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Doug Fritz is a news producer at WVNS TV. He also serves in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Doug was called to active duty in November and is currently serving in Iraq. "Dispatches from Iraq" will feature email updates and pictures from his service in the reserves.

NEW! Read the July Newsletter! NEW PHOTOS ADDED TO SLIDESHOW!

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Read the July Newsletter

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

We had some nervous moments recently when a mortar struck about 50 meters behind our compound. Some people were outside and saw it hit. The rest of us were woken up by the explosion and quickly gathered to make sure no one was hurt. Everyone was fine, but it certainly brought into focus the fact that this is a war zone. The stories have already hit the internet at least, if you had heard it on the national news. The insrgents were members of Muttada al-Sadr's army. The cleric came to Al -Kut to reinforce the cease fire that was agreed upon last month.

We are beginning to look forward to getting home as the deployment goes on, but we are keeping our focus here and staying safe as we work to help bring running water, electicity and believe it or not new sidewalks to this base.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

We have been improving our living conditions here. That includes adding another water tank so we will not run out of water for showers, an especially important thing with the weather warming up. Phone booths have been built so we can have some privacy while talking to our loved ones, and there is a Morale Welfare and Recreation building in the planning stages. That will likely have some gym equipment among other things. We do physical training 3 times a week, but I have been doing weight training on the off days. Another of my fellow Seabees is working with me as a sort of personal trainer. We are definitely helping to make things better for the people at the base. We are constructing new buildings for the Army to use for a variety of things. We built walls for the MP's who keep us safe at night as well. That offers them a bit more privacy, when they aren't out patrolling. We are relieved to understand that a cease fire has been extended. Hopefully it will continue until we leave. CHECK OUT THE NEW PHOTOS IN THE DISPATCHES FROM IRAQ SLIDESHOW

February 4, 2008

"Dirt from the Sandbox" - Fritz's first newsletter.

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January 25, 2008

We've started to settle in here in Iraq. We have been here a week and the projects have begun. There are several including building a new Post Office for the camp. We are also doing some things to make our lives in the barracks more comfortable. A Master Chief dropped off a game table last night that has foosball and Air Hockey among other things. It was a welcome gift. There is an Xbox and a PS2 for people to to use in our recreation room. There is also plenty of movies to watch and games to play, not including those the people in the unit brought with them. If anybody wants to send stuff, just about anything is welcome. Some boxes come just to unit for anyone to pick through and it makes a nice grab bag type of thing. Baby Wipes are welcome as a way of cleaning up when there isn't time for a shower. Skin lotion, Chapstick, Sunblock and Soap are also welcome additions. Hope all is well back home. Tell Everyone I said Hi

January 15, 2008

We made it safely to Kuwait. We finally got ourselves set up in barracks about 5 AM Tuesday Morning Kuwait time. Took some cat-naps to get myself onto a better schedule. Got my first shower since Sunday Morning and it felt FANASTIC! It is freezing here. I thought we were coming to the desert, but I swear the daylight hours didn't get above 50 today. The wind chill certainly makes that worse and there is nothing to break the air from picking up a terrific speed. They are impressing on us the gravity of the situation. Not that we haven’t heart it a lot so far, but it does help to keep your head in the game here. We'll keep you all updated as best we can.

Friday, January 11, 2008 10:44 AM

Just a couple more days and we will be in the desert. Of course, the latest word is that the highs over there are in the 50's and it's below freezing at night. We'll see how true that actually is upon arrival. As we are ending the twiddling of thumbs time and beginning the work-your-butt-off period, I will hopefully be sending regular emails on what are accomplishing over there. Right now it looks like we will be making life easier for coalition troops at our base. That means adding running water, building a better church etc.