Greetings from Camp Taji

Providence Journal ^ | 12/25/2004

[got_moab?]

Earlier this week, The Providence Journal contacted Rhode Island National Guard Maj. Christian M. Neary, of the 103rd Field Artillery, in Iraq, and invited him to ask some of his soldiers to write Christmas greetings to Rhode Island. Communicating by e-mail, The Journal sent Neary four questions for the soldiers.

To our surprise, the responses from the soldiers were returned through Neary with two extra questions, numbers 5 and 6 below. The Journal has included the additional questions and the soldiers' answers, as we received them.

Staff Sergeant Michael Zompa

Howitzer Section Chief

1. What are you doing to deal with the fact that you are not home with family and loved ones during the holidays?

"The same thing we do every day. We have our mission and the hours we have to work to cover those missions. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is, or if it's night or day, we watch each other's backs and just scratch another day off the calendar when we come back to our base. Sometimes you hear one of the guys ask, 'What day is it? Or what number month are we in?' Because we tend to go day-to-day just worrying about today and not the next. Before too long, the days just keep slipping by."

2. What do you miss the most about not being in R.I. for the holidays?

"The togetherness of family and friends, of course. The big meals with all the laughs and the 'uh-oh, it's Christmas Eve, I need a gift for this person.' "

[got_moab?]

Some of my favorites

Sergeant Marckenzie Boutin Howitzer Gunner 4. What message do you want to send to your family or friends back home? "With all the negative news exposure, the amount of help the United States is providing in Iraq is rarely mentioned. The schools and villages are constantly visited and funded along with many other humanitarian projects (i.e. hospitals and orphanages). Meanwhile, the war is a reality. There is death and destruction here, so therefore we must never forget -- we must destroy in order to rebuild and that which is being destroyed is the terrorism in Iraq."

Specialist Daniel Dalton- Fire Direction Specialist 6. What message do you want the people of R.I. to know about the good things the U.S. is doing here?

"Whatever you do, don't trust the news you see on CNN."

-May God bless all our Military men and women fighting to bring peace and democracy to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Merry Christmas!!

[ProudVet77]

I get to see the Providence stations from where I live in MA. They treat their warriors much better than they do here. They always show the ceremony when they depart and the show their return. I can't understand why RI is such a blue state. They really do treat the military well there. And there are a ton of Navy vets who live on the Island. I may be headed there myself in a year or two.

[got_moab?]

Rhode Island is still Blue for a number of reasons. A significant part of the electorate is comprised of elderly folks who don't realize that the Democratic Party has left them behind and who can't bring themselves to vote Republican. Rhode Island also has become something of a "welfare state", immigrants flock here for the incredible freebies that keep us in the middle class taxed to the eyeballs! Lil' Rhody also has a significant Union presence in both the private and public sector. Add this to the large number of liberal pukes that teach and study at our local universities and you can't help but have a blue state. Good news though, Bush increased his vote total here by a significant margin over 2000. I think people around here are finally catching on.