Glad all my buddies and all the other troops are coming home....

Going in on April 10th...figured it was a good time as those two wars were winding down but now I'm afraid I'll be headed to Iran before it's all over. :facepalm:

My gf leaves in april for a 12 month deployment, thats gonna suck

Won't be any fun. At least communication with family is getting easier and better.

skype sex is better than no sex....

thats true, i guess any advancement is better than just letters, who knows how they managed that back then

It wasn't fun, I promise. And I first deployed in the "advanced" era (1994) of USO phone lines to augment the postal service. My last deployment (2010), I paid 100 bucks a month for internet; email, skype, facebook.

Skype for sure makes a deployment so much different than Cuba in 94. Good and bad, it's awesome to see the face of your loved ones. Talking, crying, smiling and laughing, etc. But it's bitter for the ones back home when they hear an "incoming, incoming, incoming!!!" alarm, followed by a disconnected signal and several hours of communication silence before finding out that loved one is ok.

I made the mistake of not properly preparing my wife for that, but I also didn't really think about it until it happened. I just suggest to you that there will be some very abnormal moments that will not make sense at that time, you have to go on with your day and not beat yourself up mentally with the "what ifs" She'll get back to you when she can, trust in that.

sorry man, sounds hard

If you know someone that is serving our country and would like a package sent, let me know.

I know someone who is going to be returning to Afghanistan shortly, I'll find out the details and send you the information when I can.

Just let me know the date and their name. I can get the details myself. ;)

Last call for your family and or friends to get some planet goodies!

Currently being in a deployed environment, once again: thank you for keeping up with this thread. I just received a morale box from "Operation Gratitude" today with a whole bunch of things like Sudoku books, candy, toiletries and a "small dog beanie baby" which I keep on my desk. Most importantly though, are the letters and cards from kids saying "Thank You". The whole box was very encouraging and it certainly lifted my spirits. I know the other servicemen/women are feeling the same thanks to your efforts here, guys.

Once again, thank you and God bless.

The Planet has these two packages on the way to you and your unit. Thanks to a generous Planet donor, I was able to purchase a large amount of the instant snow that they requested and put it in the packages.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6...e3d676f5_z.jpg

bump in case those who contributed missed the new packages going out.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH GUYS!

After a lengthy customs blackout, we received two packages today filled with beef jerky, cookies, fruit snacks and snow, snow...SNOW! The rest of my coworkers in the office were very excited to receive the shipment and send along their appreciation and thanks. In all, we have a Rams, Bills and Broncos fan in the office (the Broncos fan gets the empty box) and yes, even the Bronco fan says thank you! So once again, fellas, thank you for brightening our Sunday!