Letters From Home

When I was Navy back in 1990-1995,

I would be aboard ship and on occasion see other people get in packages and packages of mail from home.

Most of the items received was Food related, I saw two young men get cakes, would you believe CAKES!! of all things, and they ate what they could and tossed the rest in the trash,

 

I saw young men get t-shirts, and socks and they trashed them and kept the CD music and the CD players. I thought to myself that if anyone ever ended up sending me stuff like that in quantity and quality that I would at least be more respectful of the people that went through all that trouble to get me any items in the mail sent to me far far away on military duty.

 

Then one day a big envelope arrived from Alaska,

It was a bundle of letters from some school children, amongst these kids was my lil' sister Shayne!!, and they had all written and drawn much stuff for me, I thought that was so nice. I kept those letters from those kids that, at that time, never knew me and had never met me.

 

even over 6 yrs later when I arrived in Alaska at the end of 1999, I still had those school letters hidden away in storage and I got to meet many of those school children when I first lived with my family in theVillage!! Even theSchoolTeacher, msBarb, did ask of me, "Did I get what she had sent long ago?", Yes I had. And I didn't think much more of that exchange between us, theSchoolTeacher was very well liked and respected.

 

I know sometimes I don't say much about certain things,

but I like what I like, and I do dwell on things that other people do for me or have done for me. I just hope that schoolTeacher of long ago didn't think that I was in some way shape or form, like those navySailors whom stuffed themselves with cake and cookies and kept what they like and trashed the rest, to leave whole cakes and unwanted items blatantly sitting in the trash for everyone to see,

 

no no, far from it I was, for I kept those precious items for years with me.

 

Now I am far from home once again,

sitting in the Desert and enduring a few days of Orientation before we start our Army training that will get us up to speed with being able to handle our role in the conflict in Iraq.

 

My two Army duffel bags and my large RuckSack are already stuffed with Listed Items that Command told us to bring, and my smaller AssaultPack (backPack size) is full of smaller items already.

 

Some friends and family have said they would send CarePackages if I need it, but looking at the storeShelfs here in Kuwait on the base, I have everything I need.

 

I'll wait and see what lies ahead in the coming year, for we might not always be near or IN a well stocked and well maintained army base. Just today I took a late afternoon shower and slipped back into the same clothes I've worn since just this last sundayNight / monMorning that we left American soil.

 

But, I'm from Alaska, and before that, I'm a Native American. I'm kind of used to hardship and hunger and used to living without running water or electricity and other luxeries that many of us nowadays enjoy,

 

heck, I'm hooked on MonsterEnergy drinks and I love iceCream, and I love to sip on hardAlcohol now and then. I love alot of things that I will have to do without during this yearlong deployment.

 

I think this time around,

that I will ask of people to give of self if they want to send me anything. To me that means sharing things as friends and not being too impersonal with things, Yes I'm sure that some baked goods would be nice, however,

 

I'm not one of the most popular guys in my Co, or Platoon, or Squad even so who wants to share food or mail with people that never wanted to look out for me while training with them in FortSill or FortBenning or even with those in FortStewart whom didn't want to give rides to me (or AnyOne else) when we all needed to gather at Formation and go here and there across Base for trainings, etc on a daily basis prior to shipping out here to Kuwait!?

 

I'll just ask my family and friends for some letters now and then and keep things simple and to keep my already stuffed bags free as possible of excess baggage!!

 

luvs,

theSam!!