Greetings from sandland

Hello all,

If you were at YouthQUEST last Sunday, you would have noticed that I wasn't there. I offer my deepest apologies for not letting you all know in advance. In case Kristi didn't tell you, here's the skinny on where I am:

The majority of my reserve unit has been activated to support Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom. This has been something that has been in the works for a while. I was originally scheduled to be deployed from March to June. My shop chief, who was supposed to be on this current rotation, had to go in for emergency surgery at the end of September. They needed someone to fill his slot, so they asked me. I can't give out specific info on where I am, but I am at a major air base in the middle east.

Here's a little description of the area I'm in currently. Take a look outside. Any building you see, pretend it is tan. Ignore any trees, bushes, flowers and anything else growing. Replace the grass with dirt and rocks. When you look up at the sky, there are no clouds. Just haze during the day and fog at night. Sometimes the fog gets so heavy, you can barely see 10 feet. The weirdest thing is at night, the moon is sideways. I am assuming it is because I am closer to the equator.

The base I'm at is HUGE! This is the largest base I've been at in the mid east. They have plenty of things to do when I'm not working. There's a large gym, a rec center with TV's and video games, a library, coffee shop, and a Regal-size movie theater, and a chow hall that's open 24-7. They are keeping my pretty busy over here. I'm working 12 hour shifts, four days on, one off.

The weather here is hot. During the day, it gets over 100 degrees with 50-60% humidity. It does get cool at night, but the humidity goes up to near 100%. The other night I went outside and thought "Gee, it's kinda chilly." I went over to the thermometer and it was 70.

If you want to write me and say hi, my e-mail address is:
richard.crosby@auab.centaf.af.mil

If you don't have internet access (I'm curious how your reading this), my snail-mail address is:
MSgt Richard W. Crosby
379 EAMXS 746 AMU
APO, AE 09309

When you go to YouthQUEST this Sunday, tell Kristi you read all this message and she'll give you one GTWO bonus point.

In Christ,
Rik