Back from the Desert

We enjoyed two calls in the last two days from Dan. After living in the northern deserts of Iraq since Nov. 1st, his unit came back to a base this week. He said it was great to have a shower and eat at a mess hall. He said when they got in line to go to the showers they were invited to the front of the line. It might have had something to do with living out of their vehicle for so long... he was also excited to have his clothes laundered. Now he said they put up a tent at the base for them and they have an electric light in the tent. He has learned to enjoy some of life's little pleasures.

Dan said that most likely they will now work from the base and go out on short multi-day trips instead of such a long stay in the desert. He was in good spirits and seemed happy. As of January 1st they are now to be backups to the Iraqi military so when they go out now they have Iraqi's taking the lead.

Dan was hopeful that he will be able to get some internet access and send us some photos that we can share. Yesterday his challenge was getting his credit card to work. He learned that because he used it once in Iraq it was put on hold and he couldn't use it. So he spent part of the day trying to solve that from Iraq. They don't make it easy for our military at times.

We are glad he's doing well and hope we'll hear more from him in the coming weeks.