ALRIGHT! JUST received an "official" update from the 1st Brigade. Here are the highlights.

1st Brigade has "closed" on Baghdad...that is Army speak for all units are now in Baghdad. It was a 590 Kilometer trip (366 miles) from Camp Udairi.

1st Brigade's sector is Central Baghdad, from the east bank of the Tigris river. Their sector includes approximately one million Iraqis. 1st Brigade actually takes over authority for that area on June 5th, conducting a relief in place with their counterpart in the 3d ID

Status of telephones is really bad...as in about none. However the Brigade is projecting they will establish e-mail communications in a week or ten days. How nice would that be!

Everyone is living in buildings and is eating one hot meal per day (the other two meals are MREs)

The shops downtown are opening. The Iraqi people themselves are cleaning up their streets, replacing glass, picking up garbage, etc.

People wave at you.

Main soldier desires are for baby wipes and disposable cameras. (Note, CPT Patti could use baby wipes - I hear the Lever 2000 brand is the most preferred because they leave the least residue on the skin and are thus cooler - but CPT Patti has a digital camera with her down range, so no need for the disposables, unless you want to donate one to a soldier.)

They received 7 five-ton trucks full of mail yesterday. All for 1BDE. It really boosted morale. (This is a HUGE step forward...)

Mail from Germany was taking 3-4 weeks to get to Kuwait. We believe it will take an additional 2-3 weeks from mail to move from Kuwait to our soldiers in Baghdad. They ask that you do not mail liquids....water, ice tea, gatorade. It is very possible that some of it will be broken and any breakage will damage a lot of other mail. The kool-aide and gatorade powders are very popular.

Mail to the Brigade from the States is also taking longer due to the volume going through the Frankfurt Air Terminal mail center (FRAT). We are approaching volume levels normally only associated with the Christmas period and have comparitively reduced resources to deal with it.

That is the best of the update. I hope that makes you feel better. Sure does me.