6/14/2007 Dear Rande Kean and MacAfee Road Elementary School, I would like to take this time to send you a little thank you note from me and the Marines of HML/A 269, The Gunrunners. We have been out here in Al Asad Iraq for little over 4 months and for most of us this is our third to forth time out here in a row. We appreciate those of you that took time out of your day to send us the goodie boxes that you all put together. It is always nice to get a package in the mail from someone in the states, especially from someone that you do not even know. It makes us feel good about what we are doing here and that there are people like yourself that care about us. This is my third time over here in the past three years and this is the first time that we have gotten these kind of packages. Please let your students know that there cards that they hand made were very nice and that they are hung up on our walls as a reminder of the caring people that we have back at home that support us. Again thank you very much and thanks for your support. Thanks, Sgt Matthew Bartz USMC