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On this day of cheering and smiles, something I got from an email list. Remember that we are celebrating for those brave men and women who can't quite get around to doing it yet.

Please don't think this is a downer post. I'm incredibly proud of the author, and think her email deserves wider distribution.

Following arrived in my e-mail from a reliable source. Can not vouch for upstream of that source. =====================================================================

This is a forward I received written by the wife of the Commanding General, United States Army Europe and 7th Army (General B.B. Bell) in Germany. ==========================================

Dear Family,

We are so grateful for your concern and for your prayers. Most of our German friends are so puzzled by their government's decision. The hoards of demonstrators we have had are, for the most part, young. The older folks know how we saved Europe some 60 years ago. My opinion is that the younger generations see us as having everything they want. I am convinced that their hatred stems from envy, on several layers.

There have been, lately, instances of Americans being heckled in towns. These incidents have not been anything but words. Americans are cautioned to keep a low profile and we are warned to stay away from some areas, like Hamburg, but we mainly go about business as usual. If any of this changes, B. B. may have to put certain places off limits. I believe that we will see some repositioning of our troops in Europe in the next year or two or three. There may even come a time when families won't be allowed to accompany their soldiers over here and those soldiers will just come for a "short" tour, much like we do in Korea. All this is very sad but was actually in the planning before all these latest contingencies.

To answer your question, Anne, I feel safe. As I have told all of you, this house is a fenced (with barbed wire) compound behind B. B.'s office building. There are MPs on the gate all the time. And the gate can only be opened by them or by our remotes. So we are safe and B. B. never drives. He has a driver and a bodyguard that ride with him and there are what are called, "chase cars" in front of him and in back.

I have been pretty much free to come and go as I pleased until about a week ago. That is when I was assigned a bodyguard. She drives me everywhere I go now and though she is just darling and wonderful, it is a pain to have to plan instead of just going spontaneously. She is about 5’ 1” tall, really adorable, maybe weighs 100 pounds and is, as B.B. says, "tough as woodpecker lips." When she runs with him her little legs are one solid muscle. She is a crack shot and attended and was the number one graduate of the elite British Counter Terrorism School. She grew up on a farm in Missouri, has hunted since she was a little girl and told me about helping butcher hogs. So I feel pretty safe with little, bitty Angel, which is her name. I don't know how long we will have this arrangement. I hope it is not for too long for both our sakes.

I want to tell you all about today. Today was a defining moment for me; it ranks with my wedding day and the day Buck was born as a day so meaningful that I am filled with too much emotion to handle. B. B. and I went to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, one of the three Army hospitals left in Germany. As you all know this hospital is where almost all injured soldiers are brought from operations in the Middle East. We arrived there around 1:30, were briefed by the hospital commander about the patients we would see and then headed up to the second floor.

The first patient we saw had had his hand crushed. It was wrapped up in bandages as thick as a pillow but you could see the black fingers. They are trying to save it. He faces skin grafts and maybe worse if they can't save it. He was medivaced from Kuwait a week ago and two days ago his wife gave birth to their second child in Weiden, Germany. His was anxious to see her and the baby, to get well and to head back to the front. He did not complain at all about his pain and had such a positive attitude.

The next fellow we saw was a marine who had been run over by a tank in the desert. Only the softness of the sand saved his life. His entire pelvic area was crushed, creating many urology nightmares. He has had a colostomy and faces months of surgeries. The Docs believe he can fully recover, a miracle if you think about the tonnage that rolled over him. He was absolutely adorable. He was from Kansas and he and B. B. got into pheasant and deer hunting right away. His spirits are good and he kept trying to sit up tall in the bed even though it was apparent he was in pain. He kept asking about his unit, "Where are they?" "How close to Baghdad?" B. B. asked me to leave the room a couple of times so that he could talk top-secret stuff with this soldier.

The next fellow we saw was from Alabama. A bullet entered his lower abdomen and traveled up and exited through his back. He was on oxygen but pulled the mask off and refused to put it back on. He wanted to tell B. B. that he had met him at Fort Knox when he was there for his initial training. He was 21 years old and had been married for one year. He was frantic to know about his buddies, where they were, how they were doing. He said he had such guilt about leaving them. He looked at me as if he were deciding whether he should say something or not. Then he somehow raised himself up on an elbow, took B. B.' s hand and said, "Sir, when I got hit I want you to know that I took a couple of the sons of bitches down." His commitment and his focus were still there and all he can think of is getting well and rejoining his unit.

The last two guys were in Intensive Care. Their rooms, by request were side by side. The first one had no legs. He had stepped out of his track onto a mine. He does not remember anything but the pain. He choked up when he told B. B., "Sir, what I did was stupid." B.B. assured him that "stupid" was thinking that he did anything wrong in a war where there was so much to think about and sleep was a rare commodity.

As he lay there in the desert, a medic ran up to him, stepped on a mine and lost a leg too. These were the guys who were side by side. The soldier who had lost both legs said, in response to B. B. asking him what he could do for him, "Sir, I am fine. I have everything I need. I have nothing to complain about."

Well, that was it for me. I just cried. I left the room but the soldier asked me to come back. "Ma'am. don't cry for me. Let's pray for all who are carrying on." Even now I have to cry. I wear a Hooah pin that Patty Shinseki gave me and I took it off and gave it to him.

Today, for the first time ever, I was in the presence of real heroes, indescribable bravery and I can't tell you how honored I am to have touched them. I held their hands and told them all how proud we and the nation are and that I love them. At the end of the visit I was totally wrung out and just wanted to get home and go in my room and be by myself and thank God for these young men and women who are giving so much. My blood boils with the protests of the Hollywood elite whose easy and privileged lives exist because of these soldiers lying in that hospital. They have no idea how they hurt these men and women and their families with their rhetoric. Their shallowness is sickening after being in the presence of true character and heroism.

One last thing I want to tell you. B. B. collected the names and numbers of all their parents and two wives and came back and called them all. I love that he did that. There is no one I know who loves soldiers more than he does and the soldiers are like dogs and children. You can't fool them. They know who really has them in their hearts.

Well, sorry for that soapbox soliloquy. It has been that kind of day. B. B. intends to visit weekly and I hope I am able to go with him every single time. They tell me that Katie Couric was there, setting up for broadcast from Ramstein, where Landstuhl Hospital is located. Glad I didn't run into her either!

Again, thank all of you for your concern. B. B. and I are fine. Continue to pray for our military forces. They are just now beginning to get into the scary part of this war.

I love and miss you all.

Katie