We do have showers. The water isn’t the best; they tell us not to open our eyes or get any in our mouths, but you deal. At one point on another deployment, they paid a water truck to spray us down because we were in the same situation with no shower facilities. You really grow to appreciate hot water over here.

If she makes it through the qualifying rounds, do you already know where the final is?

What do we read… there’s a lot of fantasy, thriller, mystery, court drama stuff… some romance books too. Halo is the most action a lot of us like to deal with. The rest gets our mind off things going on around us. We share books around here all the time. Do you read? I can’t remember if you told me you do or not.

Me and my dad get along all right. He isn’t a fan of me being in the army, but we talk and message at least once a week. I can’t complain much. My sister and brother both write, but not as often…. Maybe once a month.

That picture you sent me of your sister’s ice-skating costume looks like something that belongs in a museum. You made that? For real?

I’ll tell you why I was upset. You might have seen it on the news already, but two soldiers were killed while on patrol. I’ve known one of them for a few years. We’d been stationed in Germany together. Our Internet gets blacked out every time an incident like that happens, to give the military time to identify the bodies and contact families. This time, they blacked it out for two days. One of the guys’ sisters messaged me after she found out because he’d told her we were here together and he had given her my e-mail “just in case.” “Just in case” are the worst three words in the world, don’t let anybody tell you different. You can’t not expect the worst… that would be stupid, but… I don’t know…. What’s messed up is that a part of me wishes he hadn’t done that. How do you tell someone’s sister… somebody who doesn’t want to believe her little brother is gone… that it’s true? Not going to front, writing her back gave me stomach cramps.

Pranks are a big thing here, even though half of them go wrong with all the high emotions and the stress everyone is under all the time. A few days ago, someone got a care package and offered to share things he got and it almost caused a fight. He mixed bags of M&Ms and Skittles in a container. Separate, great. Together? Not so much.

Hope to hear from you soon.

-A

From: [email protected]

Date: October 15, 2008 1:05 a.m.

To: [email protected]

Subject: Poop water?

Aaron,

…how did you know I stepped in a pile of poop? Has it happened to you?

I’m scared to ask and sorry to bring up the “P” word again, but is there poop in the water? Is that why they don’t want you putting it in your mouth? What do you do about brushing your teeth? Bottled water?

If my little sister makes it through (and I think she will), the final will be in France in December. My mom and her husband told me they’re going to Russia with her. They had applied for a visa, but it hadn’t come through until now, so they’re scrambling for plane tickets. She’s the baby and everyone spoils her.

Sharing books makes a lot of sense. That’s nice to hear you all aren’t greedy. You could start a book swap for money. Not saying that you need it, but you could make it work. I think I’ve heard of people doing that in jail, setting up a bartering system type thing. Romance and fantasy novels floating around base doesn’t sound crazy at all. Everyone needs a happily ever after. Now tell me the truth. I’m not judging. How many of them have you read?

I like reading anything and everything. :)

You’re flattering me to death. Yes, I made that dress. It took me almost a hundred hours to make it.

You have a heart and a conscience, losing someone you know is going to be hard. I doubt it’s ever supposed to be easy. I’m really sorry about your friend and the other soldiers. I don’t really know what to say besides I’m sorry, and even that sounds lame, but I hope you understand where I’m coming from.

Mixing M&Ms and Skittles? That’s mean. I would never do something like that. I’m lying. My sister and I rigged up an airbag once for my brother who isn’t a marine. That was the best $100 I’ve ever spent.

Hope you’re doing all right.

-Ruby

From: [email protected]

Date: October 19, 2008 1:44 p.m.

To: [email protected]

Subject: RE: Poop Water

Ruby,

The server has been down for the last few days. Sorry for not writing back sooner.

I’ve never admitted to anyone except to my friends who were with me, but yeah, I’ve stepped in a warm pile of crap once. Appreciate you joining the club.

There’s all kinds of things in the water, not limited to the brown stuff. You’re supposed to rinse out your mouth with bottled water. They purify it so fast to meet demand it isn’t really filtered at all, but it’s gotten better than it was years ago. Some of us have gotten kidney stones from how many minerals there were in it at one point. Add that up with getting constipation from the MREs and it’s a party on your intestines.