I got an email the other day from a friend, and it reminded me again of something I always try to tell people about deployments when they ask what to send in the desert. The answer is mail, or email. I suppose this is different for different people, but for me, absolutely nothing compares to a message from home, no matter how short. One overriding characteristic of deployments for me is monotony. Every day, doing the same thing, in the same place, with the same people. News from home, no matter how mundane it seems to you, is riveting for me. A short message, or a good joke, can make the difference between a good day and a miserable one.
In the Herc, there were a few things that I never minded flying for, no matter how effed up the mission was: soldiers*, food*, ammo*, human blood (for transfusions), HR (human remains), and mail. I would do a helluva long flight with nothing but a small bag of mail and never complain because I know what it's like to get something from home when in BFE.
(*Soldiers (in the generic sense of anyone on the ground), if they are going directly into a fight or coming directly out. Never did this very often. *Food (and water too) when it is life sustaining for troops on the ground. I once flew ten hours to carry 3 pallets of potato chips; needless to say, I was pretty pissed about that. I never flew any HOA missions, but I had a buddy who actually flew a mission carrying water to some Marines out in the boonies somewhere. *Ammo if it was necessary for guys in a firefight. I've never carried much ammo period, and what I have carried was never that time sensitive.)
[edit same day: corrected punctuation in title]
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