From an email from LtCol Hugh Tillman:

Tonight is Christmas Eve in Iraq. It is cold and the weather has been miserable. The dust combined with the wind has reduced the visibility to just a few miles so no flying tonight. I hope Santa can find us!! CWO4 Hopley and I spent the evening putting all the Christmas presents under our tree for the Marines. Christmas day we have several events planned. Movies hosted by the Maintenance Chief, guitar playing in the recreation tent, kickball on the flight line, and dodge ball in the hangar. We have 25+ Marines at a remote base in Iraq conducting missions who will have some time off to play football in the desert.

We miss our families and friends very much and we look forward to being home soon. We wanted you to know the Red Lions of HMH-363 thank you for all the support, words, and thoughts you have given us over the holidays.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
hvt