An E-Mail letter From Iraq

For those of you not familiar with him, SkyDiveRick is a longtime friend of mine, dating back to my Navy days. When he was in the U.S. Navy, Rick was a Navy SEAL, and an inspiration to me as I struggled through rehabilitation after my accident. Together, we beat the odds, and returned to active duty. I wound up later discharged medically after I failed to serve in the manner that I and my doctors believed I could. Rick remained in the U.S. Navy as a SEAL to continue a long and heroic career. In September he was called to serve again. Due to the confidential nature of the mission, I don't even know if he was reactivated as active military, or went as an independent contractor in a capacity not much unlike Blackwater USA. Regardless of how or why he is there, I recognize him as yet another hero defending our liberty. I received this e-mail from him today, and I thought you all would appreciate the opportunity to read it.


The subject line read: Merry Christmas from Iraq

Doug,

You are one of only a few e-mail contacts I have that I can remember the address to, so I guess this is for you and the readers I am sure you will share this with. I know that I haven't written at all from Iraq. For me, Internet access is a rare privilege.

Since it is coming up on Christmas, I thought it would be nice to let everyone know that I am still alive and kicking. Honestly, there's really not much to write about. Part of the reason for that is the classified nature of my work, and also because the successes here make it more or less boring, rather than it being like a war zone, so there isn't too many spectacular things to talk about. Don't get me wrong, it isn't a bed of daisies, but it isn't the seething cesspool of failure the idiots on the left make it out to be either.

Work here is constant, sleep is a luxury I occasionally enjoy. Even though the success of the increase of personnel (surge) has made Iraq more manageable, I would be a liar if I stated that what the insurgents are up to has ceased. Problems and frictions still crop up, and often faster than one can expect. And each time such a situation rises, in this landscape every challenge requires an immediate response. Be rest assured that each and every member of our armed services are up to that challenge, and the Iraqi Security Force is slowly beginning to manage their own sections as well.

I hope you all are doing well. I can't wait to return so that I may be able to drink a cold beer from my fridge, flush a toilet, watch TV, and spend time at my computer writing on my blog.

I'll try to write again soon, whenever the opportunity arises.

I promise.

Your friend,

Rick