Marine Corps, Iraq

Received the following card:

Thank you! Your kindness is most appreciated. Everything you sent is most welcome and will be used. We are well here just working hard and dealing with the weather.

Thanks again,
—–

It’s Not Delivery, It’s Pretty Darn Good!

I don’t eat a lot of frozen foods. I can usually “taste” the freezer’s effects on foods, so I avoid many of them. Every now and then, I will eat something such as a frozen pizza or Hot Pocket. I was shopping at Wal-Mart tonight, and I decided to get a frozen pizza for dinner. I don’t normally look at the brand, I find what looks good. I got home, my wife pre-heated the oven, and 20 minutes afterward, we started eating.

Wow! I was stunned because this was the best frozen pizza I could remember eating. I checked the box after the meal to see the brand. Turns out, it was a DiGiorno Cheese Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza.

I will certainly get this particular product again, and I can’t wait to try some of the other DiGiorno selections. I didn’t think it was “quite” as good as a delivery pizza, but I found it to be the next best thing.

Age of Worms Adventure Path – Game Session 46

Game summary for July 26, 2007; present characters included Ashkor (lizardfolk barbarian/battle sorcerer/dragon disciple/fighter), Iapetus Hasur (hu-charad giant rogue/vigilante), Lady Aridarye Phylund Brokengulf (human aristocrat/harbinger/ranger cohort), Lyrin Sinbal (simian incantatrix/warmage), Morak Beardfist (shield dwarf fighter/rage cleric), Pitamian Kalal (human yang monk), Syvarius Strongbow (moon elf archer-ranger), Taravin Truesilver (human gray guard/paladin of honor), and Thoril Songsteel (human thug).

With the artifacts of Icosiol exposed, Moreto made his play to claim them as his own and rebuild his undead army with the corpses of the party. He attacked with a vicious lightning bolt while his mohrgs attempted to paralyze the group with their deadly tongues. The wicked Marquis took several hard hits and arrow shots, and his lesser globe of invulnerability stopped Lyrin’s initial assault completely. The mohrgs met with no initial success against the party, and Moreto’s body was soon damaged to his physical destruction; however, as his body hit the ground, his spectral spirit remained standing.

The party fought valiantly against the undead, eventually destroying the mohrgs. The spectre of Moreto was incorporeal and difficult to damage, and his deadly touch ripped through the lifeforce of those it brushed against. However, the Mercenaries proved victorious against this ghostly enemy as well. After the brutal battle concluded, the team looted the body of Moreto and took his head as proof of his death. They then rested and used spells such as air walk, the flight ability of the lightning sword, and the power of the cloak of the bat recovered from Moreto to escape the waterfall.

Once back into the catecombs, the team returned to the lair of Cornerweaver and presented the head of the Marquis. True to his (its, their?) word, the spider showed them to the “shiny things” they had missed. Laden with gold and jewels, the Mercenaries returned to the portal and went back to the Whispering Cairn.

A quick stop in Daggerford allowed the group to catch up with Delfen “Yellowknife” Ondabar and find that he had contacted his mentor Malchor Harpell. He urged the Mercenaries to make haste to the town of Longsaddle and meet with his former mentor about the Age of Worms. Setting out to the north, the party encountered a group of refugees from Waterdeep whom they helped with food and protection. Then, they set out toward Secomber to avoid traveling by the chaotic City of Splendors. Several more days of travel moved them through Red Larch, Triboar and up to Longsaddle.

The party discovered Longsaddle to be a bizarre town filled with strange magic. They crossed the upside down bridge and discussed magical theory with a number of residents, including one who offered them a spell to allow them to toot their own horns. The insanity of the place put the characters a bit on the defensive, but they discovered Malchor had made arrangements for them at the local inn, the Gilded Horseshoe.

Soon after, some old acquaintances, Celeste and Dagsumn, arrived along with an elven apprentice of Malchor, Cymria. Dagsumn explained that his and his wife’s bodies were brought to Longsaddle by Celeste and raised back to life by a man named Agath Harpell. Cymria, an eldritch knight known for being the eyes and ears of Malchor when he is away, asked the Mercenaries a number of questions about the Age of Worms. They were standoffish and refused to divulge a lot of their information, which set Cymria in a foul mood. However, they did show her the Apostolic Scrolls, which caused her much concern. She then bid them goodnight and went to communicate with Malchor about the party.

Now the party awaits the return of Malchor from the plane of Arcadia for an audience. Until then, they have room and board at the inn and fairly free run of the town.

Army, Iraq

Received the following letter:

Hi Charles!

I pray that this letter finds you blessed. I am writing on behalf of the —–, for the AnySoldier.com program. I enrolled the unit in the program because we have limited necessities here and also to help with morale. I know this letter isn’t much and cannot express how appreciative we are. Your care packages helped with having just what we needed. Everyone was happy and unbelievably surprised! You’ve warmed hearts and brought smiles on a hard-working day. There are those less fortunate and do not receive packages from family and loved ones. With your support, it has made a big difference. We thank you so much. Many blessings to you and your family.

Sincerely,
—–
U.S. Army

Air Force, Iraq

Received the following card:

Mr. Charles Plemons –

It was nice reading your letter. My roommate is —–. I want to say thank you for writing to us and keeping us up to date on some of the country’s news. Hope you’re having a nice summer. Ours is okay with it being 117-129 degrees and being in Iraq.

Thank you again,

—–
Air Force

Navy, Afghanistan

Received the following letter:

Dear Mr. Plemons,

My name is —–, and I am the Garrison Commander here at —–. I am also the AnySoldier sponsor for the U.S. Army personnel both here and at the outlying Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) that are based here. On behalf of the soldiers that you are supporting, I would like to personally thank you for the letter that you sent.

The vast majority of the soldiers that participate in this program work and live at the outlying FOBs, so they may not immediately receive your letter. Although they may not personally make it here to Apache in the immediate future, it is my responsibility to ensure that all AnySoldier correspondence gets to the participants, via their leadership, as quickly as possible. Please know that I will ensure that this happens.

Once again, thank you very much for your involvement in the AnySoldier program. Your support means a great deal to all of us.

Sincerely,

—–
U.S. Navy

Army, Iraq

Received the following card:

Dear Black Falcon,

Thank you so much for the care package. Your time and generosity are truly appreciated. We are especially enjoying the toiletries in these hot summer months! We hope your son had fun at his Water Babies class and that your sermon went well. Surely Kentucky is a beautiful part of the country this time of year. As for us, we are in the third month of our fifteen-month deployment. Luckily, the time is flying by. We keep ourselves busy by working hard, taking online classes, and going to the gym. The big news around camp is the highly-anticipated opening of a Burger King. Out here, anything serves to break up the monotony! Thank you again for your kindness! May God bless you and yours.

With kind regards.
—–

Marine Corps, Iraq

Received the following email:

Mr. Plemons,

Thank you so much for responding to our post on AnyMarine. I hope this note finds you and your family well. Please give your family my best and thank your family’s veterans for their faithful service to our country as well.

The Marines here always look forward to mail call, thanks to generous supporters such as you. Whether we receive letters of encouragement or “goodies”; the spirits of every one of us are lifted. We share everything and keep any items not immediately claimed in a locker for later use.

About half of the Marines in my shop are deployed here for one year; the remainder is on 6-7 month rotations. The former are stationed at —– and the latter are drawn from all over the Marine Corps. Our unit is an aviation maintenance/support squadron, which means that we are responsible for keeping all of the different aircraft from the multi-national forces, west available for flying. It can sometimes be a daunting task with so many different aircraft types and the sheer volume of work, but the Marines are performing brilliantly thus far.

As I’m sure you’ve heard from others, the long hours of hard work, and separation from our families can be difficult at times. Most of the Marines are on their first deployment, but a few of us “old guys” have deployed a bit more. But despite the hardships, the Marines here remain highly dedicated to the mission and attack every challenge that comes their way.

The Marines here are all very well, we have had no casualties or even any significant injury (knock on wood).

I too am a Kentucky native, I was born and raised in Louisville and only migrated in 1992 when I began my career as a Marine. Since then I’ve gotten married and have two children (my son is —– and my daughter is —–). My mother, brother and sister still live in Louisville, my family and I make a couple of trips a year back “home” to see them.

Thank you again, and God bless,

—–

Army, Kuwait

Received the following email:

Hello Mr. Plemons,

It was wonderful to get your package. I am getting ready to go to the night shift so I am sure that so many of the items that you sent will come in handy. I have never seen hamburger helper individual servings for the microwave. I found that to be very interesting.

I thank you so much for your letter. I actually live in Western Kentucky at the moment near Paducah. However, my unit is from Nashville TN and I will most likely be moving there when I return. Your letter was very enlightening. I appreciate your words of inspiration. We need all the support we can get and appreciate letters and packages. Mail time is like Christmas around here. Thank you again.

—–
U.S. Army

Army, Afghanistan

Received the following email:

Dear Charles,

Hi, I’m a PFC in the U.S. Army. I’ve been in for about a year now. I love serving and defending our freedom. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I’m —– years old born in Seoul, Korea. My father was prior service and made the rank of 1SG. I’ve lived all over the world in places like Tennesse, New York, Indiana, Germany, Austria, and know I am stationed in —– with the —–. I love jumping out of airplanes and getting paid for it. Besides that I sit in an office most of my time until I get to go out on missions. Well I haven’t went out just yet, but my first time will be this week.

This FOB is pretty small, but we do have electricity. We also have a laundry service that the afghans run with a two day turn around. We do have a microwave in our office and a refridgerator. We also have a PS3. We had the afghans build us a satelite so we could receive a couple of channels. They are some crafty people. We’re pretty much good on hygiene but food products are always appreciated. We have a café with a tv but a limited selection of dvds and games.

I see you’re a fan of muscle cars. I used to drive a 72 Cutlass with a 350 rocket until I went to Italy, then I sold it. I would have loved to have owned a 99 Z-28. UFC is huge out here. We sometimes get it on our satelite. I saw that Ace Franklin and Okami fight. I didn’t like it. Okami should have been more aggressive. I guess I was just rooting for him to win.

Thanks for your endless support, letters, and packages. Its like Christmas morning when the bird gets here, we sort the mail, and I see my name on a package or letter. God Bless you, and thanks again.

—–
U.S. Army