Mail Call !!

This is a place for veterans of military service to remember and reflect. War time or peace. Any service.

Moderators: DuncaninFrance, Niner Delta

Post Reply
User avatar
Candyman
Contributing Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:24 pm

Mail Call !!

Post by Candyman » Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:31 pm

Mail Call !!
Two words that bring so much fear and joy to ones soul when walking in the darknest of combat.
Will there be a letter for me? Or or will I have to wait until the next time.
Will it be good news or bad? No matter what it will make me cry.
How many times will I read this letter until the next one comes.
And will I be here to hear the next Mail Call?

Image

You will never know the joy that can come from a few lines scratched on a piece of paper untill your name is called during Mail Call.

Image

A letter from home is sometimes called a letter from the real world. But in combat it is a candle in the window of a world that you are starting to believe is only a dream. It is easy to get lost in the darkness of war, every candle helps.

Image
User avatar
Niner
Site Admin
Posts: 11546
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 1:00 pm
Location: Lower Alabama

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by Niner » Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:44 pm

Welcome to the forums Candyman. Good post.
User avatar
DuncaninFrance
Global Moderator Sponsor 2011-2017
Posts: 10947
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:08 pm
Location: S.W.France
Contact:

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by DuncaninFrance » Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:51 am

Yes, welcome. Hope your stay is a long and happy one.
Duncan

What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? -- W.C. Fields
"Many of those who enjoy freedom know little of its price."
You can't fix Stupid, but you can occasionally head it off before it hurts something.
User avatar
Niner
Site Admin
Posts: 11546
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 1:00 pm
Location: Lower Alabama

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by Niner » Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:10 am

Anybody keep their old mail from serving in foreign countries? I got all the letters my wife sent me in Vietnam and all the ones she saved that I sent her. And....the ones I sent my parents that they kept until their death.

I started a timeline at my 6/31st site based on information in letters sent home. Funny how we left out all the stuff we really want to remember now. No point in scaring the home folks. They were scared enough without us adding any truth.
User avatar
Candyman
Contributing Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:24 pm

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by Candyman » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:12 am

My Ex-wife asked me to write her every day when I was deployed during Desert Storm, to which I tried. She has a box with over 100 letters in it that I sent her. Alot of the letters have brown specks on them from the oil that fell fron the somke filled skys.
I have the letters that were sent to my but, they are put away in a box and will see the light of day when I am gone. I don't need to read them anymore. All I have to do is close my eyes and I can see them.
User avatar
oldironsights
Sustaining Member
Posts: 227
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 12:26 pm
Location: South Mississippi
Contact:

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by oldironsights » Thu Nov 19, 2009 6:52 pm

Welcome aboard Lee! :bigsmile:
I hope you like it here.
If You Can Read This, Thank A Teacher!
If You Can Read This In English, Thank A Veteran!

Help save this retired fighting ship from the scrapyard;
http://www.ussorleck.org
User avatar
Candyman
Contributing Member
Posts: 192
Joined: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:24 pm

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by Candyman » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:19 pm

Thanks Clay and Niner.
It will take me a few days to find my way around but, so far I like what I see.
I think I will like it here.
User avatar
dhtaxi
Moderator
Posts: 2090
Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:16 pm
Location: cleveland. england
Contact:

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by dhtaxi » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:49 pm

Welcome I have enjoyed reading your posts come back soon my freind.
BobB1
Contributing Member
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 10:16 pm
Location: coastal SC

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by BobB1 » Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:54 pm

We always looked forward to mail call. Letters and packages. That's one of the reasons I 'sponsor' a couple of the troopers in my old outfit from Viet Nam when they have been deployed in Iraq. I make sure that they always have letters and packages coming.

We were in the boonies most of the time, and carried everything we had with us. We were at base camp so little (when I came in country, when I had to get stitched up after a rocket attack, when we moved from I Corp to III corp) that we didn't even have any storage there, so the letters got read until the next batch got there and then destroyed. I have some in a tin box, that I wrote to my ex that she gave me when we split, but I'm not sure I could put my hands on them. But you are right, Niner, I didn't write about everything that went on.
User avatar
Niner
Site Admin
Posts: 11546
Joined: Sat Mar 15, 2003 1:00 pm
Location: Lower Alabama

Re: Mail Call !!

Post by Niner » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:20 am

One of our moderators, Dutch Mosin, is on a tour in Afganistan right now. A few of us moderators will be sending him care packages as soon as we find out where to send them.

I've sent three different people that I had a connection to care packagers in recent years to Iraq and Afganistan. But with email potential that now exists in base camps I wonder how many actual letters are sent anymore......even if they will go for free for those in combat zones. The only thing is ....emails are discarded ...letters can last a lifetime.
Post Reply