Soldier thanks public for support, donations

Dear Editor:

Hello from the heart of the Ghazni province in Afghanistan. My name is SFC. Keel and I’m from a little town called Merryville, La.

I have been in the military for 16-plus years and have been to Macedonia with the United Nations, Iraq and, now, here. I am an infantryman in the National Guard.

All of you guys have been sending care packages that let me and all the other soldiers here know that there are loyal Americans willing to do their part to support the troops. I want to take the time to say thank you so very much for your support. We greatly appreciate it.

All of the packages go to a soldier who, in return, shares with his battle buddies. I know that not every soldier sends a thank you note, but it’s busy at time and soldiers can’t always write.

I can tell you, to see some of these combat soldiers’ face when the packages arrive is amazing. All of your support, effort and patriotism gets these guys through their hard times away from home.

I am moving from here and should be home for Christmas, God willing. But I wanted to thank you and ask that you keep the packages coming for the next soldier. Until our job is done and we are all home safely, we need your support to do our job to the best of our ability at all cost.

SPC Keel