Editor's Note: We have a great ongoing response to our request for letters to be posted to this Website. Those letters do get to some of our troops.

However, if you are truly interested in helping to make a troop's day, please consider writing directly to them. We received the following e-mail forwarded to us from Gordon Curtis describing how these Marines are not getting any letters from home. Fire-up your computers and send them mail directly, and copy us if you wish. Based on what we hear is the delivery time for mail over there, they might get it sooner via the Web posting:

"Got the following info from Norm Worthington, a fellow Marine, about some of our Marines in the Persian Gulf who aren't getting any mail from home and would appreciate hearing from anyone here Stateside who cares. If you're interested, or if you know of any schools, churches, volunteer and service clubs, people in nursing homes, or any other groups who want to write to our Marines, please jump right in. If you need any more info about this or any help, please contact Norm Worthington.

Those who have been there know there's nothing more important to a serviceman than MAIL CALL !!

If you can't think of any other way to help, then just pass the word to your friends, please. Address and names listed below:

[Enter a specific Marine's name, listed below]
B Co 1/5 3rd PLT
UIC 39739
FPO AP 96426-9739

Cpl Derek Burns
LCpl Chris Chadwick
Cpl Ajani Dawson
LCpl Rusty Ede
Pfc Devrickz Fierro
LCpl Robert Foster
LCpl Tuffy Ghramm
LCpl Richard Ginter
Cpl Ronald Gustwiller
LCpl Juan Gutierrez
LCpl Casey Haines
Pfc Dean Hashins
LCpl Joseph Hedrick
LCpl Christopher Henderick
Pfc Jason Igo
LCpl Ernie Moreno
Sgt Shane Moyer
LCpl David Murgia
Pfc Dustin Pangelinan
Pfc Jake Paolucci
LCpl Richard Pederson
LCpl Andre Raymond
LCpl Eduardo Rodriguez
LCpl Edwin Roman
LCpl Richard Saviche
LCpl Jason Skimin
LCpl Adam Spien
LCpl Gordon Sutton
LCpl Carl Therrian
HN Darren Williams
HN Kano Williams"
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Where do they get young men like this?
Author Unknown

Martin Savidge of CNN, embedded with the 1st Marine battalion, was talking with 4 young Marines near his foxhole this morning live on CNN. He had been telling the story of how well the Marines had been looking out for and taking care of him since the war started. He went on to tell about the many hardships the Marines had endured since the war began and how they all look after one another.

He turned to the four and said he had cleared it with their commanders and they could use his video phone to call home. The 19 year old Marine next to him asked Martin if he would allow his platoon sergeant to use his call to call his pregnant wife back home whom he had not been able to talk to in three months. A stunned Savidge who was visibly moved by the request shook his head and the young Marine ran off to get the sergeant.

Savidge recovered after a few seconds and turned back to the three young Marines still sitting with him and asked which one of them would like to call home first, the Marine closest to him responded with out a moments hesitation "Sir, if is all the same to you we would like to call the parents of a buddy of ours, Lance Cpl Brian Buesing of Cedar Key, Florida who was killed on 3-23-03 near Nasiriya to see how they are doing." At that Martin Savidge totally broke down and was unable to speak. All he could get out before signing off was "Where do they get young men like this?"
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THE LETTER

A California mother whose son is right now in Kuwait poised to knock Saddam's block off, wrote her son asking how he would feel if she joined other relatives of service members in an anti-war demonstration in Hollywood last month. After reading her son's response, she elected not to participate:

Dear Mom:

It's really your decision to march if you want to or not. You are the one who has to decide if what we are doing out here is right or not. My opinion is not yours.

I do, however, have things I would like for you and Grandma and everyone else at home to know.

I am a United States soldier. I was sworn to defend my country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. People may not agree with the things we are ordered to do. I would like to address those people by telling them that terrorism is not only a threat to us as Americans, but to many other innocent people in the world.

What type of country would we be if we didn't defend the rights and freedoms of others, not because they're Americans, but how about just because they're human?

We live in a country where people feel secure with their daily lives. They do business like usual and don't worry about the thought of terrorism actually happening to them.

The people of 9-11 thought the same thing. We now know that it can happen to anyone at any time.

Yet as Americans we're afraid of losing our soldiers to defend our security. I can only speak for myself when I say that my life is an easy expense to ensure that my family and friends can live in peace. I
strongly believe in what we are doing and wish you were here to see for yourselves the honor and privilege that American soldiers aboard this ship are feeling, knowing that we are going to be a part of something so strong and so meaningful to the safety of our loved ones.

Then you would know what this potential war is about. We will stand tall in front of terrorism and defeat it. We as soldiers are not afraid of what may happen. We are only afraid of Americans not being able to understand why we are here. I ask for your courage as Americans to be strong for us; I ask for your understanding in what we believe is right. I ask for your support in what we are sworn to do: defend our country and the life of all.

We will succeed in our task and will end the threat of terrorism in our back yard.

We will also end the threat of terrorism in our neighbors'. We have to remind ourselves of what this country stands for: life, liberty and justice for all. In order to maintain those rights we have to stop the threat of terrorism.

I am proud to be here. I will be coming home, but not until I know that it's going to be safe for all Americans and for everyone I love. My family is first. My country is where they live. I will defend it.

Lonnie J. Lewis
Navy corpsman
C Co. 1/4 WPN PLT
UIC 39726
FPO AP 966139726

P.S. Mom, please send this to everyone who has a hard time understanding why we are here. Ask the paper to put what I've said in a column so that others will know why we are here and what we are here for. I love you all and will be home soon. I left my address so that if anyone feels like writing to let me know how they feel, they can.
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Subject: Anatomy of a SpecOps Mission in Baghdad -- forwarded by a retired Marine General friend.

An Elite Athlete
By Tom Demerly

It is dark and Mike Smith's clothing is wet.

Mike Smith is an athlete, an elite athlete in fact. He is a triathlete, has done Ironman several times, a couple adventure races and even run the Marathon Des Sables in Morocco- a 152 mile running race through the Sahara done in stages.

Mike has some college, is gifted in foreign languages, reads a lot and has an amazing memory for details. He enjoys travel. He is a quiet guy but a very good athlete. Mike's friends say he has a natural toughness. He can't spend as much time training for triathlons as he'd like to because his job keeps him busy. Especially now. This is Mike's busy season. But he still seems very fit. Even without much training Mike has managed some impressive performances in endurance events.

It's a big night for Mike. He's at work tonight. As I mentioned his clothing is wet, partially from dew, partially from perspiration. He and his four co-workers, Dan, Larry, Pete and Maurice are working on a rooftop at the corner of Jamia St. and Khulafa St. across from Omar Bin Yasir.

Mike is looking through the viewfinder of a British made Pilkington LF25 laser designator. The crosshairs are centered on a ventilation shaft. The shaft is on the roof of The Republican Guard Palace in downtown Baghdad across the Tigris River.

Saddam Hussein is inside, seven floors below, three floors below ground level, attending a crisis meeting.

Mike's co-worker Pete (also an Ironman finisher, Lake Placid, 2000) keys some information into a small laptop computer and hits "burst transmit." The DMDG (Digital Message Device Group) uplinks data to another of Mike's co-workers (this time a man he's never met, but they both work for their Uncle, "Sam") and a fellow athlete, at 21,500 feet above Iraq 15 miles from downtown Baghdad. This man's office is the cockpit of an F-117 stealth fighter. When Mike and Pete's signal is received the man in the airplane leaves his orbit outside Baghdad, turns left, and heads downtown.

Mike has 40 seconds to complete his work for tonight, then he can go for a run.

Mike squeezes the trigger of his LF25 and a dot appears on the ventilator shaft five city blocks and across the river away from him and his co-workers. Mike speaks softly into his microphone; "Target illuminated. Danger close. Danger Close. Danger close. Over."

Seconds later two GBU-24B two thousand pound laser guided, hardened case, delayed fuse "bunker buster" bombs fall free from the F-117. The bombs enter "the funnel" and begin finding their way to the tiny dot projected by Mike's LF25. They glide approximately three miles across the ground and fall four miles on the way to the spot marked by Mike and his friends.

When they reach the ventilator shaft marked by Mike and his friends the two bunker busters enter the roof in a puff of dust and debris. They plow through the first four floors of the building like a two-ton steel telephone pole traveling over 400 m.p.h., tossing desks, ceiling tiles, computers and chairs out the shattering windows. Then they hit the six-foot thick reinforced concrete roof of the bunker. They burrow four more feet and detonate.

The shock wave is transparent but reverberates through the ground to the river where a Doppler wave appears on the surface of the Tigris. When the seismic shock reaches the building Mike is on he levitates an inch off the roof from the concussion.

Then the sound hits. The two explosions are like a simultaneous crack of thunder as the building's walls seem to swell momentarily, then burst apart on an expanding fireball that slowly, eerily, boils above Baghdad casting rotating shadows as the fire climbs into the night. Debris begins to rain; structural steel, chunks of concrete, shards of glass, flaming fabrics and papers.

On the tail of the two laser guided bombs a procession of BGM-109G/TLAM Block IV Enhanced Tomahawks begin their terminal plunge. The laser-guided bombs performed the incision, the GPS and computer guided TLAM Tomahawks complete the operation. In rapid-fire succession the missiles find their mark and riddle the Palace with massive explosions, finishing the job. The earth heaves in a final death convulsion.

Mike's job is done for tonight. Now all he has to do is get home.

Mike and his friends drive an old Mercedes through the streets of Baghdad as the sirens start. They take Jamia to Al Kut, cross Al Kut and go right (South) on the Expressway out of town. An unsuspecting remote CNN camera mounted on the balcony of the Al Rashid Hotel picks up their vehicle headed out of town. Viewers at home wonder what a car is doing on the street during the beginning of a war. They don't know it is packed with five members of the U.S. Army's SFOD-D, Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta. Delta Force.

Six miles out of town they park their Mercedes on the shoulder, pull their gear out of the trunk and begin to run into the desert night. The moon is nearly full. Instinctively they fan out, on line, in a "lazy 'W' ". They run five miles at a brisk pace, good training for this evening, especially with 27 lb. packs on their back. Behind them there is fire on the horizon. Mike and his fellow athletes have a meeting to catch, and they can't be late.

Twenty seven miles out a huge gray 92 foot long insect hurtles 40 feet above the desert at 140 m.p.h. The MH-53J Pave Low III is piloted by another athlete, also a triathlete, named Jim, from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He is flying to meet Mike.

After running five miles into the desert Mike uses his GPS to confirm his position. He is in the right place at the right time. He removes an infra-red strobe light from his pack and pushes the red button on the bottom of it. It blinks invisibly in the dark. He and his friends form a wide 360 degree circle while waiting for their ride home.

Two miles out Jim in the Pave Low sees Mike's strobe through his night vision goggles. He gently moves the control stick and pulls back on the collective to line up on Mike's infra-red strobe. Mike's ride home is here.

The big Pave Low helicopter flares for landing over the desert and quickly touches down in a swirling tempest of dust. Mike and his friends run up the ramp after their identity is confirmed. Mike counts them up the ramp of the helicopter over the scream of the engines. When he shows the crew chief five fingers the helicopter lifts off and the ramp comes up. The dark gray Pave Low spins in its own length and picks up speed going back the way it came, changing course slightly to avoid detection.

The men and women in our armed forces, especially Special Operations, are often well trained, gifted athletes. All of them, including Mike, would rather be sleeping the night away in anticipation of a long training ride rather than laying on a damp roof in an unfriendly neighborhood guiding bombs to their mark or doing other things we'll never hear about.

Regardless of your opinions about the war, the sacrifices these people are making and the risks they are taking are extraordinary. They believe they are making them on our behalf. Their skills, daring and accomplishments almost always go unspoken. They are truly Elite Athletes.
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This I pray is a simple request.

My Fellow Americans,

I know that each of you may have or know someone that is serving our country in the Freedom of Iraq.

Allow me to let you know that each day my wife and I pray for the men and women in service to our country.

I have a very special person who is on his second tour in the Middle East.

His name is SSgt. Jacques M. Wyatt, who is my nephew and I consider him my son.

I would like you if your time permits to write him a letter of encouragement. I know that it would lift his spirit to get a letter of support from the people here at home.

His mailing address is:

SSgt. Jacques M. Wyatt
B-CO 3-502 IN
Unit # 96057
APO-AL 09325-6057

I ask that you would please take a moment and write a few words of support.

Thank you so very much and if you would like to share SSgt Wyatt's mailing address with your email list, and place his name on your prayer list please do.

Jerry Wyatt
Third Vice Chairman
Georgia Republican Party
Galatians 6:10
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Ladies and Gentlemen:

I wish I were serving my country with you but by the time I seriously considered joining up I turned 35! I've met some wonderful people over the years that were reservists, active duty, or just out of the Armed Forces. I wish you the best of luck in the Iraq theater of operations.

I guess the reason you see images of protests against your work is because they are an aberration. Normal support of troops does not get press because, well, it's normal. We had a pro-troop rally in Milledgeville, GA and the news reporters spent more time covering the hippie wannabees. Of course there is an emerging backlash against this media bias.

There is so much in the military that makes individuals better persons. The training is free and it's a coming of age for all ages. Yet this does not make war less dangerous or welcome. The alternative to this war is worse.

I wish you the best of luck and for victory to come soon.

Thanks

Ken Turner
Macon, GA
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Christine from Marietta Georgia is thinking and praying for your safe return. Go Get him!!!!

We're behind you all the Way!
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My personal thoughts are that the greatest people in the USA is not the president (although I think very very highly of him). It's not the fighting person in the field who has put himself into the position to protect the country and possibly have to lose his life (he IS the second greatest person in the country) but it IS the fighting person who has already given his life for his/her country and in doing so protects us all. HE/SHE should be HELD in the highest position in OUR HEARTS ALONG SIDE OUR LORD who also has given his life up for us all.

I can only Thank you personally with this email. I will vote for you in our elections to make sure you get everything and more of what you need to do your work. God Bless You and God Bless America.
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To all you wonderful guys and gals...our military...our patriots...we love you and thank you for your courage and your beautiful hearts.

God bless each one of you!

Tony and Barbara Gervasio
New Jersey