Birch checking in

“Be careful of that medic doing the scratch and sniff on your 'you know what'. Next thing he'll be bringing you flowers.”

“Got some meds and mandatory rest (thank God!) am chillin with an IV.

treebait, it may be a camel skull. They are fairly rare, we have only seen em once when some bedoiuns were rolling through. This skull was found by a village populated with known smugglers who had a huge (by huge I mean disproportionate ) amount of horses.

it ended up as my guntrucks hood ornament till I was instructed to remove it”

“Send it home to Abby, she might like it as a souvenir. ;)”

“Abby wouldn't but her mom might.”

“Lol!”

“GI (no pun intended) probs are the worst. Get well soon, Birch.”

“it ended up as my guntrucks hood ornament till I was instructed to remove it”
birch

Nice!! Hope you got a pic of that!”

“Birch, tonight is our scout meeting. we will get the letters and hope to have everything ready to mail out to you and your troop by the weekend :)”

“As I had assumed, the lady in the post office didn't really know what to do with the APO AE address. We weren't sure what sort of postage to put on the envelope? We decided to put postage for the US on it.
There is a letter, with some Swiss chocolate, on its way, trying to find you. That thing probably wanders in a zic-zac line across Europe, probably crossing the Atlantic half way, then stopping, becoming a little indecisive for a while and back tracking for who knows how long, hopefully in the right direction.
:-)”

“here ya go Roam...



Tells the boys (and yourself) thanks from us all!”

“THANKS EURO!!!!”

“luv it!”

“That's a nice buggy and the skull is AOK.
Too bad the boss had to be a tight-ass about it.”

“Euro, APO addresses are technically US addresses so you did right. It will have to come to the states where the Army will take it from there.”

“Well, I hope someone here understands that it is supposed to go to the US first, before it can go anywhere else. I almost expect that the letter will show up in my mail box within next few days. If it doesn't it probably ends up in Timbuktu, or at the North Pole.
I am really curious what's going to happen to the letter. I never bet, but I'd say it has a 50/50 chance.”

“Well, I am heading back to Iraq tomorrow. I was able to get an extension on my leave to help with the new baby. The last 27 days have been a blur. The high point was seeing Liberty born. I was able to spend some great time with my family and friends...now back to work. With any luck I will see some of you at RRG for Mothers day and if not then, later this summer.

Y'all take care and enjoy your hikes, especially Nimbelfoot and Hyway. I wish you both success on your AT hikes.

Happy Trails!”

“Two great epic events that shape history - child birth and war. Take good care Birch.”

“Thanks, Joe and good luck.”

“Peace be with you and watch yer back, bro! Yo bear”

“Take care birch...”

“Take care Joe. I hope the coming months are fast and safe for you.”

“I wish I was going in your place. Wars should be fought only by old men and politicians. I qualify as an old man. It came upon me suddden like about three years ago.

You have a great family and many friends pulling for you. I pray that trouble avoids you and I anxiously look for your safe return.”

“good luck and safe travels, birch.”

“Take care, Birch and come home safe.”

“Be safe. Look forward to seeing you on the trail soon!”

“that was too short. good luck and God bless”

“We were blessed w/ two extra weeks. The time zoomed by. Just a short time before he'll be home again.”

“Safe journeys!”

“Take care of yourself.”