Thank you for the coffee

Dear Boca Java Team and Contributors:
I want to personally thank you for all your support to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines during the Global War on Terrorism. It means so much to our war-fighters that they know that people back home are thinking of them and care for their wellbeing. I know that people in your company and your contributors? volunteered time and money to make the program work for the benefit of all of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines that are forward deployed in the field.

As a Navy leader, I appreciate your sacrifices that bring smiles to deployed service members. Because of your unselfishness, you brightened someone else?s day. I received your package on Friday, 14 March 2008. The coffee was a welcomed treat. Most everybody went for the flavored coffees, but there are a few traditionalists, like me, who prefer the non-flavored coffee.

We work in the due process side of Detainee Operations/Legal by preparing cases that go before the Central Criminal Court of Iraq and other due process hearings. We have to review over 23,000 detainee files every six months for due process and for release hearings.

The other day I went to an Iraqi Pledge Ceremony. After we process all of our work and the people are approved for release, an Iraqi Judge comes in and talks to them. It was a moving ceremony seeing hundreds of citizens pledging allegiance to the new Iraqi government.

After the ceremony I had the opportunity to talk to the linguist that was there and he related to me the whole story behind the current generation of Iraqis. The current generation only has about a 5 to 10% literacy rate. It was easier for the people in control to maintain authority over the people by limiting their ability to think for their selves. Also in the last 6 to 9 months he has seen great steps in improvement in Iraq. They have started their own stock market and there are many opportunities for them to become a more literate and wealthy nation. Besides the oil that is here, Iraq is one of the few countries in the Middle East with natural fresh water and the capabilities of growing their own food?enough to support the entire country. Capitalism is starting to take hold and the people are very grateful of the sacrifices that our country is doing to help them and to stabilize their country.

I had to make a site visit to our Bucca office the other day and the trip there reminded me of the movie ?Planes, trains, & automobiles?, because I had use a ground convoy to the airport, flew a C-17 down to Ali Al Salem Airport, then I had to fly a Black Hawk from Ali Al Salem to the Forward Operating Base (FOB) Bucca. On the way back to Head Quarters I got bumped 3 days from the flights because of sand storms and was finally able to leave with the Black Hawk crew that had to fly to Baghdad International Airport. It was a 3 hour flight and I was able to see the lay of the land. It went from a desert in the extreme south to a lush and fertile farm land. It reminded me to the Midwest during the growing season. There were orchard after orchard of date palm trees then it turned into a more typical farming landscape. You could see the different types of produce being planted because of different shades of green. It almost made me homesick for the Midwest.

Again, I cannot thank you enough for all you do on behalf of all the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines.

Sincerely,

/s/ROGER D. O.