Tammi's Temporary World

I hear a lot of people who say that our time in Iraq is a waste of lives. That we went in for the wrong reasons. That we went with too few people, not enough preparation, that we are paying the price in blood now. I won't argue the politics with people. Have your opinions, that is what America is for. But please, oh please, do not talk about things you do not know.

I can't say much about our operations, but I can say this: We are doing the job you asked us to do. We are here coping with so many things that have never even entered in to the world of the average American and we are doing it because we have the honor to keep our commitments. We have given our oath to serve, and that is what we intend to do.

From time to time, I intend to log on and put a little scope to all the media that is out there. To listen to the news, you would think that we are losing terribly. That we wander around the desert waiting to get gunned downed in ones and twos while the wiley assassins escape our notice with their in-depth training and skill. And finally, we are driven to such acts of madness as taking entire towns hostage and slaughtering whole families. Some of these news services need to get a grip.

Let me say this...things happen...always. I won't put on a show of bravado and chest beating and talk about how we are scoring hits across the board. But I will say this: No matter how hard dissident elements fight, no matter how determined they may be, they can not win as long as you have faith in us. We are fighting and winning consistently, and the cost....the cost is higher than any of you may ever know, but we haven't stopped. Only when you lose faith in us do we lose. And since myself, and so many like me, have paid so much already, I don't think I could forgive someone telling me it was worthless.

Let me close with this. Whatever has happened, or will happen, we are here. We stand in all our strength, struggling to do the job that the whole world has wanted done in one way or another. No matter how you wanted it done, no matter how you felt it should have started, I ask you this: support us until we finish it. And have faith that your sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers can handle the weight that the nation at large has laid on our shoulders.