Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Scott on the move

A month has gone by since Scott left and I'm finally getting out of my "Depression/auto-pilot" phase, meaning I better get on here and share what's going on. If any of you have been watching the news you might have heard that the Marines are on the move in the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. Scott is one of those Marines. I got my last phone call from him last night. We've been really blessed while he's been at Camp Leatherneck that he had the occasional opportunity to call home over the past couple of weeks. For the past couple of days Scott has been warning me that things were happening and he'd only be calling one or two more times. Thankfully I have a husband who loves me so much that he made the 30 min walk to the nearest phone to call me 4 times in his last 4 days at Camp Leatherneck.

I thought I'd share this link to the 1/5 Family Newsletter. It's from Scott's CO of the Battalion and it has a bunch of pictures showing the process of getting the Marines to Afghanistan and what life is like for him and the Marines. It was a little difficult for all the Marines because this camp had a massive influx of over 5,000 Marines in the space of two months and they've had to set up random tents everywhere to accommodate all of the Marines, Soldiers, Brits, Docs, etc. Now that a majority of the Marines are leaving (or have already left, like Scott) it's getting back to "normal". Unfortunately, for Scott and the Marines who've left, they no longer have basic luxuries like showers and a chow hall. Scott was excited that he was eating three FULL meals a day (and ice cream every night!) and now I'm worried how much weight he's going to drop since he's only getting one or two MRE's to eat a day. And yes, he will no longer get to shower. So if you would like to send baby wipes in your care packages, that would be great.

Otherwise, he's doing well. He's really excited to do his job and put to use 11 years of training. From what Scott tells me we'll be hearing a lot on the news about his Marines and that they're going to be doing some "serious damage" trying to get to the Taliban. So, if you're watching the news and hear anything about the Helmand Province, just pray that Scott and his Marines are ok. I'll try and keep everyone posted on how he's doing and what's going on with him. Thank you also for all your kind thoughts and prayers. We're so blessed to have good friends and family who are so willing to help us out while Scott's deployed. It really means a lot and is so greatly appreciated. Seriously, more than words can say.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

So interesting to read your side of things... it's so easy for us to listen to the news, but not really HEAR. Thank you!

Johnny and Eirian said...

thank you SO much for the update Chris...i've been thinking and praying about Scott on a regular basis and it's nice to hear he's at least been able to contact you a little bit...let him know how much we love him and are grateful for his service! We love you and hope you all are doing alright without your hubby/daddy to snuggle at home. This deployment will be over before you know it! xoxoxo