Hi All, Here is a letter that was written by my son that I would like to share with you. Happy Memorial Day. Darlene McKinney Gutierrez Southern California Formerly of New YorkA letter, for the American Military personel around the world: Dear Sir or Ma'am, Thank you. For over two hundred years, the United States Military has stood guard over the greatest political and social experiment in the history of the world. Never once in all that time have you or those that came before you wavered in your commitment to duty and honor, standing firm and strong against all enemies--be they foreign or domestic--steadfast in your belief that our system is right, that our freedoms are precious and worth sacrificing your lives for if needed. Thank you. Never once has the US Military as a whole taken up arms in defiance of the American Way or threatened to overthrow the Republic. From the days of the Minutemen, before the existance of the Republic, to the Civil War where brother fought brother and friend fought friend, to the battlefields of Europe in two World Wars, to the jungles of Viet Nam and, recently, to the deserts of the Middle East, you have always been ready to answer the call to defend our freedom and the freedom of others. And you have always come at that call, ready to make the ultimate sacrifice if needed--not for personal glory, but because you believe in your heart of hearts that such words as Freedom and Honor are worthless if no one is ready to sacrifice themselves in order to protect them. Thank you. You are a member of the largest standing, peace-time, volunteer military in the history of the world. You are the most well trained, the best equipped, and more highly motivated than any other military force the world has ever seen. Yet your mission is one of peace, of guarding against agression. Protecting what our forefathers fought and died for. You believe in what you do. You take the words 'the price of freedom is eternal vigilance' to heart, and live by them day in and day out. We would not be free if not for you, if not for your sacrifices. Thank you. A large number of you are stationed far from home, seperated from family and friends. Stationed in lands where you are foreign, and the people and customs are alien to you. You sail across empty seas with only your shipmates for company and a barely comfortable bunk for a bed. You sleep in  a tent in the middle of nowhere, shiver in the deepest part of the night and eat a breakfast that comes from a tin can or a plastic bag. Your gun is your best friend, a piece of cold metal and plastic; your buddies slogging through the mud and sand and snow alongside you are the very essence of your survival. Your very life depends on giving up a good part of your individuality to become part of 'the team', a team that must work together. Yet, you do not complain. You go, you do your job. You give of yourselves in a way that we can never repay. You willingly and eagerly place yourselves between us and dangerous, hostile and unfriendly nations--you volunteer to do so, and for what? A few hundred dollars a month, a 'thank you' now and then. A parade a couple of times a year. A flag-draped coffin if you're called upon to pay the ultimate price of freedom. Yet, still, you go. You do what is asked of you for the simple reasons of 'someone has to do it; it must be done'. Thank you. You do not bow or kneel to any man or woman. Your loyalty is not given to a person, but an entire nation. An ideal, the belief that Freedom is precious and worth dying for. "I swear to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. . ." That is not an empty phrase to you. Even when our leaders look on that oath as a mere necessity of public office and will stand before the American People and outright lie to us, you remain true to it. You live by it. You are, everyone of you, the very embodiment of that oath. You keep it from becoming hollow and meaningless. You give it meaning. Thank you. We cry as a nation when one of you comes home to us in a flag-draped coffin. We beat our chests and shake our fists, cry out for revenge--and then forget you. We turn away from the pain, turn our backs on those you left behind, and go on living our lives in the freedom your blood bought for us. We don't like to think about that cost of freedom--the price of blood you so willingly pay. But, still, someone will fill the space left. Someone will take up the call, step up to the line, put on that uniform and do what must be done. And, in doing so, that man or woman does the memory of those that have passed on more honor than any of us ever have. Thank you. Those two words are not enough. They are pitiful when compared to what you do for us every day of the year. But it's all I have to offer you in return for what you give me. I wish there was more, but there is not. So, with heartfelt humility and overwhelming gratitude, I repeat them again: Thank you. Each and every one of you--thank you very much. Frederic Gutierrez [email protected]