A Memorial Day Message from 7-year old Rebecca…

Here she is working very hard on her chalk message.


Making sure she has "50" stars on her flag…

Working hard on the stripes….

A special message for you…

"Thank You Soldiers and Happy Memorial Day"…

These pictures were sent to me and I asked permission to share them so that other service members may see them. They were sent to me by her proud mother, Marie. Thank you for sharing this innocent, patriotic message with us.

Sorry, I haven't been posting much lately. I've been in Vegas and then yesterday doing other things all day. Today I will be publishing my next IED roll-up as well as anything else I can think of. But first, I promised that I'd post William's sister's letter that I also got. I got a short letter and a picture, but I'm posting the picture this time. By the way, HERE is a picture of Madison and William that hey had previously sent me.

I haven't done a "Letter From Children" in awhile. I got this one in the mail just yesterday, along with some other great stuff. The contents made me start to cry, especially as I read this letter. Since Emily was on the couch next to me, I was able to contain those emotions. These letters keep me fresh and motivated. They renew my sense of service and give me purpose. Thank you William for being such a great kid. Next time, I'll publish his sister's letter.

Dear Mr. C.J.

Thanks you for the coin and dog tag you sent me. I really like them. I hope my mom will let me take them to school soon. But I don't think she will. I will keep asking her. I want to show them to my friends. I think they should write to soldiers too. They should know we love them and we are think of them all the time.

Love, William

Mom, let him take the dog tags to school (if it's not against school policy). If he loses it or they get stolen, I promise I'll send another one to replace it.

Getting letters in combat from kids is just like medicine. I didn't get this letter until after we had taken Baghdad and things were settling down. As you can see from the date, it was written the day we went to war.

When I returned from Iraq, I had the chance to meet a few of the students who wrote to me from Ebenezer Middle School. I was invited to an assembly and spoke to the student body about what it meant to get letters during a deployment. It was probably the sixth greatest day of my life (after my marriage, birth of three kids, and my baptism). Here's the letter:

[address deleted]
Rincon, GA 31326
March 21, 2003

Dear Soldier,

My name is Quinn and I'm 13 years old and I go to Ebenezer Middle School. I am in the 8th grade.

What is your name? Are you male or female? Where do you live? Do you enjoy being a soldier? What do you do in your spare time? Are you married? Sorr, for all of the questiosn but I'm just curious.

Thank you for serving our country. I am very thankful for you and all of the other soldiers for fighting for our country.

Sincerely,
Quinn [last name deleted]

Natually, I wrote him back and answered all his questions. Unfortunately, Quinn wasn't one of the kids I got to meet.

Filed under "Letters From Children"

I haven't done one of these in awhile and since my last post wasn't as uplifting, I'd thought I'd follow it with this one. I've also got a great story from the military too, which will be posted later today.

Like I said before, I love these letters from children (though today's "child" was 18 years old at the time the letter was written). This made me chuckle for more than one reason. You probably will too.

Dear Friend,

If you would like to get to know me more better my address is [complete address withheld] Caruthersville, Mo. 63830. My name is Jennifer [last name deleted] I wouldn't mind to get to know you a little bit better to. I hope we can become friends in are letters. I am 18 years old by B-Day is 12-29-84. I'm sorry but are teacher told us to say stuff like this so if if sound like I am trying to get a date well not right now. I wouldn't mind gitting to now you just a little bit better. Hey I know that alot of people smoke over there. If you smoke tell me and I'll try to get you some smokes if not then I'll still talk to you. I'm not that type of person to make some one smoke. I've been smoking ever sence I was in 6th grade. I really wouldn't mind to get to know you better so if you want to talk to some one you know my address. So I c-ya later.

Your friend
Jennifer [last name deleted]

All these letters that I post are filed under "Letters From Children" category on the right side of the site.

I haven't done one of these in awhile, but a phone call from a reporter in Arkansas interviewing me about letters written by students at his school reminded me. A few weeks ago, when I started doing this, I realized that many of the letters I was posting were from students in Blytheville, Arkansas. I think it was just the stack that I grabbed out of the box. Anyway, I called the principal of the school there and wanted to thank her and the teachers for teaching the students to be good citizens and writing to soldiers in combat and tell her what it means to us. I think they may have passed on the phone call to the press.

I got the following letter in April after we took Baghdad. The days leading up to the "Thunder Run" were perilous and some of my experiences forced me to question my mortality and invincibility. After all I had gone through in the weeks prior to getting this letter, I couldn't help but almost cry. Not a cry of "I'm doomed" but one of relief that I was actually able to read it. It's almost poetic in its style and wording.

Dear Soldier, Mon Feb 24, 2003

We are glade that you helping our country and I believe you will need pratcion [protection] with you because if you get hurt you will probably die because some body might jump you and you will have no help and then you will have to die if you do not die god bless you.

Love,
Tonish [last name deleted]
Central School
Blytheville, AR

This letter kind of scared me a little bit. I recieved it about 5 days before the war. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about this letter caused a little bit of anxiety. It was almost as if someone was worried I wouldn't make it back.

Mon., Feb. 24, 2003
Dear Soldier,

We thank you for going to the war and fighting for our country and community. We appreciate you for going to the war. When you do that you know that that's good. Even if you don't come back you know that you tried. You know that everybody wants you to come back. I hope that you're protected from all of those bullets and bombs. If you come back everybody will be so happy. Everybody would probably start to cry. So try your best to fight for our country and other communities. I hope that you make it safely and back!! I hope that you are protected!!!!!!

Love
Kiard [last name deleted]
Central
Elementary
School
Blytheville,
Arkansas

I still can't quite figure out why this letter made me nervous about fighting. At least I knew someone was REALLY hoping for my safe return…besides my family. In hindsight, Kiard may have been responsible for my safe return. But, at least if I didn't come back, I can say that I tried!!

Kids are awesome. I wish I could just give a huge hug to every child that wrote me. When I went to Maryland in May, I was given a book called "A Million Thanks." It's very hard to read because I get very emotional reading a lot of these letters. The author, a 16-year old named Shauna Fleming, started a project to get 1,000,000 thank you letters sent to soldiers (airmen, marines and sailors included) serving in the military. She accomplished her mission and presented the 1,000,000th letter to President Bush. The book is awesome and prints many letters sent by people from across America. If there is any doubt that a vast majority of Americans support their military and what it's doing, this book is just one of many proofs.

She didn't stop with that letter, she raised the bar to 1.4 million, the symbolic number of people in the military. Her thinking was that there shouldn't be any servicemember that doesn't get a letter. She's already surpassed that mark as well, working her way to two million now. The book talks about how she grew up under patriotic parents who frequently served military members and their family through the USO and other endeavours.

Anyway, here's yet another letter filed under "Letters From Children." There will also be a new Nigerian Scam thread coming soon. I've got a few in my inbox I haven't had time to action on yet, so stay tuned. If you haven't seen my conversations with Nigerian Scammers, click HERE.

Thanks to Mudville Gazette for the link! HERE's one back atcha!

There are no limits to what children will say in their letters. I think that since they are writing to people they'll never meet, they say what they're really thinking. Mike wanted to make sure that I knew what kinds of other people were in his class and writing to me. Letters like this ALWAYS brought a smile to my face when I really would rather frown and be angry. This letter was also from Blytheville, AR.

Dear Soldier,

Hello. My name is Mike and I am writing to you to say say thanks for protecting us and our country. It is a brave thing you are doing. I wish you the best of luck in your endevor.

Well, let me tell you something of my self. I am an 8th grade student and in a class of, well…extremely crazed and mentaly ill people. They are all around nut cases, but I belive they have some sense. When they want to.

I like to read and enjoy a quiet and tranquill atmosphere. I also enjoy classical music, such as Motzart and Beethoven. My favort food is sushi. More specific, sea eel.

Well, write back to me then.

Sincerly,
Michael

Sea eel, eh? Sounds kinda crazed and mentally it to me!! Anyway, that letter came from Mrs. Haywood's class from a school in Georgia. I got many letters from her class and Mrs. McCall, many of which you'll see.

I had the opportunity to meet many of these kids when I returned from Iraq. I was invited to an assembly they were holding to honor soldiers. I had the honor to sit in the VIP section and made an honorary Eagle, the school mascot. I was also able to take a few minutes and address the students to let them know what writing to soldiers meant, even if they didn't get a response. It was a really humbling experience and I was treated far better than I needed to be. The Army had also sent an Army choir to sing some patriotic songs for the school and the JROTC presented the colors, obviously nervous to be around real soldiers.

I can't get over how much I loved getting letters from kids.

Sometimes the command leadership can be a little slow to respond to certain things. Sometimes they respond BEFORE anything actually happens. It can be confusing. Luckily, there are kids out there will to give us the direction we need in dealing with the bad people. Of course, they can also expect almost as much perfection as anyone else. It's also good to know that we are the good people. That can be confusing at times.

Filed under Letters From Children, I present Casandra:

Dear Soldiers,

You care for our nation and country. Please attack the bad people. To me, I expect you to win the war. You are the good people. I hope you protect and believe you can put us over you protection.

P.S. Your friend.

Love, Casandra [last name deleted]
School: Central
Town: Blytheville

Meet William and Madison, young patriots and supporters of our military. Their mom Paulette sent me this picture and wanted me to know how much their kids are grateful for what we do as soldiers. So, to show how grateful I am for what THEY do, I'm showing the world what a great future we have in these kids who have already learned the meaning of selflessness and patriotism. Thank you Paulette, William and Madison for your thoughts, prayers and support on behalf of every soldier that will join with me.