[FIJI]

last year's recipient


Dear Mike:

Hey, this is Carl Hensley AKA Rocky Raccoon from HuntChat. I just wanted to personally thank you for your kindness and support to our war effort. Your contribution may seem humble in your eyes, but it honestly made things seem a little closer to home. Not just myself but many Marines who ate the jerky and read the magazines you sent. I’ve sent with this letter a small token of appreciation and I figured what better than one of the few weapons that has been carried by Marines through war after war, and is still being carried by Marines to this day. I hope you enjoy and again, thank you. Your support meant tons in a country where a shower is a luxury.

Just a little info about where we were and what we did during our tour. We were in Al-Ramadi, Iraq in the Alambar Province, once deemed the most dangerous city in the world. When we arrived in September 2006 there were roughly 67+ full-on firefights a week. We put in many new observation posts throughout the city and established 2 Iraqi police substations and recruited some 1500 Iraqi police throughout the deployment. At the end of the deployment we went 6 weeks without a single shot fired. There were people from Washington, DC & the Pentagon coming to Ramadi to see how we could all but eliminate all violence in a place where in the beginning you couldn’t leave the wire during the day because of the level of violence. To, in the end, you could walk down almost any road during daytime hours with little fear. They were astonished at the small amount of time it was done. The people who came are supposed to use our city (Ramadi) as an example of how to render the rest of Iraq safe.

We lost 12 Marines from our unit during the deployment. All good men, I knew half of them personally, but their deaths were not in vain. I assure you Mike that this event will be in the history books.

Once again Thank You, and “Semper Fidelis” (Always Faithful).

Sincerely,

LCPL Carl R. Hensley, USMC



GOD SPEED THOSE WHO KEEP US ALL SAFE

Mahalo