Here are the letters (from SF Chronicle)
These letters to Casey Sheehan's family were never sent. Military personnel gave them to the family after his death.
March 13-14, 2004
"The Beginning"
It was a long ordeal starting out at 1100 Saturday morning. We arrived at the back dock to find out we weren't leaving until 2:30 that afternoon. And so began a lot of waiting around. The married soldiers had their families to see them off, and all I had was a call home the night before. Mom cried her eyes out over the phone, not the first time it happened either.
From the back dock we loaded onto a bus that took us to the iron horse gym, where we did some more waiting and the families had one more chance to say good bye. From there we took another bus to Abrams gym, where we actually did some manifest processing for the flight.
They had a nice setup for us, too. Phones, Internet, video games, food, free stuff and music were all provided prior to the next bus ride to the plane. At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, they formed us up and herded us onto the bus for the plane.
As we loaded the plane, the flight attendants proceeded to tell us we were making a stop in Ireland before we got to Kuwait. Unfortunately for us, we have to stay on the plane while the crew changes and the plane is refueled. We will be landing in Ireland shortly, then on to Kuwait.
We stayed in Ireland for about 4 hours. While we were here, there was also a National Guard unit from Sacramento. I spoke with the sergeant major of that unit and let him know I was from Vacaville.
I also spoke with one of the airport employees. She told me about the country and the different things to do. She also informed me that my family name is well known here. Shortly after that, we boarded the plane for Kuwait which we were informed will take 6 hours and 4 minutes to get there..
March 31, 2004
Hey Family:
I've finally made to Iraq. Luckily for us, there was no threat to our convoy.
How is everyone doing? I wish I could be home for Jane's graduation.
We should be looking at a pretty smooth year. The unit we are replacing had only two deaths during its time here. Anyway, I didn't think Mom needed to know that. She's already too worried about me being here.
I'm glad I finally got to write. They didn't give us the address until we got to our camp. I'm also glad I got to talk to Mom for a bit about a week ago. She probably doesn't remember because I woke her up.
I had an interesting flight. We flew from Fort Hood to Ireland. We had had 3 1/2-hour layover there. I spent $1.30 for a coke out of a soda machine and got 70 cents back in Eurocoins. I got to speak to one of the employees at the airport. She told me about the country and said that our last name is very well known.
After Ireland we landed in Kuwait ...
E-mail Jonathan Curiel at
[email protected]
You know, he was only in Iraq for 3 1/2 weeks. The more I read about his guy, the sadder I feel. It really is tragic.