Letter Dated 19 April 2004

Dear Family,

Well, I miss you guys.  That is for sure.  The trip over here took forever.  I think we stopped in Minneapolis, MN, Frankfurt, Germany, Turkey, and Manus, Kargkistan (something like that).  Then we were over to Kandahar International Airport, or KAF for short, which is now a military base.  We spent about 12 hours there, climbed aboard some Chinooks and were headed off to our firebase at Orgune (we pronounce it Organ-ee).  There were a lot of happy faces when we landed, not from us, but from the 10th Mtn guys we were releaving.  It took me about 45 minutes after getting a room before I had my wall covered with pictures from home.  Our first couples of days went reasonably quick. The hardest part was switching to Zulu time. Zulu time is approximately 4.5 hours behind local time, so when you have to wake up at 0200 in the morning and it is light outside it is a little strange.  While at the firebase we went to the shooting range and also went on a short little patrol to Orgune with 10th.  On the first of April we left for Sharan, the capitol of the province of Patika, the province we are in. I tell you that is where some of the strangest things happened. Our first day there we had multiple dust storms, rain, and then hail. I mean hail in a desert?! I had to see it to believe it.  Our main job in Sharan was to help out the local police by leaving a squad at their station 24/7, but we also did other mission in the town.  We built up our compound a lot, went on a few good will missions, met with the governor, guarded a stupid kid who decided he wanted to work for Al Qaeda, and occasionally ran a temporary vehicle search checkpoint. We already earned our CIBs (Combat Infantrymen's Badge).  One of our squads was at the police station when it came under fire. Don't worry, nobody was hurt and it wasn't my squad.  It is pretty cool that we were the first to get it, but I hope to actually earn it, not just be given it because somebody heard some shots fired.  Yeah, the squad didn't even get a chance to return fire. Well, now I am back in Orgune for a few days to about 2 weeks.  Then I head back out to Sharan. That is the plan as of now for the first 6 months so it should be pretty easy.

I am lifting weights again. I am pretty happy because I repping 255 about 3 times now.  I need some supplies for that, but I will give you a list at the end of the letter. I am also pretty much the heavy weapons expert.  Anytime Sergeant D. (Delarosa) needs something worked on having to do with the Mk 19 (40mm automatic grenade launcher) or the M-2 (Oh yeah, the .50 cal) he calls me to work on it. I don't get to gun them though.  I guess it is my own fault. My feet just smell that bad in the field.  Yes, through the boots.  But it is still a compliment to have me always work on them.  I got to do a little driving, too.  I have a lot of fun speeding along in the up-armors (the completely enclosed Humvees with the turrets) and I hate driving the cargo Humvees because the PL is always yelling at me to slow down. He also over-reacts at everything.  I lifted one side of the Humvee about two to three feet off the ground because an oncoming vehicle whited-out my NODs and I didn't see the giant dirt pile (it gets pretty dark out here) in front of me and he gets all freaked out and yells for me to stop and he gets out.  I mean, come on, I know when the vehicle I am driving is going to flip and that one wasn't even close.  Driving with NODs sucks.  That is all I am gonna say about that.  I got your first four packages. Thank you very much.  You can slow down a little on the TP and baby wipes and stuff.  We are pretty much well supplied on that.  Don't quit, just slow down.  Where we are is alright with TP and stuff like that.  Everybody thanks you for all the stuff.  Especially the hot sauce.  Well I don't have much else to say. Get Marc to get on Acker about those pics. I got a list of stuff I would like at the bottom.  Not everything is out yet so it might be a wait.  I understand.  Also attaching a list of everbody in the platoon.
 
I really miss you guys. You guys keep doing everything for God's glory and I will on my end, too. Keep us in your prayers, especially the unbelievers. I can't wait until I am home again with you guys. I love you guys very much. Don't worry about me. I got God.


Love,

Me


PL-Lt. Stephen Holmberg
PSG-SFC Timothy Delarosa
RTO-SPC Haun

1st Sqd
Sqd Ldr-SSG. Hernandez
A TM Ldr-SGT Shockley
SAW Gunner-PFC Clark
M-203 Grenadier-PFC Lawson
B TM Ldr-SPC Moore
SAW Gunner-SPC OjendisMiranda
M-14 Gunner-SPC Tejada

2nd Sqd
Sqd Ldr-SSG Culotta
A Tm Leader-SGT Waseta
SAW Gunner-SPC Coyle
M-203 Grenadier-SPC Coleman
M-14 Gunner-SPC Finney
B Tm Ldr-SGT McLean
SAW Gunner-SPC Royal
M-203 Grenadier-SPC Brennan

3rd Sqd
Sqd Ldr-SGT Henry
A Tm Ldr-SGT Russell
SAW Gunner- PFC Hawley
M-203 Grenadier-PFC Guyett
Rifleman-PVT Gonzales
B Tm Ldr-SGT Neal
SAW Gunner-PFC Janahi
M-203 Grenadier-SPC Correa
M-14 Gunner-SPC Cavins

Weapons Sqd
Gun 1
Gunner-SPC Valadez
AG-PFC Liechty (Yours Truly)
Gun 2
Gunner-SPC Horness
AG-PFC Visco






List (* denotes needed items)
Battlefield Vietnam PC
Half-Life 2 PC
Doom 3 PC
Auto-Cad PC
Halo 2 XBox
3 Controller XBox
Lan Connection XBox
Viking/Rune Symbols Book
Celtic Book
Barbarian Book
Russian Language Book
Spanish Language Book
Engine Book
Psychology Book
Razors*
Toothbrushes*
Soap*
Toothpaste*
Mustache Trimmer*(No Jokes, please)
30 lbs approx. Nitro-tech (any flavor, spread out over a long period of time, maybe four pounds every two weeks)
10 lbs approx. Cel-tech (any flavor, maybe one jug every two weeks)
Multi-vitamins
NO2 3 bottles
Animal Stak M-Stak 4 bottles(I believe that is the name, it is a bottle of pills, Animal Stak is the brand, M-Stak is the name I think, It is an anabol sterol)
Pics from Acker
Heinlein Books
Compressed Air*
CD Lens Cleaner*
7-Day Contacts*
New DVDs (two or three a month)
New CDs (One or two a month)


As I am preparing this for a cd we are getting ready to head out for a mission. It could be 3-4 weeks before I get back here to the firebase to call again, so don't worry. I will talk to you guys when I get back.