I Got Mail

Let me interrupt your normal blogging activities for this post. This is kina long, but please read it all the way.


Man I got a great surprise in the mail today.

As some of you may know, I send a few things and letters to some great people in harms way. Today one of the guys I met through Hope at Hope Radio sent me, not one, but two letters. This is not a usual thing, especially for an old man. Young ladies and pretty women, MILF’s and Cougars get much more mail from the troops than someone like me. So it just tickles me like a feather duster on my nuts to get these two letters.

A few months ago Hope at Hope Radio sent out an enquiry to see if some of you in my blog world and some in her blog world would be interested in helping out a group of MP’s that were going without or very few bits of mail. So I volunteered.

I try to send some stuff at least once a month and email him letters weekly. However, he has been move to an outpost where he stands guard in a tower in the cold and wind, at mercy of the elements. And he lives in a tent. Primitive living conditions in this day and time. I think some of the stuff helps. And he cannot answer my emails as he can only come into ‘town’ to get his emails, and he receives his snail mail and packages about once a week or so. So when I got these two letters, and know what he had to sacrifice to write them, it made me proud.

At the expense of divulging private conversations, I want to post these two letters. But remember, peeps, this isn’t about me. I want you to hear what a good old American soldier feels and things. What we, and you, too, if you take the time, send them means so much with so little time and effort on our part.

So the first one from just before Christmas:

John,

Well it’s time to go old school. I got moved to a new area. We now live in tents. It’s not too bad, only down fall is not net. But if or should I say when, which ever, I get a day off I can go to ‘town’ and check email.

Thank you so much for the package. I guess I got 1 of 3. Thank you. It truly means a lot to me to know you all care this much. I will be sure to send you some pictures when I get to ‘town.’ I’ll send you a few of me and my guys, and I have to show off my beautiful daughter (born a couple of weeks before he deployed) also. I really don’t have a lot (information and stories to pass on) since our mission is classified, but I will try and get some of our living area and after Christmas, some of our Christmas pictures.

The hand and toe warmers are awesome! We sit in towers a lot and the heat sucks. They have helped a lot. It’s weird. The military just built the tower, but it leans, heaters don’t work. I dunno, but the whole saying “Cheapest Bidder”…yes, it’s true.

Thank you so much for everything you have done. It means a lot to me and the guys. Merry Christmas to you and your family. Be safe. You all are in my prayers.

Grindy

(We are in HIS prayers??? Man!)

And the other one:

John (that’s me in case you didn’t know)

I just got the other 2 packages. Thank you so much. The Hot Hands are a huge help. Then I got some more. That was a great idea. It’ll help in sitting in a cold tower at night. I do have to say everything you have sent has been great. I know I’m a pain. My girlfriend, parents and everyone hates me when it comes to getting me things because I never want or need anything. I know it’s a bad thing, but I like to give, not really receive.

I was talking to my girlfriend, Amber (how cool is that?), and she is wanting to move back home to Florida (currently in MO). So if we do I will be a little closer to come visit you. I told her once I get back, I am coming to visit you and your family when wr go visit her parents. I would really like to meet you.

Just through the packages and letters, you have helped me a lot when I was down. I know that you will always be there.

Well, I’m going to hit the sack, bed. Another long day. Thanks again for the packages.

Grindy

Peeps, it don’t take much to make a difference in someone’s life. If you are interested, give Hope a shout, or go to Soldiers Angles or Any Soldier ( or Sailor or Marine or Air Force or Coast Guard or National Guard) sites and find someone to help.

One thing I noticed from ALL the guys I send stuff to, they share it with their buddies. So, though I send stuff to one, many benefit from it. And he also told me in an earlier email that the gets all he needs from the Army. Silly boy! Is the Army sending them hand warmers, socks, M&Ms, hard candy, sour candy, Beef Jerky, magazines and books? No! And he is getting a bit of America and he shares it. That’s the way it is in the service.

But be aware, you may not get a response from they recipient. Duties, shyness, etc may keep them from replying. But they will care. I know! I rarely received mail from my parents and none from my brothers and sister or high school friends when I was in. I never even went to my rack (bed) when mail call was passed. So I know you will make a difference.

Now back to your normal blogging…

Be sure to look below, too, as I have blogged a couple others today, too.

Army Statue of Liberty

This was sent to me by my blogging friend, Mary, over at No Polar Coordinates.

This INCREDIBLE picture was taken in 1918. It’s amazing that this photo, taken so many years ago, still exists! And now someone has put it online for all of us to see.

What a priceless gift from our grandfathers...

(Click on it to Bigger Size)

 

The design for the living picture was laid out at the drill ground at Camp Dodge, situated in the beautiful valley of the Des Moines River. Thousands of yards of white tape were fastened to the ground and formed the outlines on which 18,000 officers and men marched to their respective positions.

In this body of soldiers are many hundreds of men of foreign birth – born of parents, whose first impression of the Land of Freedom and Promise was of the world’s greatest colossus standing with beacon light at the portal of a nation of free people, holding aloft a torch symbolic of the light of liberty which the statue represents. Side by side with native sons these men, with unstinted patriotism, now offer to sacrifice not only their liberty but life itself for our beloved country.

The day on which the photograph was taken was extremely hot and the heat was intensified by the mass formation of men. The dimensions of the platting for the picture seem astonishing. The camera was placed on a high tower. From the position nearest the camera occupied by Colonel Newman and his staff, to the last man at the top of the torch as platted on the ground was 1,235 feet, or approximately a quarter of a mile. The appended figures will give an adequate idea of the distorted proportions of the actual ground measurements for this photograph:

Base to shoulder: 150 feet.
Right arm: 340 feet.
Widest part of the arm holding the torch: 12-1/2 feet.
Right thumb: 35 feet.
Thickest part of body: 29 feet.
Left hand (length): 30 feet.
Tablet in left hand: 27 feet.
Face: 60 feet.
Nose: 21 feet.
Longest spike of the head piece: 70 feet.
Flame on torch: 600 feet.
Torch and flame combined: 980 feet.
Number of men in flame of torch: 12,000.
Number of men in torch: 2,800.
Number of men in right arm: 1,200.
Number of men in the body, head and balance of the figure only: 2,000.
Total: 18,000.

Incredible as it may seem there is twice the number of men in the torch as in the whole remaining design, while there are eight times as many men in the arm, torch and flame as in all the rest of the figure. It will be noted that the right thumb is five feet longer than the left hand, while the right arm, torch and flame is eight times the length of the body.