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Maybe both of these heroes, the wounded and the soldier at the desk had a chance to smile today or yesterday or laugh right out loud and for just a moment in time forget they were far from their loved ones, forget they were not watching a ballgame in their home or the comfort of their own bed. Maybe chuckling at the dolls and volcano and the tanks and Sam on Milk Carton,or Misty with the Beverly hillibillies,Magoo and Tomkow and Jinxie with their jokes, the 666 and one of us upside down......maybe that is their last belly laugh, maybe it is what makes the difference for them that moment in time.

It is not always easy to be entertaining here. Not easy, but nessessary. Right now there are tens of thousands of young Men and Women wearing BDU's for us. They made a committment that just might require their life. We owe it to them to be here for them. We owe it to them to make this place in cyberspace a welcome hideaway from the harsh realities of war.

And it is a war.

I look at it as this is another front in the War on Terror. A front that WE can fight on. A front that must never fail. We learned a hard lesson from VietNam. We must never allow our Brave Men and Women to be treated as they were during VietNam. They deserve better than that. They deserve our unending/unwavering loyality, respect, and admiration.

The jokes, the community here, the History lessons, even Tom's Burka play an improtant role here. When our Forces are sent out into battle, when they find themselves in a firefight, they reach down deep inside themselves for something - anything - that will give them the strength to go forward. Maybe the connection with home that they find here is that "something". Maybe it is a cartoon Girlz tucked inside a helmut. Maybe it is thoughts of Jen's hot tub. Whatever it is, as long as it gives then that something that drives them forward relentlessly to victory, then we have done our part.

I look forward to the day when the Canteen is not nessessary. I look forward the the day we welcome them Home with open arms and grateful hearts. Until that day, I will do what I can right here.

"I look at it as this is another front in the War on Terror. A front that WE can fight on. A front that must never fail. We learned a hard lesson from VietNam. We must never allow our Brave Men and Women to be treated as they were during VietNam. They deserve better than that. They deserve our unending/unwavering loyality, respect, and admiration."

Mr_Magoo, this part brought misty eyes. Our troops DO deserve our unending and unwavering loyalty. Thank you so much for this reminder of why we are here. ((HUG))