APRIL 21
Tim called from Iraq and talked to Jodi in the wee hours of the night on April 21.
Evidentally, he's had at least three "close calls", one of which is the Humvee he was riding in "blew up" but he and his fellow Marines walked away.
The supply convoys we hear about being blown up contain mail, of which he has seen very little.
THEY ARE DESPERATE FOR MAIL. PLEASE SEND MAIL OFTEN.
Tim is in an extremely hostile situtation. Your thoughts, prayers (and mail) are greatly appreciated by Tim and his family.
APRIL 9
Here is the newest update on Tim. He is evidently in Fallujah.
The 3/4 Hotline as updated 4/9/04 at 1600. Reported that the 3/4 had been
ordered to Fallujah to re-enforce the two Marine Battalions already there.
AP reported this morning that a third Marine Battalion had arrived at Fallujah
to join the two Battalions.
The state of affairs at Fallujah seems confused at best. AP is reporting that
the Marines are in a unilateral cease fire, and have been since Friday. There
is evidently some negotiations proceeding between the local "mayor" and the
provisional government to end the fighting. However the Marines are still
being fired upon and returning that fire. Evidently the problem is that the
local government has no control over these Miltia.
Keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
MARCH 9
I received a letter from Tim, dated March 9th. Here are some excerpts:
Yeah, Im in Iraq again an air base NW of Fallujah. We will being going 120 clicks NW of this (area) soon. It is actually pretty nice here. Food, showers and get this--beds! We are living in Conex Boxes like 1/2 a semi trailer. They pre-fab thse things and ship them (over here). AC, heat, wall lockers, windows, wood walls, lights, blinds the works.
My first patrol went off without a hitch, except one guy rolling his ankle. I threw out my back a week or so agao nd I am having a helluva time. Modern medicine fixes it for a while. They got me on something called Tylox. But, I can only take it if we are not on a mission.
We are just sweeping roads looking for IED's/weapons/explosions.
May 24, 2004
All was quiet for a while when we received word that Tim's battalion was starting to prepare for departure.
Then, surprise! Tim was one of the lucky few to get to come home ahead of his battalion.
We will let you know if and when he makes it back to Bangor.
April 30
From Gumshoe reporter Annie Davidson:
Funke Kin and Friends
It is 4:00 AM and since I was unable to sleep I decided to share some good
news with you all. About two hours ago I received a phone call from "Hey this
is Timmy here in wonderful downtown Fallujah" After watching all the fireworks
for the past two days on TV that was the best sentence I've heard in a long
time. And he sounded great. We talked for about 10 minutes. Very clear just
like we in the same room. The caller ID showed AT&T HITS and a 808 number.
Maybe Tonie knows what that is.
Here in the news straight from the front. The 3/4 is basically in the northeast out skirts of Fallujah. There are seeing action every night, but not as spectacular as yesterday afternoon and evening (what we were seeing all day
yesterday on TV). His remarks about (slightly censored) was they "kicked the snot out of them". He said when they call in the aircover sometimes it is only a "couple of hundred yards from their position". That's how close they are to the "bad guys". He says those AC-130s and with the howitzer are airborne snipers. They are deployed into street and roof top areas on the out skirts.
Their goal is to get the "bad guys" to move and show where they are then let the Choppers and AC 130s beat the "SNOT" out of them. But they have been in
some fire fights also.
He was interviewed by Bing West and Gen Smith (the Authors of the book THE MARCH UP) they are writing another book. Also Ollie North was interviewed by
him and had his picture taken with him.
They do get news of the outside from the reporters. He says they are told about the negotiations going on to resolve Fallujah. He says he doesn't know
what's going to happen, but they are ready for whatever. When I told him about the Bush comment on TV yesterday AM ... that there were "pockets" of resistance but that most of Fallujah was returning to to "normal". Tim's comment after a good laugh was he ought to come to the "real world".
As for other details. They have "accommodations" in some buildings... no air conditioning. Have water .. no showers. Have food some real but mostly MREs.
Have lots of drinking water...no Beer. As you can see he hasn't lost the Funke sense of humor and understatement.
They are getting mail again. He had just received (on wed 4/28) a small 1lb package and letter I mailed on April 7. He thinks they will be getting mail more frequently now. There isn't anything he really needs, but can use snacks..beef jerky..hard candy, anything else small.
Tim sends love to all. He says he thinks of everyone at home often. Keep the letters coming, he'll try to write, but he doesn't have alot of time.
