News from Iraq

Our Pen Pal, Captain Kyle Bair, is serving his 2nd tour of duty in Iraq. Captain Bair is Miss Thurin's good friend from college. He is a teacher, too! He's agreed to be our Pen Pal. We'll be sending him packages of letters (It'll help practice our writing skills, too!) and fun projects with well-wishes. Captain Bair has sent us an update of what he's been doing in Iraq. It helps us understand what our troops are doing for our country while they're there. It also gives us a visual of what Iraq is like. We're very excited to be able to learn and communicate with him!

Captain Bair says, "The first picture are of some of the guys on my team. We are sitting at the back of one of our vehicles. This particular day we were going on a mission through mosul at night. I had to wear night vision goggles and stuff...as you can see from the picture I was very tired. ""The other picture is of one of our interpreters. His name is "Ramsey." His real name is not that. He is Kurdish (which most people are in northern Iraq). He is trying to get his citizenship and speaks very good English. Went to school at Oxford to study English. Probably one of the smartest Arabic linguists I have ever met. " "I get to go outside the wire here in Iraq and people are not afraid of us here. They appreciate us doing the many things were help or provide to them.
I am really excited we are helping the people of Iraq out. I feel like I am making a difference this time. It is truly amazing to see {the children's] faces light up when I give them a small piece of candy. I tend to appreciate the small things now that I have back in the U.S. "