Letter to a Soldier: Sick at Work

I have to say that I don’t recall all the events listed here. It’s been four long years and a lot of headaches since. These letters were written in an effort to keep up the spirits of a soldier station in Iraq working in military intelligence.

You all can tell me if I was being a good friend.

The man mentioned in this letter as “roommate” had told the soldier’s wife that he was intentionally being cruel to her so she would not become attracted to him. Why anyone would let a man like that live with his wife I have no idea.

1^st June 2007

Dear (Soldier),

(Your wife) asked me to tell you that (her roommate) is moving out. Apparently, it had something to do with his girlfriend dumping his worthless ass. She said that from an economic stand point it’s no big deal, because he is useless and expensive, but I can’t imagine you think this is a good thing.

I told your mom and dad that you called, and they were all happy to hear it, and your mom said she would tell your grandmother. I know you really can’t say much about what’s going on down there so don’t go into it, but I still wonder if they got (the intelligence man with the discipline problem) to go.

There was a big hubbub at work when I got back from the three day weekend. The client reported one guard on duty, me, at 0410 in the morning on Wednesday. The time sheets indicated four guards on post including the supervisor. This all got back to me at 1912 Wednesday after noon when I got a call from the roving account manager, who asked what had happened. 

When I told him he flipped and said “that’s bullshit, that is bullshit,” and then told me that (the big man), a guard in the supporting position of my gate, had gone home because he had not been feeling well. He had gotten tattoos the day before and hurt his leg. My manager asked me to come to post as soon as possible.

I made it there by 2000 hours, and (the site supervisor) came around 2020. He gave reprimands to the two other guards who had left early. The client gate manager came at 0200 hours to check and see if they had given me adequate support for the night and my Officer in Command arrived at 0300.

The only big thing is that I had over exerted myself the day before and had an infection in my throat. My mouth kept filling with goo, and I had to excuse my self to spit the clear slime in the bushes. By 0800 I had a fever and that staid with me until burning itself out before I came to work the next day.

Well, that was my week or rather the few days from the date of my last letter. I hope you are doing well and can write me back soon.

Peace and long life,

Richard Leland Neal

Letter to a Soldier's Family

This is a letter to the family and friends, sent by email, of a soldier who was stationed in Iraq back in 2007. It’s a funny thing how that friendship ended.

I imagine this is a less than thrilling post, but I’m trying to post three letters a week here and I’m lucky if I get to writing one.

 

30^th May 2007

 

Dear everyone,

(The soldier) called me yesterday to let me know that he is getting my mail, and that he is not writing me back because he is working very hard and has little time for anything personal. I’ve told him more than once now that he should be calling (his wife) or his family, but it was good to hear from him.

He said that he had an important job, and that he is doing good things. He told me that it was all a good experience for him, but the better parts did not out way the bad, and that he longed to come back to us. He didn’t say more because he had very little time and just came off a twelve hour shift.

(His father, his mother,) your boy has turned into a responsible man, and I hope that you are all as proud of him as I am. 

Best wishes to you all,

Richard

Letter to a Soldier on Deployment in Iraq "News of the Week"

This was me being a good friend to a fellow who was in truth no friend of mine. Sometimes I would write to him three times a week.

Funny thing is being a good friend never did a thing for me.

In any case there was a lot going on in my life at the time, and all those wonderful plans I had then fell to dust. It comes to me that over my life everyone has fought with me and that fighting was all I could do.

Funny how it turns out that way.

29^th May 2007     

Dear (Soldier),

As always, I hope that my mail finds you in good health and I wish that I had something good to say. It’s the nature of the world that nothing wonderful happens or that something wonderful is happening every day dependent on your outlook on life.

My week was going well aside from the fact that I had not been to the gym more than once this week, then I arrived a work Friday looking forward to a three-day weekend. The first thing that happened was that my boss told me that I would be attending work Sunday. Not only had I already made plans, but I was leaving to spend the weekend with (our mutual friends) from work that morning. This put me in an understandably bad mood but there was nothing I could do about it so I limped along as you do until four o’clock.   

It was at that time when a man from the (Shipper’s) office came up to me and said “where are the other guards? Are you the only one out here?”

“Am I the only guard out here?” I looked around. Yep, one guard working four trucks, not good, “I have to be honest with you, sir, I have no idea where the other guards are.”

“I see,” he said and walked off.

As I was working on the trucks I could see him making a phone call from the guard house. He walked back up to me and said. “I left a voice mail with the head of security and your boss.”

That was when one of the guards did show up to get a major tongue lashing from the client. “He’s been out here alone for half an hour” and so forth.  Long story short my boss up at the office got a pissed off message from me, and he called me back and made hollow promises and gave me Sunday off.     

I spent the weekend watching movies, playing (video games), and cooking. It was fun. The fact that this was a group of men primarily put a damper in it but you have to take your fun as you can get it.

I just got your message. Sorry, my phone was charging in the next room. I hadn’t thought any of my mails had gotten to you yet. (Your step father) thought they would take three weeks. Did you get the letter with my play and the book? I Figured if you had not responded to my letter that you had a good reason so don’t worry too much about it. I remember working myself to death and not being able to write you.   

As far as the play goes I didn’t start out making a short, but it came to me that the jokes would get old after some time. It really is the same thing over and over again, and I couldn’t think of anything ells that would illustrate my point. I suppose that I could go through pregnancy and have the two of them pretend that they don’t have a thing going still, but the main thing is “did I get my point across.”

The other reason I’m working on short plays is because that’s what the school wants me to start with, and I need a good amount of them to bring the semester off right. I would like to show the class twenty pages of material a week and that is nearly double what I have now. That’s every thing I have written to this point doubled including both of my full length plays.

This class is the best opportunity I will have in my writing career, and I intend to fight for every thing I can get out of this experience. It really doesn’t look like I will have another shot at this, so I have to make it count.

Anyway, old friend, that is the news of the week. I’ve never been good at letters.

I hope I’m not boring you,


Richard Leland Neal