Deployment 2023 - Letters from the Front

[Maj (Ret) D. Johansen]

Members & Visitors to our forum

 

It has been a time honored tradition that during the deployment cycle the troops of the 15th MEU Realism Unit write letters to loved ones detailing missions, activities and thoughts as if they were away from home for the 6-7 months of a typical MEU deployment. This helps with the immersion of the deployment cycle and has, at times, been very humorous for members and at times very realistic as they sometimes reflect actual content of letters written from real service members when they were deployed into harms way. 

 

These letters have, over the last few deployments been posted in the more public area of our forum to allow the casual visitor the chance to get a glimpse of what goes on in a realism unit of our size during the deployment cycle. This thread will be the "Post Office" for our deployment which will begin later this week. 

 

If you wish to become part of the unit after reading some of these posts or watching some of our videos, don't hesitate to hit the join button, We are always recruiting.
-Original message copied from Maj P. Caesar

[Maj (Ret) D. Johansen]

My dearest Vlice 

I hope this letter finds you well rested with a smile on your lips and I wish I could have been there to kiss you good morning but you were sleeping so peacefully that I couldn't bring myself to wake you up.
When you read this I am already on the ship heading to my destination. I know my dear that you didn't want me to go when I told you that I'm being shipped out and as much I would much rather ignore this lousy and messy world around us and wake up to your embrace every day instead I have to. I can't tell you where I'm going but there is people in a different part of this world that needs help so they can in due time share the same life with comfort, safety and love as we do. No doubt you will soon be able to find out in the news but I beg you.. Don't look at it no matter how hard it might be 

I want you to instead remember our last night at the carnaval and restaurant filled with laughter, joy and happiness as if there was not a single wrong in this world. I want you to remember the comfort of my arms wrapped around you and kiss on your forehead as you fell so peacefully asleep. You keep telling me in times when things seems hard how to keep thinking positively no matter how dark or hopeless it all may seem. Now it's my turn.. You always find a way to make me smile and keep going like a light houses guiding light. Next to this letter is a gift. Inside is a glass caged stuffed blue rose with lights. Please my love turn this on in times when it all feel hopeless and let it guide you to safety until I can return to your arms this fall 

Please give Stjerne and Hercules all of my love and let them take good care of you as you do to them
I promise I will be back in your embrace no matter what my queen. Just wait for me 

Your always loving,
Teddy bear 

Edited October 11, 2023 by Maj D. Johansen

[Cpl (Ret) Baum]

Dearest Aaron, 


   It feels like years since I got to see you last. Just as the training cycle was ending whispers started to go out that we are heading out. We went straight to the fleet and got ready for the invasion. Everything is going as well as it can so far, with a lot of forces surrendering peacefully. The hard part is about to begin. I wish I could go into full detail for you but I'm not sure what is and isn't protected information so I'm gonna just keep it simple. Things are going to get rough and I'm not certain when I'll get a chance to write next, and the idea of getting to hear your voice is still a bit in the distance I think. Once I get my hands on a phone that actually works here I'll try and call you. 

   I joined the Shock Trauma detachment before deployment, mostly doing mass casualty response but it's a rewarding job, a lot of chances to save a lot of lives, the whole reason I wanted to be a corpsman in the first place. I'm learning alot in this position thanks to meeting a lot of other corpsman and learning from how they do things.  Each week I feel a little more competent, and I hope soon it'll help with the jitters i get when trying to figure out what to do. It doesn't inhibit my ability to work but I feel like it's delaying my response, which could be the difference at some point. Maybe I'm just overthinking it, you know how I do sometimes. I've got a notebook where I drop notes whenever I can from what I learned, it's helped a lot to have it around when we're driving somewhere so I can freshen up before the fight kicks off. 

   How are the fur babies doing? I know Bunny is probably going nuts without me there, and I'm sure that's a living hell. I'm worried I won't make it back home before Rapha passes though, i think about it constantly. I know he's a pretty healthy cat but he'd lost so much weight before I left and god only knows how long this campaign is going to take. If things keep up like they have I may be home by Christmas, but there's a high chance that the shit is about to get dropped on us at supersonic speeds. 

   Well, I should probably get back to the grindstone. I've got to go do a rotation at the field hospital today which means I need to get my run in now while I've got the chance.

With all my love, 
Jamitha


P.S. | The picture I included was taken just before we left for the fleet. I'll get an updated one to you once I've wallowed in the blood of my enemies for a while. Worlds worst before and after shot. 

[Cpl (Ret) Baum]

Aaron, 

   We just finished our first real push into the country. Things got scary for a minute there, but luckily there was a lot of surrenders so blood didn't have to be shed in some places, but there was alot of resistance. Again, I can't go too into detail because I don't 100% know what is and isn't under secrecy, but just know that a lot of people who would of died didn't thanks to our corpsmen in the platoon. It's amazing to watch them react and I always show up to a tightly run collection point that has been taken good care of. 

 

   We haven't received our next order yet, we're currently taking a short rest before we continue on, get our endurance back a bit, shovel some food into our mouths as quick as we can. Supplies haven't been bad at all, Uncle Sam has been keeping us stocked fairly well all things considering. I don't know when this letter will get shipped out yet so you may get a bunch in short bursts of time depending on how talkative I get. Can't annoy 1st Sergeant too much. Know I'm thinking of you with ever bullet I hear whiz by. I'm keeping my head down as best I can though, so don't worry too much. My position offers me a bit more protection since I get to follow the big brains around as they kick ass like master puppeteers. 

   Give my love to the family. Hopefully this won't take too long and it will end as peaceful as possible. Much love, and stay safe.

Sincerely, 
Jam

P.S. One of these days your going to end up getting a jar of dirt from our beach landing. I managed to convince someone from HQ Staff to get it shipped out on the first mail flight we are offered. 

[Cpl (Ret) Baum]

Dear Aaron, 

   I haven't written a letter in a long time. I know it sucks only getting to talk to me the few times I get my hands on a phone but it's hard to find time to write. I'm currently bunkered down in a bombed out shot up old bunkhouse on some base we captured as I patiently wait for our orders to step off. Our vehicle took a missile so we're on the ground right now. Last I was told we should get a replacement soon from back on the boat and then we'll be stepping out to try and take this stupid island. Some of the things they can throw at us is just.. frightening. 

   Not but an hour ago I watched an entire platoon of men get decimated by an aircraft that normally we would consider friendly. They have Cobra gunships from god only knows where, someone beyond my paygrade probably knows but all I know is that by the time we realized it wasn't friendly it had killed 20 men in front of my eyes. We got our asses completely handed to us and somehow I'm still here. I don't know how I survived the missile, the fucking vehicle exploded Aaron, seconds after I Jumped off the top. Somehow I'm alive but we still have a job to do today and I don't know if I'm going to see the end of it. 

   I don't know if I can even get this letter to you. I'm going to leave it to one of the members of higher in the command tent and hope for the best. You'll have already heard from me before you get this letter I'm sure if I'm still alive, but if for some reason I'm not just know that in the end, all i can think about is you and us as a whole. I'm here to fight for you, to protect the nation we live in so that you never have to live in fear that everyone would die in front of you. I happily lay my life down if it means I fulfilled that duty. 

With all the love and thoughts in the world, 

Yours Forever, 
Jam

[Cpl (Ret) Baum]

Aaron, 

We're back on the ship. I'm on my way home. I'm pretty shaken up but just know I'm safe. We got shot up pretty bad on the last push. I'm fine but an officer in the back took a 30 millimeter round to his chest. I can't wait to see you again, to forget everything that happened. I need to refocus myself before this training cycle begins. I've already put in for R&R once we make it back to Pendleton. It shouldn't be too long, their saying before thanksgiving, but you know how they like to make us wait. I brought back a few things that we picked up while I was in Columbia. Just some things I found in shops and stuff that I thought you would like. 

The training cycle is starting up shortly after we get back so I won't have a lot of time, but we've been promised Christmas with our families so I'll be able to cycle home for a little while around then. I hope your doing ok, and I'm thinking about you every single day with each wave that passes. I love you, and I'll talk to you once we're back on land. 

Yours Always,
Jam

P.S. Make me some of those Cheese Doodles for when I show up I'd kill for cheese and biscuit that isn't made of plastic, salt and Sawdust

Edited November 11, 2023 by Cpl Baum

[Cpl (Ret) Baum]

[A pole in Camp Pendleton holds a letter]

Dead Dad,

It's been 8 years, almost 9 since you passed away. I wish you had been around to see what I have accomplished here. I feel like I found someplace where I am myself, and I feel fulfilled. We just got home from a long tour in Columbia and things went bad quite a few times during our stint there. I often thought of you and used what you taught me to survive. As we approach Christmas and I head home to my husband for the holidays, I wonder if you would be proud of everything I've done and accomplished, of the friends and family I've made after everything that happened back home. I miss you every day, and I know that if you were around when everything happened you would still love and respect me, and I hold onto that idea every day.

I like to think you would have enjoyed hearing some of the crazy stuff that has happened here. I still remember that story of the RPG you fired at Fort McCoy back when you were their requisitions officer. The look on the cop's face as he looked between you in your uniform and the flaming car on the other side of your yard. Thank god you were off base or I may have never been born. We've done many crazy things since I joined up, and the memories I've created with all the wonderful people I've served with are why I made this my career. I would do anything for every single member of this MEU.

I love you Dad, and I miss you every day. I'll be sure to leave a bottle of Jack at your grave.

Love,
Your pooder

Edited December 10, 2023 by Cpl Baum