Books to Afghanistan.
We heard from Susan Sides Hawkins recently. Her son is stationed with the 606th Air Control Squadron in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She mentioned that the guys there would love something to read. They're working hard, but when they have a little time off, they'd love to relax with a good book. It may not seem like a huge thing to send these guys some books, but put yourself in their place for a minute. You're in a hostle land, working long shifts and you find that a total stranger back home took the time to send you a good book. I suspect you'd cherish that book and be very thankful to the person that sent it. So if you've got some good books you'd like to share with these guys, send off a box. And the good news is that it's an APO address, and with the book rate at the post office, it's not expensive. They will use the books to stock their small library and help with libraries at other bases. Here's a note we got from her son, Dylon Sides:
Greetings.I'm with the 606th Air Control Squadron stationed with the 451st Air Expeditionary Group in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The place is a desert--but a mountainous one--we have mountains on three sides of us, lots or rocks and dirt. If I didn't know better I would think I was in Arizona, but not as hot. The weather right now, reminds me a lot of Southern California. Temps during the day are in the 70's and at night it dips into the 40-50's. During the summer months it's hot as hell--probably will top 100-110 during the day, but that's the summer. Right now, it's sunny and warm during the day and cool at night.
Being an ACS, aircraft fly in and out a lot, we get used to the noise.
The air is really dry, so everyone is constanly drinking water to stay hydrated--I don't any of us will drink water for a while when we get home--you just get sick of it. :)
Well, that's about it I guess. If you have any other questions, send them on and I will see if I can answer them.
Remember, the books can be sent to me at:
Dylan Sides
73 EACS/DO
APO, AE 09355