9/22: A Letter Home

PERSONAL JOURNAL

Daily Press staff writer Stephanie Heinatz is keeping a journal of her time deployed with the Fort Eustis-based 7th Transportation Group.

Read Stephanie Heinatz's reports.

A Letter Home | Saturday, Sept. 22, 2004 | Journal entry No. 9

9/22: Countdown to battle handoff

There are few things in life of which I'm deathly afraid. I don't mind spiders and critters. Fire doesn't get me going and flying across the world doesn't freak me out.

A Letter Home | Saturday, Sept. 18, 2004 | Journal entry No. 8

9/18: Live-fire exercise taught many lessons

Any day that soldiers can fire live rounds out of their M16, M4 or .50 caliber machine gun is a good day. At least that's what I've been told by the 7th Transportation Group soldiers.

A Letter Home | Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | Journal entry No. 7

9/17: Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore

As a military reporter, I've been able to experience things I had only dreamed of doing.

A Letter Home | Thursday, Sept. 16, 2004 | Journal entry No. 6

9/16: A flat tire

After starting out like any other, today turned surreal.

A Letter Home | Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2004 | Journal entry No. 5

9/14: Touring the port and naval base

Much of the group took a bus tour today of the Port of As Suaiba and Kuwait Naval Base.

A Letter Home | Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004 | Journal entry No. 4

9/12: Soldiers mourn -- and return to duty

Back in the states, when a soldier dies in Iraq, we journalists tend to hear about it a couple days after it happens. The government needs time to notify families -- a process I can appreciate because if it were I, I wouldn't want a whole lot of interruptions in the initial hours of coping with a loss.

A Letter Home | Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004 | Journal entry No. 3

9/11: "Remember Why We Are Here"

I was sitting outside early Saturday morning, around 2 a.m., just talking to a few soldiers in the cool morning temperature, when I glanced at my watch to count how many hours of sleep I could still get in after staying up so late just chit-chatting.

A Letter Home | Thursday, Sept. 9, 2004 | Journal entry No. 2

9/9: Settling in -- Dust storms, bathrooms and buddies

A slight film settled over Camp Arifjan today and for the longest time I couldn't figure out what was going on. Everything looked a little, but not much, darker. The sun didn't seem as bright and it wasn't quite as hot as it had been in previous days.

A Letter Home | Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2004 | Journal entry No. 1