Tim.  Another thanks for posting Steve’s mail.  Steve’s message just reinforces how good we have it here in the U.S. as compared to the hardships the rest of the world has to contend with on a daily basis.  Only by visiting some of these other countries firsthand do we really appreciate what we have and just take for granted.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

GodSpeed on a safe return Steve, and when you do return, bring the rest  of our folks home with ya please

Mike

 I'm on a Lowwwww Budget

Got a little work done on Steves engine this weekend, so here are some pics for when he checks in.

Frank, you may be hearing from Steve or his wife soon. He wants one of your aluminum timing covers on this engine. 

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Here is another letter from Steve, sounds like the dust is getting to him.

The Iraqi Crud

That's the common name for the local respiratory ailment most everyone gets from time to time here.It's caused by the dust that's almost always hanging in the air,and makes the sky almost constantly brown.There have been few days when I can see blue skies,but when I do,my day is great.
I live in a tent,a big one,with maybe 12 guys.Most, I think, are night workers,or maybe their little sheet rooms are actually empty.I've only ever seen about four other guys.The floors are plywood,my little 8x8 pod has a bed,a locker,and a few cheap plastic drawers I bought.It's not as bad as it sounds,because I'm there only about eight hours per day,for sleeping only.This tent has got lights,heat and cold AC.It's enough.
The one constant is the dust.It's everywhere,coating you,your belongings,your membranes.Though I change my bedding about every four days-I was issued two sets of sheets and two pillow cases-each night,when I lift the covers to get into bed,a small cloud emanates from them.I taste it,I feel it,and,like being on a camping trip,you get used to it.Though I shower each night,if I take a towel to the outer edges of my ears in the morning,there is evidence of dust.
The Iraqi Crud has finally got me.I thought I was one of the few who seem unaffected by it,but I woke up a few days ago feeling like I'd maybe taken a tablespoon or two of sand at bedtime.At least I don't have the watery eyes, headache,or stomach ache that some people do.It's early days though,I've been told this amount of dust in the air is nothing.
Surprisingly,the long hours are now routine for me.I worked 94 hours last week,maybe a few less this week.I always know the date,but never really know what day of the week it is.It hardly matters.I'm up early,get a two hour block of time to myself,and start work by 6 a.m.Work is over by 7:30-8:00,I'm in bed by 8:30-9:00.My energy level is high,though I've cut my caffeine habit in half.Maybe it's because of the newness of everything.I sleep well.

Steven Alan Johnson

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Tim, Those pictures look similiar to my engine.   I'm sure he will be very happy to return and fire up the Y.  Send my thoughts and prayersl.  I've got an employee departing this July as well.  You can agree or disagree with war but atleast support our troops and hope they return home safe. 

Warsaw, IN

Here's one that shows both yours and his. 

Yours is the one up front of course. 

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

Hello,to all you Y-guys,glad to be finally back in touch,I've really missed the site.Thanks to so many of you whove offered me good wishes,and especially to Tim and Charlie in whose care my 59 F250 resides.There's going to be a sweet new motor in it whenever I get back,thanks to Tim,and it will be well stored,out of the wet rainy winter under the redwoods,at Charlies. You can't begin to realize how thankful to you guys I am .

I was to have been in southern Iraq,but am instead right next to Baghdad International Airport,at Camp Stryker.I work for a private contractor on base, working both as an electrician and inspecting buildings .Everyone works long days-13-14 hours,seven days a week for 120 days,then 16 days R&R.Gonna see my family mid-June at Lake Tahoe,and what a blessed reunion it will be!The weather is fairly cool now,but the heat is coming.

This seemed like a good place to hide out for a year,maybe two,while the economy recovers.Better than staying,struggling,and possibly loosing my home.I became unemployed,really for the first time in 22 years,and took matters into my own hands.My yearly wage is high,per hour is low,but because the first 91,000 is federal tax exempt,it works out o.k.for me.I thank God my family is provided for,and the time flies here.Now that my wife sent me this computer,I'll be able to see and talk to them every day over the internet.I'll be able to lay in bed,drinking some good coffee,looking at my family.Calling at 5 a.m.Baghdad time,I catch them at 7 p.m.,right after supper.A great way for me to start my day.

Well,thanks to you all for your thoughts,thanks Tim for guiding me through the best choices for the new motor,and will check back in soon.God bless,Steve.

Here is another letter from Steve, I found it very interesting. I think you might too.

A few days ago,myself and another electrician made a trip to another nearby base too obtain some materials.My friend,Steve Jackson had ,till recently,been at that particular camp.All the elite armed forces are there,and they essentially get whatever they want.On base there,are Navy Seals,Special Ops,,really the cream -of the -crop.Also present are many of the top intelligence agencies,even the FBI,CIA,top military planners,you name it.No speed limits there,while on other bases,we adhere,or are at least supposed to adhere to 10 kph.Those boys,shall I say,are a little high strung.They consider the run of the mill enlistees as "dorks".They look different,are tall, strong,and cut in a V shape.They're special and they know it.
We went to get some better electrical distribution gear that my friend knew was there.I just figured that everything here was of the lowest quality the mid-east had to offer,making that conclusion after only 6 weeks in-country,and having never left my own camp.I was mistaken.We requisitioned it,and the next day,though we got past the guards,the head of security for our contractor on that base gave us a heads-up that the
Site Manager,was,after that day,restricting Steve's access to the camp.Permanently.Seems he didn't like us requisitioning the"good stuff" he wanted to reserve for the VIP's.Security One would be able to turn his head for the time it would take us to load up and leave.
But Steve had other plans.First off,he suggested we take our lunch at their DEFAC,where we couldn't go ten feet without him being surrounded by friends who appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, to shake his hand,hug him,tell him how much they missed him.It was like accompanying a well loved celebrity.Indian subcontractors,among the lowest paid here and the real foot-soldiers ran to him.The Ugandan Security Forces,who,if you approach their check-points without being motioned forward,are authorized to use deadly force,also immediately lost their stern,sober visages,and broke into smiles when they recognized him in the vehicle with me.He was well acquainted with kitchen workers and department heads,soldiers and officers who,to a man,would cross a street,or a crowded cafeteria,to welcome him,and ask when he was coming back.
Also,unlike my camp,it's quiet.No 24 hour-a-day generators,no helicopter and airplane landings,no transport trucks,fuel trucks,military vehicles,nor chattering voices from around the world.Like being in a quiet suburb.I felt relaxed.
After eating,and before picking up our material,I got Steve's quick tour of the camp.That Dining Facility was in the Falcon Palace,which Sadaam Hussein had built for his mother,very close to his favorite palace,-I think one of eighteen he had built for himself.Steve sneeked me upstairs ,to explore a few different levels.I stood in the grand ballroom,under one of the worlds largest chandeliers.It's supposed to be turned into a basket ball court for our troops use.I stood in Mamma Hussein's bedroom,and looked out over a portion of the outskirts of Baghdad.Also,I walked the gutted remains of her personal bathroom,the solid gold plumbing fixtures,according to Steve,plundered by American soldiers.Now being remodeled,this palaces' glory is buried under the ever-present sand/dust that is constantly being deposited from above.In it's heyday,everything was spotless,marble floors,hand-carved wooden doors-no two alike-,and base relief plasterwork,kept spotless
by an army of servants. Lastly,we climbed three more flights of marble stairs to exit onto the palace roof.It's a large open patio,from where you can see everything for miles around,including Sadaam's nearby palace on a hill,farmers working their fields,and all the surrounding wetlands,man-made ,I think,by diverting water from the nearby Euphrates River.He had this done to create a vast hunting reserve on the palace grounds,and there are many stone hunting lodges for his and his guests' use.Many ducks,and coots,and other birds were visible through the reeds.
But that's not all that's there.Leaving,we drove by Saddam's palace,where I saw the buildings that housed his personal Elite Guard.,the lodgings of his top generals and advisers-mostly underground,and finally,Saddam's "Pleasure Houses" that he kept stocked with young virgins ,to use and dispose of as he and his sons saw fit.I saw from the truck,the room where he had his son-in-law brutally murdered.Maybe you remember the story.His daughter and her husband sort of fled the country,I believe in fear of her father for some reason.He convinced them to return,he loved and missed them,whereby when they did,he immediately had the son-in-law murdered in front of his own wife,beheaded I think.We didn't have time to see the cages that housed the lions which he fed some of his personal enemies to,all for entertainment purposes.From Saddam's palace,there is a tunnel,over two miles long and large enough to drive a car in,that leads to Baghdad International
Airport.
This was my first real taste of what is outside the camp walls behind which I live.Sometimes I'm driving my ATV/work vehicle down the road,and,behind the 20 foot tall razor-wire topped walls,and only a few feet away, is another world.

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias

                    Thank You for your service, be safe and God bless you!

Todd Watertown S.D.

Just a few more pictures of Steve's engine, so all can see. He liked the Black look of Bing's engine so much that is what he wanted to go with.  That is a set of Mummert's cast valve covers, I haven't heard back from Steve yet but I think we will paint them black also and sand the fins clean.

The FE in the back will be for my F350 project. 

   God Bless.   Tim                           http://yblockguy.com/

350ci Y-Block FED "Elwood", 301ci Y-Block Unibody LSR "Jake", 312ci Y-Block '58 F-100, 338ci Y-Block powered Model A Tudor

tim@yblockguy.com  Visalia, California    Just west of the Sequoias