Back from the second seder, which included 17 participants and was super fun, once again.  SPC Fahey helped me set up this morning, and we had a little time afterward to study some brachot, at her request.  I'm sending two photos with this email, and two more to follow- there are LOTS on Facebook.

Spent the afternoon pursuing the usual avocations- shopping and working out.  There is a chaplain here, CH (LTC) Rachel Coggins, who I know from Phoenix, and she invited to visit with her at her office today and meet some of her folks.  She introduced me to  two Sergeants Major who are also from an old unit with which I served.  One of them reminded me that when we first met, I was a Captain- he was a SGM back then!  Their unit's job here is to coordinate support for all units deploying and redeploying, trying to ensure the smoothest transition possible.

CH Coggins wrote a book about her previous experience in Kuwait- Gateway to Iraq.  This evening she showed me her POD, which is spectacularly decorated, and she told me the book has a whole chapter about it!

Food update:  We were blessed to find some cans of gefilte fish in a care package generously donated by some patriotic Americans, and thus spared from the box of gefilte fish.  Another great score was a nice, hard salami, which we divided among us.

Our lone sailor, who, BTW, is from Israel, was celebrating her birthday today, so we stuck a Shabbas candle stub into some Pesadich cake and that added to the festivities.  Once again people shared war stories, and tonight they also spoke about personal moments of liberation.

I included in the Haggada some questions about Pesach, Matzah and Maror- the focus of the Pesach conversation was- What sacrifice would you make for freedom today?  Clearly, it was important to acknowledge that everyone in that room was making a sacrifice for freedom.  There were two other participants who joined the Army the same year I did, 1978, (and one smart aleck who HAD to mention that he was not even born yet!).  We talked about how much we appreciate the evolution of the American public's attitude towards the military during the span of our careers.  From a time when we were not permitted to wear uniforms in public due to safety concerns, to now, when we can't walk through an airport without people stopping to thank us for our service.  It is quite welcome and heartwarming.

When we spoke of the four children, I asked for a show of hands as to how many people had children back home.  Many, many hands were raised.  We sent blessings to them and acknowledged this sacrifice as well.

I will conduct one more seder at northern Camp Buehring this weekend, for those who were not able to make it to Camp Arifjan.

Full day planned for tomorrow- hopefully to include laundry.  Hope no one is keeping track of how many days I have been wearing my ONE uniform.  I DO change the socks and t-shirts every day!