From Iraq...

Recently, my brother in law, Joel Borkert, left the States to serve a rotation in Iraq. From time to time I'm going to post some of his letters so those who aren't on his email list and those who don't know him at all can nevertheless have a little bit of a first hand account of a soldier's life in Baghdad. Whenever it comes to mind pray for Joel and all the other soldiers who serve their country with honor and courage.

Greetings From Baghdad,
Just wanted to let everyone know I arrived last night at Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). The flight was uneventful but exciting. To avoid getting shot down they burn in pointing the nose almost straight down and then land. You go from like 11,000 ft to 0 in three minutes. Give or take a few. You land so fast you can smell the rubber burning on the C-130 tires as you land. I enjoyed it. Your ears pop pretty bad real quick. The weather was bad so the helicopters couldn't come pick us up to take us to the green zone. So we are waiting here until night fall until they come (Even though we are only like ten miles or less away from where we need to go) Anyway I am safe and looking forward to seeing where we will stay and see what the unit we are replacing will say. Love you all and thanks for the prayers and e-mails.
From Iraq, Joel