Mala Kuum Salam~ Hello All. It is a small world. While here in Iraq, I saw a young Marine around base several times with the last name Fulks. Everytime I saw him, I thought of Kathy Fulks - a girl I went to school with. I saw him probably 5 or 6 times on our small base and each time I saw him, I thought of Kathy. Well, I heard from a former classmate of mine that Kathy's nephew had been injured in an IED that blew up on a convoy of RECON Marines. I remember that day. I remember how we went in to what is referred to as "River City". River City is when all communicatins are cut off to the outside world. I hate it when this happens, because it means something bad has happened - usually the communications are turned off until the next of kin is notified. I remember when I heard about the convoy and how some of the RECON Marines were lost, wondering if it had been any of the Marines that I had trained (sorry to admit that I can not remember the names of all the Marines I come in contact with through my job). Anyway, Cpl Fulks was on that convoy. I just heard the other day from my friend back home that he passed away from injuries sustained. It was like a stab in the heart when I heard. My heart aches for his family. I hope that they know that he did not die in vain. I hope they know that he did make a difference. Ronald Reagan's quote keeps going through my mind "Some people spend a lifetime wondering if they have made a difference. Marines don't have to." This is so true.

I am currently in Al Asad. I arrived here in the middle of the night on Friday night/Saturday Morning. I was able to go to a middle of the night cook out to eat, go shower and take a one hour nap before returning to the landing zone to fly out to Haditha Dam to pick up equipment. I will be here in Al Asad for about a week, at which time I will return to Camp Fallujah and get enough of my belongings to last approximately one month - and then return here. Chris and I have been apart for over 2 weeks - so it is nice to be with him again. A new FSR (Field service representative) has been hired. I finished training him and he will be handling our area of responsibility for the first month before he comes here. There is lots of work to do in the Al Asad area - mostly organizational type work - finding out who needs new equipment, etc. I am really sad to be away from Camp Fallujah. I have made some great friends there and hate to have to come to another base where I have no friends. Plus I had really started to enjoy my new work space. The first week in there was lonely - but by the second week - it had become the hang out spot for all my old friends as well as some new ones. I really miss the "park" at Camp Fallujah. I miss the birds, the scent of the flowers as I walk by, and the baby geese. I miss seeing greenery - I miss seeing trees. That is something that I took for granted at Camp Fallujah - Al Asad is all desert - sand and hardly any trees. I am looking forward to going "home" to Camp Fallujah. It is funny how so much has changed since I have been out here. The fact that I do not want to leave Camp Fallujah.... when I first got here, I would have jumped at the chance to be stationed in Al Asad where there is a beauty salon, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, etc. Now, we have been given the option of transferring here and I just want to get back to Camp Fallujah. When I first got here - I did NOT want to go "outside the wire" or off base. We had to take some convoys to some FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) and ECPs (Entry Control Points) in Fallujah and in the beginning, I was none too thrilled. Now, I am itching to go. I am really wanting to go to CMOC. Mainly because there are so many kids there. I miss seeing kids! I am wanting to get together a bunch of toys, coloring books, etc. and go out to CMOC to pass them out to the children out there. I also did not like the helicopter rides when I first got here. But this last trip to Haditha Dam and back - I really enjoyed it. The last couple of helicopter rides that I have been on were not scary to me at all. I think I enjoyed the Haditha Dam trip so much because it was daylight and I could see so much. It was really neat. I also did not like to do training. I felt really uncomfortable training the Marines. Now, it is one of my favorite things to do. Of course, I still do not like to use the porta potties and the Marines tease me that I will LITERALLY walk a half a mile to get to the Latrine trailers - just to have a flushing, porcelain toilet. I guess deep down, I am still somewhat of a girly girl. Of course, if I have to, I will use the porta potties - but luckily, I can usually walk a half mile or so and get to a real one. In my last update, I talked about how the temps had reached 98 degrees. Well, now we have hit 100 - the average temp the last week is between 100 - 104 degrees. Now, that is hot! I can not imagine how it will feel when it gets above 120 in July! Hey - maybe I can sweat some weight off :) Well, I will end my ramblings - maybe I should call these "Herwig Ramblings" instead of "Herwig Updates" :) Please drop us an email when you have time. Take Care and Be Happy :) HUGS ~~Sandy~~