quote:

---

As some of you guys may know, I have a cousin-in-law who is a Marine in Iraq right now. He is fighting a war the media tells us we are losing, even though there were a second round of successful elections yesterday and now people all over the country have a voice when they didn't 5 years ago. As you can imagine, he is growing discouraged by the media and the fallout of American's faith in a war we don't really understand. This got me to thinking about how many people support our troops, no matter what circumstances they may be in, due to their bravery and heroic efforts.

If you folks can spare a minute to write something of a little encouragement to the troops in harms way I would be extremely appreciative. If you can't or don't want to, I completely understand that and I will not pressure you to do so, but I think our troops can use some kind words during this holiday season, when they tend to really miss their family and friends back home. As far as knowing what to write or say, just write what's in your heart. Something as simple as a "Merry Christmas and good work, from Bob" I'm sure would be nice to hear.

I've never met Mike other than through emails but I know he and his fellow soldiers are happy to hear from grateful Americans on the homefront. Please make your statement as broad and general as possible so they can be shared with his troop and I think they will all get a kick out of it. Sometimes they need to know that we are on their side regardless of how we feel about a particular administration.

Thanks for your time and effort! You can reply to me at austin.gilman@kodakversamark.com and I'll forward the emails along, and feel free to forward this to anyone you may know that has something to say to our troops.

Thanks again!

---