Hi everyone, Last time I posted I was signing off, due to my reassignment to Central America for a year. Have finally "settled in" down here in lovely Honduras. Damage from Hurricane Mitch was/is truly as bad as you all saw on the news. Incredible poverty even before the storm, but now... First I was sent to Tegucigalpa for two weeks when I first arrived in country (back in December). Had a team of Honduran paracadistas and my own troops, purifying water for Hospital San Felipe, which has no facilities of its own and relies on contaminated well water. Other missions followed, like transloading relief supplies, providing water to local communities, supporting other Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine units doing relief work in country. Learning Spanish by osmosis -- immersion really does work! The people here are gracious and dignified even in the face of tragedy. Since then have returned to Soto Cano Air Base which is located smack dab in the heart of the country, near Comayagua. Roads are horrible off the beaten path, and drivers here are, well, typical of Central America for those of you who've had the experience. Not quite as fast and loose as Kuwait, but I swear, you haven't lived until you've seen a bus passing a semitrailer on a blind corner and heading straight at your comparatively-puny Humvee. Got my first gray hair Christmas Eve, no joke! Haven't had one moment to shell the coasts but as soon as Operation Mitch gets over with and we get through with the seasonal National Guard rotations, I should be able to take a few long weekends and hit the beach. Have enlisted the local kids to look for landsnails, and have found some. In fact I have some nice digital pictures of one particular specimen. I believe it's semiaquatic but have no clue about freshwater snails, so if anyone is interested in checking out the photos or putting them up for public access on their webpage, just ask. Does anyone have a good book or two to sell, reference fresh and land snails? Would prefer used for obvious reasons. Lake Yojoa, just northwest of here, has an abundant population of freshwater snails, rather good-sized and evidently prolific judging from the egg cases deposited near the water's surface on reeds and pilings. I have a little weekend expedition in the works to take a boat out around the lake and see what can be found. Have saved both the semiaquatic specimen and several of the Lake Yojoa snails for whole preservation in alcohol. Even drilled holes in the spires on the big ones so should be well pickled by now. I plan to clean the other six that I saved but haven't gotten to do that yet. I'm keeping the alcohol/snails in my freezer. Alcohol doesn't freeze there but can anyone think of a problem with this technique? I don't want to damage the specimens. So, anyway, a promising start here, and given more free time (ha!) hopefully I'll have more snail news to share as time goes by. Anyone interested in shelling the interior, let me know as I have made some contacts and discoveries I could recommend. Has anyone identified the mystery Cyphoma shown in my article on Cay Sal, previous issue of AmConch? Oh, yes, if anyone would like to send donations of food/medicine/kids' clothing, my unit sponsors a local orphanage here (Tierra Santa, in La Paz, a little highland village) and we'll be making a trip soon to visit the kids. What's new in the shell world? I'm happy to be back in touch! Hooah, Jenny V/R, Jenny Cline 1LT, QM Support Platoon Leader HSC, ARFOR x5120 (fax/voice)