Jordan's New Toy

Jordan called me the other night extremely excited. Apparently, his new job requires him to go back and forth all over base. Therefore, the Army has given Jordan his very own Humvee. As if Jordan isn't a reckless enough driver in a NORMAL vehicle. Imagine him in a huge armored monster!!!! Maybe this is one reason to be glad he's not driving on our streets! Haha!

Sorry for the short message, but there isn't a whole lot of news right now.

Care Package Tips

Hey guys, I know several of you are probably thinking about sending Jordan a package for his birthday. I sent my present out today. I thought I'd take this time to give you all a few tips about sending packages to him.

First of all, you are going to need customs slips. You can get these at the Post Office, just make sure you ask for the ones that are for packages over 7 lbs. These are white and about the size of half a sheet of paper. They have smaller green ones, but the nice lady at the PO (the only PO employee I've ever had be nice to me) told me that for APO addresses the white ones are a must! She also gave me a little bit of advice. If you are sending liquids, make sure to put a towel or something in the box in case the container breaks. Also, use the flat-rate boxes, that way you never have to worry about how much postage is going to be. The postage costs $8.95 per box.

Something I discovered today: Target sells huge rolls of bubble wrap for relatively cheap! I was thrilled when I found this, not only does it keep my presents safe, but you know as well as I do that Jordan is very easily entertained. Haha! I can picture him driving his tent mates crazy!

Enough about packages...I know you are all wondering how Jordan is doing. He's trying very hard to get settled in. The Army is making that difficult, as they keep changing jobs on him. He finally got settled into his office job (he did one night of construction and they changed him to just office work). But this week they decided to change him to another admin job in another office. I'm not sure what either of these jobs entailed. He liked his first one, and I liked it because he was at a computer all day so we could email back and forth. He isn't sure if he'll have access to a computer at his new job. He was supposed to start that job yesterday, but they held off. Now today apparently they have moved him back to construction for a week. So confusing! It wouldn't be so bad except with every job change, his hours switch too. When he works in the office, he works days, but construction is at night. I guess working at Pretzels was good training for his crazy hours!

Article from Jordan

Jordan sent me an email with a pretty amusing article, I thought I'd pass it on.

"This is why I joined the army instead of the airfarce." --Jordan

WASHINGTON - The Air Force on Tuesday confirmed a report that in 1994 a military researcher requested $7.5 million to develop a non-lethal "love bomb" that would chemically alter the state of mind of enemy troops and make them want to have sex with each other rather than fight.

Air Force spokeswoman Lt. Col. Cathy Reardon said the idea was proposed by an Air Force researcher at a lab at Brooks Air Force base in Texas, but it was rejected by the Defense Department. Officials noted that the Air Force is constantly considering funding proposals.

No money was spent, Reardon said, and no such weapons are currently being considered. The goal was to create a non lethal weapon to be used against enemy troops.

First reported by KPIX-TV in San Francisco, the discovery of the "gay bomb" came from a Freedom of Information Act request made by Edward Hammond of Berkeley's Sunshine Project, a watchdog group that tracks military spending.

According to the report, as part of the military's goal of developing non-lethal weapons, the proposal suggested, "One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior."

Where's Jordan?!?!

Hey, Jordan FINALLY sent me some pictures, this is his unit...try and find him :) He is wearing gloves. (Kind of like Where's Waldo, only harder because everyone looks exactly the same!)

Attack on Jordan's Camp: Our soldiers are OK!

Hey, I wanted to let everyone know, in case you were watching the news, that Jordan and everyone in his unit is ok. It may be a few days before he can get word to us directly, as sometimes during attacks they shut down the internet and phones. As soon as I hear from him, I'll let you guys know. There is no reason to worry, I just wanted to get word to you that something had happened, in case you saw it on TV. I've included an article below so you can have details on the event.


U.S.: 6 Inmates Die in Iraq Jail Attack
Attack on U.S. Detention Facility in Iraq Kills at Least 6 Inmates, Wounds 50, Military Says

By SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD Jun 9, 2007 (AP)

An apparent rocket attack Saturday at a U.S.-run detention facility in southern Iraq killed at least six detainees and wounded 50, the military said. No American casualties were reported.

The attack was launched against the internment facility at (Jordan's Camp), the military said in a brief statement. Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman in Baghdad, said the center appeared to have been hit by rockets.

The U.S. military oversees some 21,000 inmates at (Jordan's Camp) in southern Iraq and Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport. Military officials won't provide a breakdown of how many prisoners are at each facility but say the majority are at (Jordan's Camp).

Diplomatic tensions also rose, with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry summoning the Turkish charge d'affaires and calling for an immediate halt of cross-border shelling into northern Iraq, saying such actions "undermine confidence between the two nations and negatively affect their friendship." The statement was the first government confirmation of the shelling.

Turkey has been building up its forces along the border with Iraq and scattered shelling has been reported while its leaders debate whether to stage a major incursion to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels who cross over from bases in Iraq to attack Turkish targets an operation that could ignite a wider conflict involving Iraqi Kurds and draw in the United States.

Mahmoud said the shelling had started large fires and caused serious damage, but gave no other details.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information, confirmed the meeting between Mahmoud and Turkish charge d'affaires Ahmet Yazal, but denied it was a "protest."

An American soldier was killed Saturday by small-arms fire in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, the military said. The death raised to at least 3,502 members of the U.S. military who have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

"6 inmates die in Iraq Jail Attack." SALAHEDDIN, SINAN. 09 June 2007. ABCNews.com. 09 June 2007. http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3261923

New Email

Jordan has a new email address. He asks that we start using this one instead of the old one. He will probably still check the old one, it just may not be as frequent.

Jordan.Wall@bucca.iraq.army.mil

Leave Dates

Hey all...I am super excited this morning. Want to know why? Jordan emailed me his leave dates! This is another one of those things I'm not going to post on here, but if you want to know, feel free to email me, call me, or ask Denise (I called her this morning because I was so excited!!)