I just wanted to write and say thank you so much for the cards and blessings for the past few years. Being in the military is hard many times especially around the holidays and getting cards from you all has always made it so nice. While I was in Iraq and Afghanistan it was always awesome to see the support being given to the troops while so many were making us seem so horrible. It is people like you that make the difference in our society and may God bless each and every one of you. I will no longer need the support because I have decided to seperate from the military recently. I am grateful for all the support you have given me and hope that you can now move that to the next person that makes the sacrifice to be in the military. Thanks again and God Bless!

Harmony Hartless (SSgt USAF)
1-6-08

Dear Friends,
I want to thank you so much for the cards and notes while I was away. Thoughts and greetings from home always lifted my spirits and meant so much.

I am glad to let you know that I am now safely retired from the Army. Thanks again so much for reaching out in support of our troops.

CW4 Retired
Dennis C. Goss

 

Hello,
Thank you for your cards and blessings you send us. Because knowing that people care for what we do is a graceful thing for us over here serving our country.

I wish all of you good luck in life and any time ya’ll want to write feel free and we will be more than happy to write back. Wish I had more to say but over here there’s nothing to really talk about. It goes get hot here. One day it was about 135 degrees, but we adjust to this climate like anything elase.

Thanks for the Blessing SPC Douglas
 

First United Methodist Church,

It was very nice to receive your letter. Where we are at is better than many places over here so we can’t complain. I would much rather be in PA where I’m sure it’s much cooler. The average temperature this time of year is 118 degrees during the day and 85 at night. This place is like being at the beach without the water. We have pretty much settled in and are performing our regular duties. We process soldiers into and out of the country so we have it much better than the guys who are on the front lines. We have many young people who have never been this far from home for this long a period of time and of course they complain, but I’m an old solider so I’m used to being away from home (I do not like it but I deal with it). I will attempt to get you a listing of all soldiers we have so that I will not receive all the mail. You and your congregation are much appreciated and God bless.

MSG Keith Peterson

I promised to send you a story, so here it goes. I am a First Sergeant with five detachments that have anywhere from 18-23 per detachment, they are spread all over Iraq.

So my story starts out:
On the 3rd of March 2006, the Commander and I had to do our normal bi-weekly flights to our outlying bases to check on our soldiers. Around 2000 hrs. We leave our COB (Contingency Operating Base) located very close to Tikrit, Iraq. As we start the flight all is going good, we are strapped in and the CH 47 (Chin Hock) gunner is in place and watching our six, we head north and then a hard left to the east, were about 20 minutes out from our first stop which is FOB (Forward Operating Base) Summerall, as we approach we see Rocket's Red Glare and Bob's bursting in Air, and of course we react with locking and loading our weapons, we thought we were going down. God was with us and we landed with out incident. Come to find out it was our rockets and bombs being fired at the insurgents.

The story continues, with this 2 hour mission, now at 4 hours and still the Commander and I have several more visits to make before heading home, we depart Summerall headed further East to FOB Ramagen, this is a small out post with only one postal soldier, we arrive in about 20 minutes of departure and all went very well, we visited and left after only a short 45 minutes on the ground. Our flight now heads due North for an out post that will take at least 40 minutes to get to. As we approach the flight line to land we are waved off and had to circle around, an unexploded mortar came in and EOD (Explosive Ordinance & Demolition) team where trying to disarm or remove it, unfortunately they did not succeed, we lost two great American soldiers that night. Though the Commander and I did not know the soldiers it still was heart breaking and it made us understand that there are so many soldiers that are doing more important jobs than us and these two brave men gave their lives making sure we would be safe when we landed. I cannot reveal the names as much as I wish I could give them the honor and tribute they deserve, but the military rules will not allow it. So as a reader of this story, know they were Heroes and I will never forget them nor their names as long as God allows me to breath.

After all the unpleasantness of the night, we cancel our visit with our soldiers due to the somber mode that fell on that base that night, we did make sure they were safe and doing OK, we continue on to our next stop, which is only a 15 minute flight. We arrive at QWEST another out post that is out in the middle of the desert with no one for miles, we even have to have drinking water flew in for the soldiers - it's that far out, all is good here and we take an hour break and eat a bite, neither of us could eat much after the last stop we had, but we managed to put down an item or two from our MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat), after our break we head out to one of our last stops. We contact with the platoon leader there and she and all her soldiers were safe and sound and most of them tucked in for the night.
The Commander, 2LT and I went to the local Turkish eatery and had tea and talked about the mission and laughed and talked about different things. We ere hit with a 20mm mortar and took out most of the Turkish Eatery and left a large hole in the tarmac (runway) where our bird was staged. The owner and one of his workers were killed and three of the patrons were injured, the Commander was untouched and the 2LT and I received only minor cuts. We all three by this time are in shock, this area has been quiet for a few months and this was totally unexpected. We make sure the 2LT is OK and escort her back to her living area and check on the soldiers again. All is OK and we leave for the air field.

We are up and flying in a matter of minutes, our last and final stop and then we can head home, we arrive at FOB Warrior, all is safe and no incidents. We were to be met by one of our soldiers to get a ride back to the postal area, no one showed up. It was about five miles and neither of us want to hump our bags that far after this two hour mission is now on 9 hours, and we still have a three hour flight back home. So we wait patiently and still no one arrives, we finally ask the Air Force Sergeant if we can secure our bags and go find them. She of course had no problem with that, so we take off, no one has told us that the FOB is under what we call a Code Red, that is when insurgents are suspected of being on or around the FOB. When this occurs you have to take shelter in a bunker and wait until the all clear is given. No one found it necessary to let us know this, so we get picked up by the Base Security Force and interrogated for over 20 minutes. Once they figured out we were who we said we were our postal
soldiers finally show up. We meet and all is good and they have no issues. So the Commander and I depart for home. After the somber and sad day we are both ready to sleep. We are about 6 miles out from home and the bird cuts off all lights and sets down in the middle of no where. WE both jump up and ask what's going on, and we are told the COB is under attack and we are not allowed to land until further notice, so here we set in pitch black, not sure when the time will come to leave. It is now getting close to sunrise and we both are running on shear adrenalin. Finally, we get the OK to come in and we are so glad. Then out of no where we take on small arms fire, the gunner returns fire and we land safely. Unfortunately the bird didn't fare as good, it took several hits and will be down for awhile.

In closing, it isn't what you do or how important your job is, soldiers live and die daily doing their jobs and most of the time do not get the recognition they deserve or need. I do what I do to ensure the safety of the American public. I do not ask nor do I want recognition for it. I thank God each and everyday for the time I have and the time I hope He will give me. The young men and women of the military believe in what they are doing. I honor and praise each and everyone of them for it. They are your Heroes. My heroes are the families and friends that are supporting the soldiers in the fight on terrorism, God bless you and all your church. May God keep you each and everyone safe.

Your friend in Christ,
1SG S. B.

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Forwarded From one of our Troops in Afghanistan

Hi everyone.

I'm still alive but freezing my tail off. We got 8 inches of snow last week and it reached 5 degrees below zero that night. That's not why I'm e-mailing though. You may have heard about a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul last Thursday. It was at one of our FOB's (Forward Observation Bases) about 27 miles from here. But the real story is why no one was killed. We employ several thousand Afghans on our various bases. Not to mention the economy that is fed by the money these locals are making.

Anyway, there is this one Afghan that we call Rambo. We have actually given him a couple of sets of the new ACU uniforms (the new Army digital camouflage) with the name tag RAMBO on it. His entire family was killed by the Taliban and his home was where our base currently resides. So this guy really had nowhere else to go. He has reached! such a level of trust with US Forces that his job is to stand at the front gate and basically be the first security screening. Since he can't have a weapon, he found a big red pipe. So he stands there at the front gate in his US Army ACU uniform with his red pipe. If a vehicle approaches the gate too fast or fails to stop he slams his pipe down on their hood. Then once the gate is lifted the vehicle moves on the 2nd gate where the US Army MP's are. So he's like the first line of defense.

Last Thursday at 0930 hrs a Toyota Corolla packed with explosives and some ******* that thinks he has 72 Virgins waiting for him approached the gate.

When he saw Rambo he must have recognized him and known the gig was up. But he needed to get to that 2nd gate to detonate and take American lives. So he slams his foot on the gas which almost causes the metal gate to go up but mostly catches on the now broken windshield. Rambo fearlessly ran to the vehicle, reached thru the window and jerked the suicide bomber out of the vehicle before he could detonate and commenced to putting some red pipe to him. He detained the guy until the MPs got there The vehicle only exploded when they tried to push it off base with a robot but none was hurt.

I'm still waiting for someone to give this guy a medal or something. Nothing less than instant US citizenship or something. A hat was passed around and a lot of money was given to
him in thanks by both soldiers and civilians that are working over here.

I guess I just wanted to share this because I want people to know that it's working over here. They have tasted freedom. This makes it worth it to me.

JOHN W. HUNT, CPT, US ARMY Operations Officer Bagram Afghanistan