Some background: We live in two-man rooms here on Camp Victory, and no matter how you try, if you have a roommate, you have to resort to skills you learned when you were in Kindergarten. Fortunately, my roommate, Bob Anuszewski (a.k.a. "Ski"), and I get along just fine, so we set up our room as an open area with the beds and closets along opposite walls, giving us a living room of sorts when we aren't occupying a bed. Throw in opposite shifts, and we basically have 2/3 of the room whenever we are in it.
Along with the fortunate living situation came some conveniences we developed. For instance, since it is easier for me to drop off laundry on the way to work than for Ski (I'm on day shift) and easier for him to pick it up on the way back from shift, that's how we handle laundry. I take two bags, and he picks two up a day or two later.
We can also pick up each other's mail, which leads me to the point of the story: Ski is traveling in the North of Iraq right now, and I'm picking up all his mail. His mom unfortunately sent a lode of cookies after he found out he was leaving, and they had not arrived by the time he left. I have been photographing and emailing him the mailing labels, and when this one came in:
he told me to open it, eat my fill of cookies, save him half a box, and distribute the rest. The cookies are excellent (thanks Mrs. Anuszewski!!), and along with the other wonderful packages everyone has sent, I am running more and more on the treadmill to burn it all off.
I told the other soldiers in our section about all of this, and we decided we had to somehow poke fun at Ski because he missed the care package, leaving us here eating cookies his mom baked for "all of us" (but we all know they were really for him, she just knows better than to include only enough for him to eat ...). One guy came up with this patch from the custom patch shop:
Patches on your right sleeve are a big deal to some people out here, for various reasons. Some patches signify you served under a storied unit during a conflict (i.e. "I was in 'Nam, man!"), having many patches means you went to war many times (i.e. "This is nothing ... you should have seen it in '03!"), and having certain other ones indicates you have some special skill (i.e. "Special Forces", "Ranger", etc) - these unofficial "custom" patches are meant to poke fun at the patch-worshipers, and have a good laugh in the process.
So, after much ado, I'm going to send a thank-you note to Mrs. Anuszewski with the picture below printed out and enclosed ... and email a copy to Ski to let him know the cookies made it!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.