Open letter to Freepers

23 Dec 04 | martywake

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

With all due respect marty count me in as one of your cynics.

I clicked on your name and then on the "in forum" key on your profile page. I read all your posts since you joined and your writing skills have denigrated immensely since you joined the forum.

You were quite articulate in the beginning. It's very obvious that has changed. If anyone cares to take the few moments I took to review all your posts, they will see it too. There is "quite" a difference in style that has taken place. One could say you've "morphed" into a totally different person in a very short time.

Do you think it is more "realistic" to portray a troop the way you are doing now, than in your previous posts? You've become very "slangy" in your speech pattern, where before you spoke very articulate and very educated.

You stated you have a higher education in earlier posts. Then you misspell quite a few words in later posts. (Just so you know, we have spell check on FR).

Call me suspicious. But I'm very protective of our troops. Any misrepresentation of our men or women serving would be taken very seriously by both of us. Like I said, having just read all your posts, I admit to some serious doubts as to your validity. The change in your writing style caused the first suspicion, then the way you changed how you emoted your feelings was cause for the second alarm to go off.

Care to explain this HUGE change in style?

Thanks.

FRegards, VH&W

[ChefKeith]

Thank You for Your service, Prayers for All of Y'all everywhere.

You see this?

[WestCoastGal]

We send prayers to all of you... in harms way, far from home and loved ones during this holiday season.

May God bless you all, and continue to provide you the courage and faith to continue the fight.

---

Thanks for the ping sweetie.

So thankful we have these wonderful brave soldiers to protect us.

[Just Lori]

With all due respect marty count me in as one of your cynics.I clicked on your name and then on the "in forum" key on your profile page. I read all your posts since you joined and your writing skills have denigrated immensely since you joined the forum. If you had just come short of losing some limbs, possibly your life, maybe your "writing skills" would have denigrated a bit, too. You were quite articulate in the beginning. It's very obvious that has changed. Maybe, to you. If anyone cares to take the few moments I took to review all your posts, they will see it too. There is "quite" a difference in style that has taken place. That can happen when your dining room is bombed. One could say you've "morphed" into a totally different person in a very short time. How long has it been since you've been attacked by a homicide bomber? Do you think it is more "realistic" to portray a troop the way you are doing now, than in your previous posts? You've become very "slangy" in your speech pattern, where before you spoke very articulate and very educated. Have you ever had inner ear damage? Do you have a clue what that does? By the way, it should read: "Very articulately", and "very WELL educated". Oops. Bad sentence structure there. Maybe "and in a very educated manner". You stated you have a higher education in earlier posts. Then you misspell quite a few words in later posts. (Just so you know, we have spell check on FR). Well, he knows now, for sure! Call me suspicious. But I'm very protective of our troops. Any misrepresentation of our men or women serving would be taken very seriously by both of us. Like I said, having just read all your posts, I admit to some serious doubts as to your validity. The change in your writing style caused the first suspicion, then the way you changed how you emoted your feelings was cause for the second alarm to go off. I think your alarms might need new batteries. Care to explain this HUGE change in style? Thanks. FRegards, VH&W

[Just Lori]

I admit to being HTML challenged!

[fastattacksailor]

Get well and return soon!

FAS

[Bullish]

God blees you.

This brought a tear to my eye.

[not_apathetic_anymore]

I've never met Marty, but received a first name of one of his soldiers and sent a care package to that person via Marty.

This morning I received an email from that soldier including his first and last name(not marty) thanking me for the care package and letter of support. it came from a "us.army.mil" email address.

I suppose this effort that I participated in to support some local troops could have all been part of some large hoax by some imposter, but I don't think so. The interaction I had seemed legitimate to me. It's your perfect right to be skeptical but, I can only say that my impression is that Marty is for real.

[nutmeg]

God bless you and the courageous warriors you serve with, martywake.

[nutmeg]

ping!

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[MissAmericanPie]

The world breaks down into two types of people. Good people, and bad ones. The bad ones must not win and the cost of their defeat is high and we have no choice but to pay it. May God bless and protect and comfort all of you.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Thanks. I REALLY appreciate this information. It appears I owe marty an apology.

We were all burned a while back by a person named Bogdan here at FR. He claimed to have a brother in Iraq. This man did troop reports (much like this one).

The final blow came when one day he told this forum that his wife died in a car crash. We were all devastated.

One on the ball FReeper called the right people and did some checking and found out no such woman had died.

Something like three weeks later, This Bogdan fellow called a fellow FReeper, to say he was taking his wife back to Russia or some such place. It was really bizarre.

So this post was really similar. First hand accounts. Blow by blow reporting. I admit, while reading marty's past posts and seeing his writing style change, I had some pretty severe flashbacks of a time when we were all snookered. I thought it was happening again.

Spanaway Lori says she has his APO address and writes him.

You state you have sent stuff to a fellow troop and received a response. So I owe an apology.

marty, consider this my apology for doubting you.

I hope the forum accepts it too.

FRegards

[Deetes]

God Bless and Thank You All for your Service !!!!!

[DBeers]

BTTT

[lainde]

bttt

[lainde]

We are so appreciative of your service and keep you and the rest of our brave service people in our prayers!

[xp38]

Thanks for the letter martywake. Prayers and blessings to you for a quick recovery. You have an army of prayer warriors here on FR for you as you no doubt well know.

[ride the whirlwind]

Thanks for the ping nutmeg. May God be with each and every one of our brave military.

[martywake]

No Worries,
I really can't fathom why anyone would make up this kind of stuff other than some personality disorder. While I admit that I enjoy the attention, it's more of a camaraderie with good decent people that I enjoy the most. But don't worry yourself too much, that impostor will get what he deserves.
Anyway, I just want you all to know that I am doing fine. I just had my knee x-rayed and there is no real damage. I still have a ball bearing in the soft tissue, where it will stay for a while but there is no infection. My ear drum is still full of fluid but I will probably regain most of my hearing. I am lucky though, I will go home one day.
Anyway, I want to wish every FReeper a Merry Christmas,
Love and God bless,
Martywake

[AppyPappy]

It is best to "disbelieve" the stories because the people writing them could get in trouble with their superiors. I believe that has happened in the past. That's not always the case but better safe than sorry.

There's nothing wrong with a little "plausible deniability" among friends.

Thanks for the writeup. It was wonderful and thank you for being there. I just listened to a sermon that was a diary account of a chaplain in Iraq. Good stuff.

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?currSection=sermonsspeaker&sermonID=112304155031