Deployment Update

Coming home soon.

Baghdad Bulletin
Birthday Edition
March 5, 2010
Issue 22

As promised, here are some photos that captured this unique celebration of my 56th birthday and my 30th anniversary of my enlistment in the Maryland Guard in 1980. I told the assembled group that this year also marks our 25th wedding anniversary. I thanked them for making the time to join me, and for being my family in Iraq. I told them that John appreciated them being there too. I called John in the morning (my time) and told him that I wanted my best friend to be the first to wish me a Happy Birthday! (It was still birthday "eve" in Alabama) so I got to talk to him twice during an extended celebration.

Thank you for your prayers, cards, and emails. This is a time I will not soon forget.

There are more photos and stories that I don't have time to share right now. Those will come later. This issue is short and sweet (pun intended!)

Till next time!

A grateful old soldier,

Cheryl

No words needed to describe my pride. I had the honor of celebrating my day in Iraq during their historic election weekend.

This beautiful cake was made by the bakers in the Army Dining Facility. Moist yellow cake inside and absolutely wonderful!

Which cake to cut first? I chose the Army cake. The only time I got a little choked up, when I said "The Army changed my life." This one has to be cut first.

Each piece was HUGE! This was what was left. I asked for the rest to be served to the soldiers in the Dining Facility for dinner....

This is my Iraqi Birthday cake. It was heavy and a project to get it from one place to another.

You can see it has a dark chocolate shell with golden flowers and bells all around it. It says I am 56 in the IZ, with my name in Arabic at the bottom. The "56" was inverted (to us) but it's correct because it was written from right to left! I love this. We ate almost half of it and the rest went to the Peruvian and Ugandan Guards.

Inside was layered chocolate cake with cream between. There was raspberry drizzled on top. The Iraqi cakes are not over sweet with a very nice flavor.

Here are some of the folks who helped me celebrate – I'm indebted to them for making the time to come by!

I had ice cream for dinner!

After the cake cutting, I had a flag flown afterwards by this team from the Texas National Guard. They're great soldiers and I'm proud to serve with them.