MORE Hero Mail!

Wow...on a roll this week...got an actual, real, live, snail-mail LETTER from one of my newly-adopted "babies"!!! This one has a real dangerous job, according to what adopt-a-platoon told me... I am just in awe of the fact that he took time to write to us!!!!!!!!!!!! I never expect to hear anything ever from my "soldier-babies" - so anytime I do get a letter, it is a real special treat!

In keeping with my theme of garnering more support for our troops, I wanted to share a snippet of his letter with y'all. After he introduced himself and told me a little about himself & his family, he went on to say this:

"Most importantly, I want to thank you for what you do. It seems there aren't that many people that support the troops these days. I say this because I spent X years as a recruiter in XXX during the height of this war. It was not at all fun. I spent a lot of time arguing with a lot of the locals, about the war. I had to call the police on occasion due to "peace activists" and so on... So to get praise is very refreshing. " [the bolding is mine, for emphasis, and I X'd out locations, etc. Otherwise, quote is verbatim ~Kat]

Ummm...did y'all catch that? "It seems there aren't that many people that support the troops these days.... So to get praise is very refreshing." What was that sound I just heard?! Oh yeah... that was my heart - it just broke!!!!!! I read elsewhere on another blog, though I can't remember where it was now, that someone else also feels troop support is lagging. OK now... we just can't have our heroes feeling unappreciated now! That's just flat-out not acceptable! I told my "baby" that we ARE out here - there are thousands upon thousands upon thousands of us who DO support our heroes absolutely, fervently, unconditionally, and with great pride. And that I, for one, will make an effort to show my support and speak up MORE and LOUDER than I have been, about how important it is to support our heroes! :)

Guys...they need us. They need to know we appreciate them and are behind them and praying for them. It's NOT about politics... forget politics. It's about these men and women - a lot of whom are very young KIDS - who are far from home and voluntarily serving our country... and paying an extremely high cost for doing so.

They go through enough as it is y'all. They dont' need to worry about whether or not we back home are supporting them. In fact, such a thought shouldn't even have to cross their minds!

If you meet up with someone who serves or has served our country - for God's sake - treat them with RESPECT. Forget politics. Honor the person and their commitment to serve... appreciate them for who they are and what they voluntarily sacrifice on our behalf. Whether or not you agree with what is going on in the world right now doesn't matter a hill of beans. RESPECT, people. RESPECT.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

PS - Just had a chat with someone (yes, a Soldier, but not the one who wrote that letter) who offered these wise words of wisdom... felt like it deserved being added to this post.
The truth is that most soldiers don't the feel the support. It's one thing to put a sticker or magnet on your car and quite another to TELL or WRITE a soldier about that support.