War Letters: Part 6

January 20, 1991

In the middle of the desert near Kabrit, Saudi Arabia

Dear Lynda:

Hello baby, and greetings from “Saudee Raybee” and the war zone! I and everyone else are doing fine.

Since the last time I wrote, a lot has happened.

Remember how I said it didn’t rain much? Well…the day after I wrote that, it started raining and rained steadily for 36 hours. We were all drenched, cold, and all our gear was soaked. It really sucked.

Then we got the word to pack up and move north. We did that, and set up camp a lot closer to Kuwait…where we are now.

We’ve got a small radio, and we heard that Iraq declared war on us. That really got our attention because we are close enough for the SCUD missile and long-range Iraqi artillery!

We all had a new sense of purpose to our jobs, as you can imagine. We dug a bunch of shoulder-high holes to jump into in case of an attack.

Two days ago we got the alarm for incoming fire and we hauled ass into the holes. It turned out to be nothing, but it makes you nervous and scared.

We’ve had two air raid warnings since then, and nothing happened then either, but we’re all on our toes!

Day and night, British fighter-bombers fly over our position on their way to bomb Iraqi targets. I guess we’ve really hit them hard.

When we got the word that some SCUDS hit Israel, we figured we’d probably get hit also. But, it hasn’t happened yet. I guess we’ve been too far back, or, they don’t know where we are.

We will be moving again…VERY close to the Kuwait border. We may stay here another week so that the Air Force can kick the shit out of Iraq. They haven’t been able to bomb them as much as they wanted because of the weather. We won’t move north until the bombing’s all done.

It was nice to talk to you again, baby. I talked to you from a phone outside our tent that we installed, and it didn’t cost us nuthin’! It was 6 or 7am here, and pretty late there, but I didn’t think you’d mind.

I received some of your mail yesterday, and got some from Dad and Tess (my sister) also. It took two weeks to get it, but it sure is nice when it gets here.

Did you send any care packages? Send food! You know what I like. If you send a ton of it, I’ll share it with the fellas! Junk food! Yeah!

The food’s really been sucking lately. We didn’t even get food one night! The MREs are getting real old. When it gets slow around here, all there is to do is eat, smoke, clean weapons and gear, or sleep.

And you wanna talk about a cluster-fuck? Some of these people are real assholes! I don’t mean in Wire Platoon…I mean some of the other platoons and the people in charge.

They don’t want to cooperate or pass any word that will make anyone’s job easier. The politicking going on is crazy. It seems they don’t realize there’s a war going on.

Somebody’s always wanting a phone put in or a line checked, and it’s usually at 2am or something stupid. But, I guess that’s the way it goes on active duty.

Baby…I really miss you a lot. I think about you all the time. Home seems so far away, and sometimes it feels like I’ll never get to see you again. I think about how easy, simple, safe, warm, and nice it is at home, and I can hardly believe I’m here. I don’t know. I guess I’m feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t realize how easy and good I had it with you at home. This will make me appreciate home more than anything ever could. And, I’ll tell you what…once I get back, I’m NEVER leaving again!

I’ve pretty much decided that I’ll get out of the Corps. I’m not bitching about being here, but I figure I’ve done all I’m supposed to do. I’ll have done my duty, and then it will be time to get on with my life with you. I don’t want to put you through this again, or go through it again myself.

It’s looking like it’s gonna piss and pour again tonight. If it does, I’m gonna have a real bad attitude. Then, I’ll get over it!

Well baby, I guess I’ve chewed your ear long enough. Hot evening chow has arrived! So, I must go force some of it down and then get ready to hit the rack.

Write back soon!

I’ll see you when I see you.

I love you, and be careful when you’re out and about.

Semper Fi.

Paul

Washing my ass in the middle of the desert.