Pastor,
I recently received the care package your church sent me on behalf of your youth ministry and my sister-in-law, Susan. I wanted to take a moment and personally thank you for your generous and thoughtful package.
I am the First Sergeant for a unit that is made up 200 Airmen spread throughout Iraq conducting missions critical to Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. Many of these Airmen are austere and hostile locations. These men and women are far from home; away from their loved ones during the holidays; and enduring long hours as they undergo constant and deadly attacks. They perform their job without complaint and ask for nothing in return. My primary job is the morale, welfare, and discipline of these 200 Airmen. As you can imagine, morale and welfare are my priorities while deployed.
I sincerely appreciated your package, but I alone could not expect to consume the 15 pounds of candy that it contained. I distributed the candy and cards to more than 20 locations throughout Iraq and the response I received was overwhelming. Your single gift to me benefited many…this reminds me of a parable but at the moment the similarity to which one escapes me. Believe it or not, merely receiving a package of candy and a hand-made card that says “Thank you for serving” is an enormous morale boost. I showed the cards around my office before mailing them out and the vote was unanimous among my co-workers: the card that had the drawing of Carbon 12 hitting on Carbon 14 in a bar…Carbon Dating…was the funniest thing we had seen in a long time.
Your gift was thoughtful and heartfelt and affected many. We can offer nothing in return accept a sincere thank you and the promise that we are doing everything possible to keep you and your families safe.
Thank you for thinking of us.
V/R
MSgt Galen Zalace
First Sergeant
United States Air Force
