Military Support Package
"Correspondence"

The links below will take you to letters that have been received from military personnel that have shared a note of thanks with us. Although a thank you is not necessary, we will welcome them. It is us that should be thanking them, we felt that by sharing these notes with you, you will help us make a difference in our active duty military personnel's life. You too can say thank you to a military person by sending us that recent magazine that you were going to toss in the garbage. (See the list of items needed.) Please keep in mind that all personal care products must be new and in a factory sealed package or with all safety seals in place. Donations are also greatly appreciated for this project. Thank you, VVnW, Inc.

FOB Mackenzie

130th Finance Battalion

Fallujah, Iraq

LSA Anaconda, Iraq

Situation Report Iraq

Kuwait

Afghanistan

Bosnia

Germany

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Dear Veteran's of the Vietnam War, Inc.,

Thank you for your sending the various sundry items to soldiers out here in Iraq.  I take the liberty to speak on behalf of those who are busy doing their day to day jobs.  You warm caring and attention to what we soldiers go through is much appreciated.  The last time I looked at the Preamble of our United States, the first few word say. . . "We the people. . ."  The things going on most of us understand that it the will of the people at home that we do what we are doing.  Defending our freedoms both on foreign and domestic soils.  To this end we will continue to stand and fight at the will of the American people.

Again thank you for caring.

Sincerely,

SSG
LSA Anaconda
Base Headquarters, APO-AE
Iraq, 09391-1846

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Bosnia

5 Oct 02

Dear Sir:

    Thank you for the morale package I received. It makes the time away from home a little easier to handle when you know people care.  My unit and I were deployed on short notice and are currently serving as peacekeepers in Bosnia as part of SFOR XII. This time will be especially difficult due to the upcoming holidays, but as I said if you feel like your appreciated it makes the separation a little easier. I personally want to thank you and all who served with you for your sacrifices to our Nation. Your hard work, sacrifices, and dedication to GOD and country will never be forgotten. I feel honored to be able to wear the same uniform as you and our other brothers in arms. Once again thank you.

Sincerely,

RR

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Germany (email)

November 4, 2002

DEAR Veterans,
Thank you for the Military Support Package.
I am part of Task Force Keystone and Operation Enduring Freedom.
The packages, our unit has received many from your group, has brought a
bit of sunshine to our day. Hohenfels, Germany seems to have rain
every day.

I am glad to see people care for the Military and our soldiers now see
the bigger picture. The first few months were a bumpy road for some
individuals.

I would like to invite you to our return party in Lewisburg, PA.
I do not have a specific date as of yet, but Feb-Mar time frame is on
the horizon.

If I can ask one favor of you. Can you send a care package to our
Commander & First Sergeant. I do not know if you have there names or not. The have been working there but off since day one.
Please check your records for (names removed).
You may already have a package on the way tom them.

If not please send one from the SOLDIERS of 3-103D Aromr.
The Commander & 1SG box Address is :

(Names and addresses removed)

BE GOOD, BE CAREFUL, BE SAFE...

Thank you for your time,
SGT M. B.
SUPPLY SERGEANT
TASK FORCE KEYSTONE

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Operation Enduring Freedom (email)

Hello fellow veterans !! My name is CSM B. S.S . Task Force CSM with  "Operation Enduring Freedom" in Europe. My permanent Headquarters is in Lewisburg, PA with the 3/103rd Armor. The purpose of my e-mail, is to thank the organization and its members for the soldier packs (all 765 of them) that we graciously received from you over the Christmas season. I am aware you are located in Pittston, PA and I want to visit your Hqs when I return and personally thank you. Also........we are plugging away to recruit new members for this outstanding organization....as I will be joining as well.

In addition, we want to make a contribution to the VVnW in person upon our return.

 Again, I wanted to thank you and acknowledge receipt of all the thought and the kindness to my soldiers.......it means more than you know. As a veteran myself, I can attest.

 Thank-You and God's many Blessings be bestowed Upon all that you represent!!

 B. S. S.
 TASK FORCE KEYSTONE
 COMMAND SERGEANT MAJOR

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Situation Report: Iraq by; Maj. Eric Rydbom

 Note: This is an open letter from U.S. Army Maj. Eric Rydbom in Iraq to the First Lutheran Church of Richmond Beach in Shoreline, Wash. Rydbom is Deputy Division Engineer of the 4th Infantry Division.

What you don't hear about on CNN

 It has been a while since I have written to my friends at First Lutheran Church about what's really going on here in Iraq. The news you watch on TV is exaggerated, sensationalized and selective. Good news doesn't sell.

 Let's start with electrical power production in Iraq. The day after the war was declared over, there was nearly zero power being generated in Iraq.  Just 45 days later, in a partnership between the Army, the Iraqi people and some private companies, there are now 3,200 megawatts (Mw) of power being produced daily, 1/3 of the total national potential of 8,000 Mw. Downed power lines (big stuff, 400 Kilovolt (Kv) and 132 Kv) are being repaired and are about 70 percent complete.

 Then there is water purification. In central Iraq between Baghdad and Mosul, home of the 4th Infantry Division, water treatment was spotty at best. The facilities existed, but the controls were never implemented. Simple chemicals like Chlorine for purification and Alum (Aluminum Sulfate) for sediment settling (the Tigris River is about as clear as the Mississippi River) were in very short supply or not used at all. When chlorine was used, it was metered by the scientific method of guessing.

 So some people got pool water to drink and some people got water with lots of little things floating around in it. We are slowly but surely solving that. Contracts for repairs to facilities that are only 50 percent or less operational are being let, chemicals are being delivered, although we don't have the metering problem solved yet (...but again, it's only been 45 days).

 How about oil and fuel? Well the war was all about oil wasn't it? You bet it  was. It was all about oil for the Iraqi people! They have no other income.  They produce nothing else. Oil is 95 percent of the Iraqi GNP. For this nation to survive, it must sell oil.

 The Refinery at Bayji is [operating] at 75 percent of capacity producing gasoline. The crude pipeline between Kirkuk (Oil Central) and Bayji will be repaired by tomorrow (2 June). LPG, what all Iraqis use to cook and heat with, is at 103 percent of normal production and we, the U.S. Army, are ensuring it is being distributed fairly to all Iraqis.

 You have to remember that only three months ago, all these things were used by the Saddam regime as weapons against the population to keep them in  line. If your town misbehaved, gasoline shipments stopped, LPG pipelines and trucks stopped, water was turned off, and power was turned off.

 Now, until exports start, every drop of gasoline produced goes to the Iraqi people. Crude oil is being stored and the country is at 75 percent capacity right now. They need to export or stop pumping soon, so thank the U.N. for the delay.

 All LPG goes to the Iraqi people everywhere. Water is being purified as best it can be, but at least its running all the time to everyone.

 Are we still getting shot at? Yep.

 Are American soldiers still dying? Yep, about one a day from my outfit, the 4th Infantry Division, most in accidents, but dead is dead.

 If we are doing all this for the Iraqis, why are they shooting at us?

 The general Iraqi population isn't shooting at us. There are still bad guys who won't let go of the old regime. They are Ba'ath party members (Read Nazi  Party, but not as nice) who have known nothing but and supported nothing but the regime all of their lives. These are the thugs for the regime who caused many to disappear in the night. They have no other skills. At least the Nazis [in Germany] had jobs and a semblance of a national infrastructure that they could go back to after the war, as plumbers, managers, engineers, etc. These people have no skills but terror.  They are simply applying their skills ... and we are applying ours.

 There is no Christian way to say this, but they must be eliminated and we are doing so with all the efficiency we can muster. Our troops are shot at literally everyday by small arms and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).  We respond. One hundred percent of the time, the Ba"ath party guys come out with the short end of the stick.

 The most amazing thing to me is that they don't realize that if they stopped shooting at us, we would focus on fixing things more quickly and then leave back to the land of the Big PX. The more they shoot at us, the longer we will have to stay.

 Lastly, all of you please realize that 90 percent of the damage you see on TV was caused by Iraqis, not by us and not by the war. Sure, we took out a few bridges from military necessity, we took out a few power and phone lines to disrupt communications, sure we drilled a few palaces and government headquarters buildings with 2,000 lb. laser guided bombs (I work 100 yards from where two hit the Tikrit Palace), [but] he had plenty to spare.

 But, any damage you see to schools, hospitals, power generation facilities, refineries, pipelines, was all caused either by the Iraqi Army in its death throes or from much of the Iraqi civilians looting the places.

 Could we have prevented it? Nope.

 We can and do now, but 45 days ago, the average soldier was fighting for his own survival and trying to get to his objectives as fast as possible.  He was lucky to know what town he was in much less be informed enough to know who owned what or have the power to stop 1,000 people from looting and burning a building by himself.

 The United States and our allies, especially Great Britain, are doing a very noble thing here. We stuck our necks out on the world's chopping block to free an entire people from the grip of a horrible terror that was beyond belief. I've already talked the weapons of mass destruction thing to death - bottom line, who cares? This country was one big conventional weapons ammo dump anyway. We have probably destroyed more weapons and ammo in the last 30 days than the U.S. Army has ever fired in the last 30 years (remember, this is a country the size of Texas), so drop the WMD argument as the reason we came here. If we find it great if we don't, so what?

 I'm living in a "guest palace" on a 500-acre palace compound with 20 palaces with like facilities built in half a dozen towns all over Iraq that were built for one man. Drive down the street and out into the countryside five miles away like I have and see all the families of 10 or more, all living in mud huts and herding the two dozen sheep on which their very existence depends.... then tell me why you think we are here.

 WMD is an important issue. We have to find them wherever they may be (in Syria?), but that is not our real motivator. Don't let it be yours either.

 Respectfully, ERIC RYDBOM MAJOR, ENGINEER Deputy Division Engineer 4th Infantry Division

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