6/1/2007 Howdy! I would like to take this time to extend my sincerest thanks to you, your organization, and your many volunteers. My girlfriend, Amy Brown, has been volunteering with your organization for some time now. She gave my mailing address to you and we have been receiving quite a bit of care packages over the past couple of months. It gives us an overwhelming sense of comfort and pride knowing there are people back home that are willing to donate their time and effort to put care packages together for us. Whenever I receive one of the packages, I am sure to distribute the wealth amongst my platoon and the rest of the company of engineers. We all get a kick out of the notes and drawings the little kids make, too. Just to give you a quick description of what my platoon and I do: we are combat engineers whose mission it is to drive in heavily armored, blast resistant vehicles and purposely look for, and destroy, IEDs in and around the roadways. This allows friendly, follow-on forces to achieve the freedom of movement they need in order to accomplish their missions. This also translates into many long hours on the road, both day and night. So, needless to say, the boxes of snacks and other items get put to good use by my Marines. I have also attached a picture of me with my platoon in front of a Buffalo Heavy Mine Protected Vehicle. I'm the one on the right. The Buffalo is one of the several types of blast resistant vehicles we use for our missions. Again, thank you for what you do! Semper Fidelis, 2nd Lt George A. Saenz, Jr. Route Clearance Platoon Commander C Co, 2nd CEB RCT-6 Camp Fallujah, Iraq "We take the hits so you don't have to."