Troutman 1775,
 
Glad that you and your team are back safe. Thanks for the update and it so cool to see that you put the stuff the others sent to you to good use already.

Welcome back brother. I hope you are doing well and tell your Pups to keep their heads up.  
 
Let me know if you require anything. There are alot of us here who have tons of crap that we can share with you. With people like Pete, Scott (Troutanator), Wildman, stanberry, Harmonic etc and any one else I forgot they like to help us feed our addictions so we always buy more than we need and at times our wives wish we never knew them.

Great moustache!  Glad to see that they are putting the supplies to good use.

I was actually thinking today and wondering if he received the package I sent. I am glad that he got it.

Jim, I just sent him out metz #1hen sadldle dun(missing a few feathers), metz #3 neck variant hackle (one of those were donated by one of the gents from Deep Creek Flyfishers and never opened). Bsp 1/2 saddle brown missing more feathers, a bobbin, 3 different boooks on beginning fly tying (another donation from DCF member). One book on 50 Go to flies, 6 different outdoor mags.
 
Sean

Thanks for that.  You need to post another time and I can PM you with the details.
Jim

Olive Bugger is correct, my unit is back in the good ol’ USA safe, mission accomplished. I want to apologize for being delinquent in my postings. This deployment was an abortion from the get-go and went downhill from there. We ended our deployment in Camp Pendleton, CA with 7 NJP’s, 4 Court Martials, and both our Company Commander and First Sergeant were relieved of their duties. It has been a whirlwind of paperwork and butt chewing’s from 2 star Generals and Sergeant Majors. Fortunate for me I was not involved and was only called upon for character statements and as a witness. Only one of my Marines was involved.  I feel very badly for him because he is an outstanding leader of Marines but is being made an example of. Unfortunately his Marine Corps career is over, and it will be tough to get a job on the civilian side with a Court Martial following him.  
     On a more positive note, the packages poured in and “flychurch” was a success in my mind. The group setting really fizzled out toward the end of the deployment and I began one-on-one sessions with my subjects. This actually worked out better because I only had 2 vises and  could provide direct guidance to each individual. I would say the only problem we ran into was figuring out what we could make out of the hodge-podge of supplies we received. It was almost overwhelming at times. Originally we started with a handful of stuff and pushed out certain flies, then the sky became our limit. When our unit returned each guy (6 total) was able to take a box of supplies home that will keep them going for quite some time. I want to thank everyone personally for your outpour of support. I cannot begin to describe how much of an effect that this had on me and my Marines during our time overseas. Some packages came with letters, others with just a return address.  I am in the process of handwriting thank you letters to each of them that stepped up. I highly encourage anyone that knows someone overseas who flyfishes/ties, to put together a small package, it will be received with great enthusiasm. If they are in a spot that is not conducive to tying, send them old magazines to read while they are out on mission. We received 3 boxes of them and we are still passing them around, some date back to 1994 but they still have great articles to read and reference.
     Thanks again to all, you have made this Marine and a few others worst deployment a more manageable pill to swallow. It opened the door to a new rewarding sport that will bring enjoyment for years to come.