC too much.


We'll get something going for you to share.

Take care,

Marc,
You remember the two seasons in SEA? Hot and dry and Hot and WET, really, really, really....WET!

I was in Thailand in the "dry season" and it was hot, humid and well, hot.
I was in the PI for two years and it was hot....well, the girls were anyway.
Oh, the weather....same, same

what ya thinking cd a b-t thank you/we care basket loaded with things that don't melt

Hey Chris

Keep your eye out for some incoming!

Are you doing the same job as you were at Ramstein?

Somebody asked for ideas on what to mail to troops overseas. Home made or really good jerky was always a favorite, home made chocolate chip cookies, different styles of chips i.e. when I was in Germany I would get care packages with Doritos Taco flavored chips and the bag was passed around it got emptied really quick. So I started receiving packages with 3-4 big bags in it. Cakes never seem to make it intact or not in brick form. Still, a mouthful of milk turned a brick of cake back into a bite. Basically anything home made that wouldn't spoil or go stale works. When I was in Thailand we always liked getting hard candies like life savers, butterscotch etc. They kept your mouth from being totally dried out all the time. That and your buddies breath smelled a whole lot better!!!!!

Whenever we went TDY to Saudi they literally would search your bags for anything considered "porn" to them. SI swim suit issues or even an issue of Hot Rod magazine with a model in a bikini. You could have smuggled drugs or nerve gas and not get caught but show a boob or belly button? You were "interviewed" by the customs agents right then and there. They would harass you and call you anything but human before releasing you to your first shirt and commander. Then the fun began......

Chewing gum

When I was roamin' the world in search of bad guys, besides Jolly Rancher hard candies (the little ones, not the sticks) we loved getting chewing gum. Any and all flavors (some guy somewhere would even take the licorice off our hands eventually). The REMF military is not fond of gum-chewing, but on-the-line, pointy-end guys were always big fans. It's only been four years since I retired, so I'm guessing that is still likely the case.

:cheers:

Welcome back DreLaw, glad you made it home safely. I am trying to get a whole buch of people to donate stuff so we can get it to AFNurse over there in the sand box.

Can you tell me from your experience, what sort of items were badly needed and hard to get? Perhaps, when everyone here donates to AFNurse we can make sure that he gets what he and his fellow soldiers need the most?

Please let us know. And once again we owe you brother!!

German