01 Feb 2012:
Hi Everyone,
First and foremost, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update our page. I got to go home for the holidays and en route back I had to be treated for an Injury. Cesar decided about 3 months ago that he wanted to chase about 100 OX in the middle of a road on a patrol and that I was going with him, whether I liked it or not. Needless to say, I fell over and hurt myself worse than I knew.

Luckily, it's been fixed and I'm headed back to our tiny little fob to go back to work!! They have been receiving the care packages that have been being sent. Some they did open, others they kept for us to open as a group. It will be like Christmas in Feb for all of us! Pictures will follow.

We have got some new handlers in who have not yet experienced the care packages we receive and I am so excited to share that with them. Cesar and I have a a few months left to go, but we really hope the other handlers will continue what we have started, as I want to make sure their dogs receive the same love and support that all of you have shown us throughout our deployment.

The weather here is VERY cold. Ideal for the dogs, not so much for us handlers! It rains a lot, and there is no where for the water to drain so it's a lot of mud and dirt. Again, the dogs love it, us not so much! I haven't seen it really snow yet, but we did have one day that we got dusted a little. It was a pretty incredible sight.

I do want to say Thank you again for all the support this christmas. We shared with the entire fob and I can't tell you how happy you made all of us out there. Especially the dogs!!!

I will update again in about a week work permitting, hopefully with some pictures this time. Take care and again thank you all for helping us over here support these wonderful heroes and partners. We cannot thank you all enough.

13 Dec 2011

Hello All,
   
Well it's definitely winter time here where we are. It's done right freezing! Who knew this part of the world would get this cold! Christmas time is approaching and we have been receiving a lot of wonderful packages from everyone! It's been like Christmas every day for us! We will try to send some more pictures soon of us opening our boxes and the beautiful countryside when we can.

The dogs have gotten so many toys and treats and it's been so great to keep them as happy as they are. It's been wonderful too, as we have been getting some things to clean up after them which has been REALLY helpful and greatly appreciated!!

I cannot think of many things that they are in dire need of right now, but you know how dogs are, they love everything!! They do have ton's of tennis balls and lot's of rawhide treats right now and shampoo, as well as beggin strips. We can always use kongs or solid rubber balls for them as we do tend to lose them over here while we are out working.

I do have to say, the amount of support you have given us is incredible. I can't thank you all enough. Everything that you send us, we make sure to share with each other, the civilian dog handlers, and the entire FOB! We aren't a very big place, so we try to share our wealth and good fortune as much as we can. We also take the extra treats out with us on patrol to keep the stray dogs away from our partners. It works rather well!

I want to wish all of you a very merry x-mas and know that we are so thankful for you all. These wonderful partners of ours have so much now and I can't tell you how much it means to me to be able to support them and make them happy so they can continue to keep us all over here safe!

Please know that it still does take 4-6 weeks for us to write to you all, and we do answer every card and package and letter that is sent to us. It just takes us some time, especially now as we have started to get very busy. If you include an email address we will make sure to email you and send a letter. We want to make sure you know how grateful we are.

God bless you all! Merry X-mas!

Angela and Cesar

14 Nov 2011

Hello All,
Just wanted to send a quick note to say Happy Veterans Day. I saw a quote that John F. Kennedy once said and shared it on facebook, but thought I would share it with all of you here. "As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." -John Fitzgerald Kennedy. To me, you all embody that quote. You all have given so much to us here to make these dogs/partners/hero's lives so much better while we are away from home. We want to say thank you for everything you have done and everything you do for us.

I also want to tell you Thank you for your service as prior service members, as spouses, as family members and friends of those who are serving or have served. There is no job more difficult than to support those of us who had to go when duty calls. Please pass on our thanks!

I know you have all been writing and asking about christmas ideas for the dogs. It just dawned on me that we actually do not have a pooper scooper rake for them and have run out of baggies to pick up after them. So... if you would like to send something we need, we could use plastic bags from the grocery, trash bags or the disposable bags. They would be of great help to us!!

Hope this finds you all well. You should be receiving letters from us soon. It takes 4-6 weeks. Hopefully definitely by Christmas! Take care and God Bless you all!!

13 Oct 2011

Dear Anysoldier,
      Sorry for the delay in the update and the very grateful thank you. Since the weather has turned cooler here, and the units have realized they have some very good K-9 support and we have been kept very busy. We go out for several days at a time now, and are so thankful for all the baby wipes, grooming wipes and hand sanitizer everyone has sent for us! The cards, letters, and certainly the packages are such a welcoming site for us when we return. We have been saving all the packages up till everyone is together and opening them all at once. It's like Christmas every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday for us and the dogs!! Not to mention all the great smelling dog shampoo has made us handler SOOOO happy when we get back in and bathe the dogs!   We couldn't believe the things everyone put together for us. Everyone was so in awe and thankful for what we received. It was more than some of us got sent out here with, so I'm sure you can understand how grateful we are for your kindness and generosity for us and these amazing partners of ours.
   
    People and families have been sending us the most wonderful things, from photos of their beloved pets and treats for the dogs, to treats for us handlers. We actually just got another box from you today and It's so much more than i could have ever hoped for. Because of all your support, these dogs are being taken care of better than i ever dreamed I could do over here. Not to mention us handlers too! The letters and cards alone make the days go so much better. The only bad thing is we get mail fairly quickly, but when we write back the letters can take 4-8 weeks to get back to the states so we really would like to encourage people to send us emails with the packages so that we can let them know that they were received and how very grateful and thankful we are.
   
    We are still trying to get a unit photo for you and your supporters, but it's been difficult lately due to the increased work. Everyone is coming and going all the time so getting everyone together is almost impossible. I am going to try to do it before the holidays so we can update the page again. We have old handlers leaving and hopefully new handlers coming in, should be exciting. My partner Samantha (the other female dog handler) and myself try to make sure we answer every letter, card, and care package sent to us. If someone has not got a response yet, i promise, the letter is in the mail just please know it might take a several weeks, but you will most certainly hear from us!!

      The weather here is very interesting. One day we get heavy rain, the next it's sunny and warm, but the nights are very very cool, almost cold. I would say if i had to update items that we could use out here it would most definitely be hand warmers!! The toys and treats have been incredible! We have shared with everyone, even the civilian(AMK-9) K-9 handlers here. They don't get very many things, so we always share our good fortune with them. We have been gathering up all the people treats and cards too and passing them out to the other service members on the FOB and anything that we have left over we donate to combat stress (chaplain) or the MWR center to make sure we didn't miss anyone, except for the dog stuff. We keep anything extra for the new handlers that we hope to get so they feel as fortunate as we do! It's a very small place we are at so we have become quite popular with all the packages we receive! The cards and letters have been divided up into three rooms. Myself and Samantha have started filling our walls with the letters and cards. Our goal is to fill the walls of our room before our deployment is up and answer every single one of them! The other place is the office. We put them up there as well for all the handlers to read and appreciate so they know that we truly are blessed to have such a wonderful job and kind, caring, supportive people back home who are so thankful for what we do. I can't tell you how motivated it keeps us!

    I have attached a picture I took of Sam opening the last set of box's we got. I went out on a mission for 6 days and came back to 16 boxes!! As time goes on I will make sure to try to include some of the pictures we take when we go out and meet the locals if i can. We try to take candy and pens (for some reason they love pens) out with us for the children to have. One person sent us balloons and we want to take those out to give them! That should be fun if the dogs don't pop them first!

    Thank you again for all your support. I'm so grateful and proud to be serving over here with Cesar and keeping everyone back home safe! I hope this finds you all well. Have a blessed week!

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAVY!!!! 236 years strong!

24 Sep 2011

Sir or Ma'am,
First i would like to say THANK YOU!! It has been amazing the support and packages that our K-9 teams have received out here so far! I have made sure to physically write and mail, or email each person that sent a package and thank them so much for taking the time to do this for us and for their generosity! It's been incredible! We don't have much out here for the dogs, and your supporters have definitely came through to help us spoil these working dogs.

As for items needed... They have done a great job at stocking us for a while with grooming wipes, chapstick, dog treats and baby wipes. Things we still could use for the dogs are Kong toys or any other durable toy. They are rather large dogs and they love to chew! Any kind of squeaky toys would be greatly appreciated also. We can always use shampoo for them, ear cleaner is always useful as well. As for the handlers, if anyone would like to send them things I know we can always use drink mix's, cliff bars, little snack type food that can be taken out on missions with us or when we have to go out for 6-7 days a time, hand sanitizer is always a great thing too, conditioner for the girls when they can get it or face wipes for both male and females. We do have a microwave so if they wanted to send anything microwaveable that would be ok when we are on the Fob.

I have included a picture of all the letters/pictures/cards that i have been sent with the packages. We keep them up on the wall in our office to remind us daily of the wonderful and kind people back home supporting us and our dogs! It's amazing to see the humanity and kindness of our americans back home. It definitely makes us feel fortunate. Thank you again!

03 Sep 2011
We are a mixed service unit of Army, Navy and Air Force Military Working Dog handlers in Southern Afghanistan supporting the missions in surrounding areas for narcotic and explosive detection. We live in "CHU's" with our military working dog and do have laundry services, a very small PX with very limited items and electricity. Any one who would like to send us things like non parishable food items, dog toys, dog treats, dog shampoos, dog wipes, baby wipes would be greatly appreciated. We do have microwaves, but no refrigerator. I am representing our K-9 unit here. We do have some posts we go out to for 2 weeks at a time that do not have running water, so any items we can take out there to use for the dogs/handlers would be very much appreciated. It is very hard to come across items for the dogs, as they only have items on the FOB for people, so most things we use for the dogs are items we brought or try to have sent over. Any support for them is highly appreciated, they are the ones with the hard job, and they deserve the best support and care we can give them.