Letters Home

[darrels joy]

'It's Not Us, It's This War' ? Letters Home

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Spc. Imelda Haro of Moxee shipped out with the rest of her Army National Guard unit in February, just days after her marriage to fellow 737th Transportation Company soldier Spc. James Kielhorn. Haro lives with other female soldiers and is in a different platoon than her husband. Both are being moved again as the 737th shifts its home base from Camp Doha, Kuwait, into southern Iraq, where they will drive fuel and supply trucks that private contractors, in the less-dangerous past, once drove. The Herald-Republic has asked Haro and other Yakima Valley soliders in the 737th to send e-mailed "Letters Home" whenever they can. These are Haro's edited comments, received Tuesday.


Hey, everybody! OK?what's new, you ask? Well, for starters we're going through these classes that are about four days long and where we will be getting our commercial driver licenses with KBR (Kellogg Brown & Root). It's a very interesting experience because first of all, before yesterday I'd never driven a stick shift. People keep telling me that this is a good thing because I get to learn from scratch without bad habits.

The weather is starting to get hotter and hotter each day. Good thing I got here in Febuary, where it was still "cool." Yeah right! We were all thinking, "This is nice early summer weather." But as the time passes we keep adjusting to it. I especially hate it when my bottled water gets so hot that I can use it for hot chocolate or for coffee.

You're probably wondering how my marriage is coming along? Well, it's not a walk in the park. Both James (Kielhorn) and I are under stress, both emotional and mental, and sometimes we can both get on each others nerves without meaning to. We both love each other. It's not us, it's this war. We just keep on telling ourselves that once we get through our first year of marriage, the rest of our lives are going to be a piece of cake.

Moving bites. Especially if you have to sort our your junk and pick out the things that you do need or that you don't need. In my opinion, music is a necessity. Others might not think this, but whenever I need to get away from it ...

(If) I don't have a book, something is wrong. See, this way, with a book, I can go into a different world and forget that I'm even here, on the other side of the world (from home). Books sometimes remind me of television, but instead of seeing the people, I get to choose how the people look ? whether they be ugly or nice. It's my imagination and without it I wouldn't be me and I would consider myself insane. Guess I would have to say that my imagination is one driving force that keeps both my sanity and insanity in check.

When I first arrived over here, I was surprised what I saw in the PX (Post Exchange): Subway.

I was, like, cooooool! I was hoping that they had one over here. They also have many other fast food places like KFC, Hardees, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Burger King, and my favorite, Basket Robbins. I like going over to the PX and going straight for a banana split and just chillin' with some of the other guys of my platoon. Whether talking about the events of the day, our opinions about how things are going or of how things are back at home, we're like a family. We give each other advice and moral support when we start thinking that it can't get worse. Thank goodness for the buddy system.