I heard back from my high school English teacher’s son, who is currently in Iraq — got a wonderful letter which included the following:
“A soldier can never get enough mail. In my team, though, [name withheld, call him Captain] needs to get a friendly letter. His parents don’t ‘do’ letters. His wife [some details withheld], is swamped with a full load of grad courses and studying for a Master’s exam, and taking care of two kids and two dogs, AND is pregnant. Not a lot of time for letter writing. He needs a pick-me-up.”
These guys are Reserves. Along with the guy mentioned above, who is 32 and who in civilian life is a Customs agent, there are four other people in David’s team who could all use a good letter or two. The Major is 32, married, 4 kids (one born the day before he came to Iraq), and back home is in sales; the SSG is 29, married, two kids, and a fire-fighter, the Corporal is 23, married, no kids, and a vet. assistant/student, and the SPC, 19, is single and a college student. And David, also single, early twenties, is in the group, too, and could certainly use another letter or two.
I am going somewhere with this, actually. If you’d like to send a friendly, encouraging (maybe even funny?) letter to any of these guys, type it up, e-mail it to me, and I’ll put all the letters into the appropriate envelopes and send them off. Include your name and return address so that you can receive a reply — the return address on the envelope is going to be mine, of course. You can ID your letter by the rank listed if you want to write to one specific guy — if you don’t have a rank listed at the top of your letter, I’ll send your letter to any of the guys who is otherwise not going to get something.
Please consider taking a couple of minutes to write a letter that could brighten someone’s day — these guys are in pretty bleak conditions right now, and a very long way from home.
Thanks. Holly
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