03/18/2003
My son, Jeremy, send this to his family and friends today.
"McKenzie Jeremy CPT 498 Med Co." wrote:
Subject: Last Email for a while
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 11:46:03 +0300
Hello everyone and happy belated St. Patricks Day (next year we will all
toast green beer together hopefully, okay you all can have one, I want more
than one),
I am writing everyone on a sad occasion. Email and phone access is being
pulled over here. Of course you all can probably figure out what that means
in conjunction with the news back home. I miss all of you very much. All
of you on this list mean a lot to me and I appreciate the many letters,
emails, phone calls, and packages that you have all sent to show your
support. Some of you have showed your support through peace protesting and I also appreciate your obvious love for democracy and idealism.
To my family, I love you with all my heart. You mean more than anything
else to me and I hold you close to my heart as I begin to prepare for yet
another phase in my life. Know always that I appreciate that you have all
always been there for me and if it wasn't for my family I would not be an
Army Aviator today. You all have given me the tools that I need to suceed
in the world and I will be forever indebted to all of you for that. Wally,
good luck wherever you end up on this deployment. I love you all. To my
wife you'll get your own email but for everyone to know, she is the best
thing that ever happened to me.
To my friends, thank you all for always being there for me. You also mean
the world to me and I would do anything for any of you. Tim, thank you
especially for all of your support during this deployment, it has meant the
world to me! Jason, Jason Marker (wherever you are), Matt, and Chris I hope that you are all safe back in CONUS but if you are deployed here I wish you God Speed! Rob, good luck Qatar! All the rest of my friends; Lydiane, Stephane, and everyone else, thanks for the support.
To my elders (teachers, advisors, CAP senior leaders) thank you for guiding
me and developing me into the person/officer/aviator that I am. Thanks for
the continued support since I left being your student and for becoming
friends that I look up to for your wisdom. You will all always be close in
my thoughts and memories and I strive to be like you in the future so that I
can inspire some young person to look towards the sky!
I cannot say don't worry but I will give you all something to take comfort
in. Take comfort in the FACT that I am a member of the most powerful and
mighty armed force that the world has ever assembled and that I am a well
trained, professional Army Aviator. Our crews will do everything that we
can to ensure that we clear the battlefield of sick and wounded by using our
Blackhawk helicopters as "Angels of Mercy".
Now I will close with two things from people who mean a lot to me. First is
a quote that my Aunt Bonnie McKenzie sent me from Winston Churchill, ""If
you are going through hell, keep on going." The second is a St. Patrick's
Day toast from one of my best friends, Tim Cague.
Here is to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking
If you cheat, cheat death
If you steal, steal a woman's heart.
If you fight, fight for your brother.
If you drink, drink with me
Cheers
To my brothers and sisters in arms. May victory come swift on the
battlefield and may our enemies not have the will to fight.
Cheers, Check Six, and God Speed,
Love,
Jeremy
I would like to invite you to Visit:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MilitaryFamiliesSpeakOut
You can also post messages or subscribe using the info below.
Post message: MilitaryFamiliesSpeakOut@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: MilitaryFamiliesSpeakOut-subscribe@yahoogroups.com