From: Michael Mabee
Sent: Sunday, February 29, 2004 10:55 AM
Subject: 29 February 2004 FRG update

Families:

The 167th and 888th are still in Kuwait, but the 283rd, 323rd and have
all moved up to their permanent "home" in Iraq and have all arrived
safely.

Here in Kuwait, we are still waiting to get our trucks and equipment
(which we believe will happen shortly). From there, we have a bit more
training before we move up ourselves. I just wanted to let you know a
few things to expect.

You will not hear from your soldiers for a few days at some point in the
near future when we make the move. The exact dates and times we move are
classified information and I need the families to respect that as it is
for the safety of our soldiers that we do not discuss (and you do not
discuss back home) troop movement dates. I know that "blackout periods"
when you don't hear from your soldiers are very stressful to the
families (believe me, they are stressful to us to not to be able to call
or Email), but it is for everybody's safety that we do this. I will make
sure that I immediately let the FRG and COL Briere know when we have
safely arrived at our destination.

Don't believe rumors. There have already been some rumors running around
some of the families. One I heard come back over here was that somehow
some of the families heard that one of our vehicles was struck by an IED
- but our vehicles are still on the ship! :-) During the course of the
year, it is human nature that in the absence of news, rumors can spread
like wildfire. If you don't hear it through official channels (i.e.,
through COL Briere (167th Rear Det Commander), Barbara Clougherty,
myself, COL MacKenzie or 1LT Orr, then chances are it is just a rumor.
If you hear something, ask the person you heard it from: "Is this a
rumor, or did we get this information from an official source?" Then
confirm the source.

For the last few days, the lines have been getting shorter for chow and
the PX. The phone situation is MUCH better and most, if not all of the
soldiers should have had the opportunity to call or Email home. The
soldiers have been bored because we are waiting for our equipment. We
have been doing what training we can with what we have and the soldiers
have been doing a lot of "PT" (Physical Training"). We are all anxious
to get our equipment and move on to do the mission we came here to do.

I think I had previously mentioned that the living conditions at our
permanent camp will be much better than the conditions here in Kuwait.
We have the best dinning facility in Iraq. (People actually find excuses
to come from other camps to eat there!) We also have a very good PX,
barber shop, and many recreational facilities as well as good access to
phones and internet. We have also brought things with us to further
improve the living conditions. The troops will be living in buildings
instead of tents. That alone is a big plus.

We know that both the soldiers and the families are nervous about the
coming days. It is important to remember that every day, thousands of
trucks and soldiers are safely moving from place to place, and that part
doesn't generally hit the news (only the bad things tend to hit the
news).

The soldiers are excited about being part of a historic moment. As you
have heard in the news, this is the biggest relief in place mission in
U.S. military history. The news has reported that about a quarter of a
million troops are moving into and out of theater over the coming weeks.

As with any endeavor this large, there will be periods of furious work,
extreme boredom (we call this combination "hurry up and wait")as well as
anxiety. On the macro level when you look at this thing, it is amazing
that the U.S. is accomplishing this feat successfully. At the soldier
level, however, sometimes what we see is long chow lines and it's hard
to put it all into perspective.

Everybody is safe and healthy. We're not getting showers every day, but
at least every other day, so we really can't complain (I remember going
3 weeks without showers sometimes in the first Gulf war - so a shower
every other day is OK by me.)

APO Address: We are as frustrated as you are that we have not nailed
down the APO address yet. (There are three different ones floating
around, and only one of them is correct). Please do not use "rumored"
APO addresses as your mail will likely end up in Fort Hood Texas or some
island in the south pacific. The minute we have confirmed the APO
address, we will get that information to the FRG. Believe me, we want
you to have it. We know that there are care packages and cookies waiting
for an APO address. I hope that we will have the APO address nailed down
before we leave Kuwait, but I can't guarantee it.

I'll try to get more news and pictures out as we have the opportunity.

"Granite 7"

Michael Mabee
Command Sergeant Major
167th Corps Support Group