http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2003307180345SNIP....."The Iraqis were some of the neediest people I had ever come across, and instead of hating and despising the men who invaded their country (like the media said they would), they instead would consistently cheer us on, wherever we would go, as if there was a parade going on, and we were the main attraction. Crying out for food, water, clothes and protection, these poor, oppressed men and women loved us like a mother would a newborn child. So please believe me when I tell you that what we (you included) did over there was a good thing.
I feel privileged that I was part of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and I mean it when I say that you all were with me every step of the way. I received well more than 200 letters, and cannot tell you how much each and every one of them inspired me to keep pushing myself, knowing that eventually one of the paths that I took every day would inevitably take me home.
As my parents have already made you aware, I was transferred to 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion, Charlie Company, within my first four hours in Kuwait. Charlie Company is a line platoon. Simply put, they are the front lines. My heart raced as I found this out, trying desperately to figure out why they had chosen me to go there. But it was not my responsibility to know this. God was in control, just as he had always been. I know now that the only way he was able to draw me as close to him as he did was to put me on the front lines where I had no choice but to run to his open arms. Patience, loyalty, love, grace and perseverance are just some of the many lessons that have been able to do the work in me that I was "taught" while over there. And there is not a doubt in my mind that God would not have been able to do the work in me that he did had I been in the "rear" back in Kuwait....."
There is more at the article. I know their is someone in this area by that name, but it is just too strange to be real.