Introducing SPC Alisha

Posted by TheBisch
June 13, 2005

Around Memorial Day, I decided to “adopt” a soldier that is overseas by using the services of AnySolider.com. I began by writing a simple letter, explaining who I was, what TheBisch was about, and that we’d like to hear about their experiences overseas. I got a response the other day from SPC Alisha (last name withheld to protect her identity), a female soldier in the 175th Engineer Company. She is a Topographic Analyst, which means she produces maps for various units in and around Iraq.

I started the first letter by asking a few basic questions, asking her to basically talk about life in general in Iraq, here is her response…

I visited your site and I will be more than happy to keep in contact with you. Before I answer the questions that you had for me in your letter, let me just start by thanking you! This is my first deployment and knowing that we have the support of the American people, makes things just a little easier to swallow. I love when people send us packages or even a simple letter. It just lets us know that we are not doing this in vain and we do have support on OUR home front. So, THANK YOU!

Originally, I was in Baghdad with the rest of my unit. But now I (along with a few other people in my team) are at a base camp in Mosul. Things here aren’t so bad considering all the activity that some other parts of the country receive on a daily basis. We have had a few mortar attacks in the past weeks, but luckily, no one was hurt. Since my job is a topographic analyst, I very rarely go on missions, ie., patrolling the city, manning the gates, or raiding houses. You’ll have to talk to an infantry soldier for that kind of action. However, my job tells them the best route to take to get to their destinations.

Aside from mortars, ied’s and constant terrorist attacks, we go on like a regular job. We get up in the morning (early morning) do Physical Training -aka- PT. We shower eat breakfast and go to work. The hours vary out here depending on what your mission requires. Some operations require you to work 24 hours shifts. While others can get away with pulling a 9 to 5 shift. I have pretty normal hours, but I can’t go into specifics on it.

Spare time? Hmm, well we have trailers on this base camp. They are anywhere from 2 man trailers to 6 man trailers. I live in a six man, woman trailer. Trailers, just like everything else varies from camp to camp. Some camps have enough trailers to facilitate all the soldiers on post. While some of the bigger camps tend to run out of trailers and have to have some in tents. Which isn’t that bad. I mean the tents are huge! And there are some of the more lucky soldiers that get to live in the palace. I haven’t lived at the palace yet, but I assume that it would not be something to sneeze at. OK back to the spare time thing. Since we live in trailers, we have electricity. So we have televisions, DVD player, radios and all that good stuff. Not too shabby huh? However, by the time I get off work, the television is watching me! I usually watch about two hours of TV a day and then it is lights out for me. Since we work such long hours, you tend not to waste your time doing anything else other than sleeping.

We also have MWR. Morale, Welfare and Recreation centers -aka- MWR has everything that we don’t personally have. In the MWR located where I am, we have a gym, playstations, Internet cafe and a phone center. Not to mention a swimming pool (which is not open yet due to a lack of lifeguards), pool table, Foosball table, a tailor and jewelry store. This is where a lot of soldiers go to relax and get away from co workers when a break is duly needed. They also have cable television so we can catch ESPN, Sportscenter, or the news for that matter! Oh by the way GO SPURS!!

As far as missing home. I think what we all miss most of all is family. Even if you don’t have kids or a spouse, you miss the people you love. I miss my dog most of all. It’s kind of hard to even say anything else that you miss because whenever we are ask that very question, family is the first and only thing to come to mind……..well that and McDonald’s! But on a serious note, you start to miss the simple things. For example I miss grass. Out here you are either walking on gravel or sand. They have grass out here but its a ways from the camp. I miss being able to go out into a city and sight see and not have to worry about being blown up or shot at. I miss getting a full nights sleep without waking up to the sound of a mortar hitting. I miss the friendly American faces and the laughter of little kids. I miss my home and I miss my friends. Even though I am making news ones here, the ones that are waiting at home for me just can’t be replaced.

In my letter, I asked if there was anything we could send to remind her of home…

What can you send to remind me of home? A plane ticket out of here!(smile). Don’t get me wrong I am proud to a soldier in the United Stated Army, but I am just ready to go home. Back to my family. Back to where we, the American soldiers, are appreciated. Back to where we belong. HOME! I am proud to serve all of you that support me! Support US! Because of you all, our morale gets better by the day. Because of your letters, you renew our spirit to continue on with our mission. Because of your packages, we have a little reminder of home. Something that we can appreciate. Because of people just like you, we do our part in this fight! To keep you safe, to ensure you have the freedom that so many people long for. To have the lives that so many people can only dream of! Because of you I am an American Soldier!

Thanks for your support! It is definitely appreciated! Keep us in your prayers!

Alisha – if you get back to the website, I want you to know that you and all your fellow soldiers are in our prayers. Thank you for all that you do!

Readers – I hope this gives you a bit of an insight into the experiences our soldiers are having. If you’d like to ask Alisha any questions regarding her experiences overseas, add them to the comments and I will include them in my next letter… I will post her answers here for all to read. A care package is being assembled for Alisha and her colleagues, if you’d like to contribute, please contact me

Uncategorized

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.

Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.