Marine funny man

Jewish comedian in the Marines. (Hat tip: NY)

Kadish at Arlington

A tour of Jewish Arlington.  Story here.

Shavout in VBC

I spent this past Shavous in Victory Base Compound in Baghdad.  There was a Jewish retreat of sorts there.  I got a FRAGO that provided all the information for that.  We had 12 soldiers altogether and thus a minyan the whole time.  I missed the first night but was there for the two whole days.  I met up with some of the guys in my unit that are stationed there so that was fun too.  I brought one of the guys who are attached to my unit with me, and we were the only two Jews who came from Speicher.  The people who came were from all over Iraq.  We were mostly in Camp Victory and Camp Liberty.  We goofed around a lot in the palace and spent a bit of time chatting on the balcony.  It was nice and relaxing and I am glad I was able to go. 

Future officers

Jewish in ROTC? Marty Nosenchuck, Matthew Golub, Josh Jacobs, William Adelson, Rachael Ruben, Dylan Neidorff, Jack Morris, Scott Friedland, Nick Lawson, and Neil Bloch explain.

in a war zone

CPT Brewster's thoughts as a Jewish serviceman in Iraq.

Iraq demands. . . .

 . . .the return of Jewish artifacts.  Looks like this story will keep coming back.  I am convinced that they are not very good at taking care of what they have now, and there is no reason to let them hold on to the artifacts the community that they forced out.

Food

Since I know how worried many of you are about my eating, I thought I would include a photo of a portion of my current kosher food stash here in COB Speicher - so you need not worry. Just keep it coming regularly and I'll be fine. (Thanks - to everyone who sends stuff!) I also put a picture of the box that kosher MREs come in. They are pretty hard to get though from the Army. You have to know someone. The food that I find most edible is the Meal Mart meals. I heat them in my microwave and viola, a hot meat meal. (The LaBriute and My Own Meals are OK, but not as good. But they mave the advantage of not needing a microwave.) I also have the soup often. They don't ship as well, but almost all of them make it OK. Anything that can be microwaved and eaten, or have boiled water poured in is great. I also have become a fan of the various kosher beef jerkeys on the market (I have seen three so far).

Although there are many cereals here, we do not have alphabits, so I love getting those too. (My favorite cereal.) It is a rare treat to be able to enjoy that. I get bored of eating Total and Special K and Coca Krispies and stuff like that.

What's a nice Jewish girl doing in a place like this?

LTJG Laurie Zimmet's thoughts.  

Rain

One minute it just looks ominous, then I snap a photo, then my CHU is flooded. A little work later I am no longer underwater. No damage. Now lets hope this doesn't happen again tonight.