A wonderful friend, an Army psychiatrist and internist, has been keeping in touch with me since her deployment to the green zone several months ago. I suspect we imagine that the troops are out there in the sands etc every minute of the day. My friend, Jessica, has written a wonderful description of that the day was like for herself and the troops she is working with. When you finish reading her letter, don't forget to say a prayer for her and our troops there.
From Jessica.............................
It is interesting what happens to people when they are away from the ones they love for the holidays. Some people fall apart and shut down, some people make the best of it. The 31st Combat Support Hospital has definitely made the best of it. Last night, we had a lovely Christmas eve party (largely orgainzed by my roommate, by the way). The room was decorated in the true holiday spirit. In the early afternoon, we had movies playing the the Physical therapy room (the biggest room in the hospital). We put out sausages and crackers and cut up oranges and had hot chocolate. No one paid much attention to the movies, but it was a nice time to see folks and chat.Throughout the afternoon, each service (radiology, command, surgery, lab, etc) brought in their gingerbread houses for judging. Let me tell you that you would be amazed by what people created. There were ponds with people ice skating, trains made from chocolate bars, fences made from pretzels - I'll send some pictures soon, but they were really unbelievable! After that, they got pizza for everybody. There are only one or two places to get decent pizza in Baghdad, so this was awesome. Then our First Sergeant got dressed up as Santa and gave a stocking filled with little treats to everyone. It was great. We then had a game of Officers vs Enlisted Christmas trivia. We lost, but Chuck and I were on the team, so I thought we should get extra points for having 2 Jews in a Christmas trivia game, but no such luck. After that, there were cookies and more movies. Then Chuck broke out his guitar. We sang Christmas carols and other stuff too. We threw in some Billy Joel, Eagles, Indigo Girls and other random stuff. It was very interesting to me to see who stuck around for that - there were some folks I would not have expected - some gruff, generally unhappy folks who were having a really nice time. Of course, I was pleased because all of my good friends were there. As I looked around the room, you could see some sad eyes as people thought about what they would be doing at home with loved ones, but the sad eyes eventually gave way to smiling faces. It was so nice to see. Eventually, we all headed back to the barracks, but I think we all felt quite satisfied with the day. I also got some lovely cards and gifts from friends that evening - near and far - which made for lovely bed time reading. This morning, I woke up to a wrapped gift on my night table from my roommate - how awesome was that! The first thing I saw was this brightly wrapped green and red box - of course a smile immediately broke out across my face. She was already gone to work, but I opened it. It could have been empty for all I cared - just the sight of it had made me feel so good, but it was speakers for my iPod - a totally thoughtful gift. So this morning, I headed to the shower and was greeted by many cheerful, "Merry Christmas" greetings (that's redundant, huh?). Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised at how cheerful people managed to be as they were heading to work, in Iraq, early in the morning, on Christmas day.And, it's not over yet. Tonight, there will be Christmas dinner at the DFAC. It's no homecooked dinner with family, but we'll take what we can get. I'll let you know how it goes...I suspect, there will be smiles and laughter among the group I usually dine with as there always are. In between the laughs, we will have the underlying thoughts and hopes that there will be little to no violence today - that all of our soldiers, all of our friends will be safe. We will of course also be thinking of loved ones and planning what we will do with them next Christmas. I love and miss you all and wish you the Merriest of Christmases and the healthiest and happiest New Years! As cliché as it may sound, I will also be wishing for world peace - please join me. All the best,
