Polls
| JESSE GARRETSON - An American Soldier! |
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Thank you for your Service, Jesse!
Richard & Nancy Graham share their nephews' email... Hello Everybody, Thought you might enjoy some pictures of me and where I am at. 
...you can see the snow capped mountains which are the beginning of the Himalayas in Pakistan. Pakistan is about 12 miles from my base and as such we get quite a few rockets, our base is even nicknamed rocket city... yikes.  ... picture of me holding a piece of shrapnel from a rocket that landed about 20 yards from where some coworkers and I were waiting for a flight. Luckily no one was hurt when it hit.
A few months ago, when I was still stationed in Jalalabad, 2 members of our team were injured by a rocket while out on a mission and had to be sent home. Fortunately, both recovered just fine and I think both are coming back if they are not back already. I wasn't on the mission myself but had to fly out after the incident so I could help drive the trucks home. It can be pretty exciting at times but the truth is I like being here, I like being part of the solution. Afghanistan has seen so much war and it's very interesting to see how an entire culture can be so similar and so different all at the same time.  Sometimes I'll play volleyball with the local nationals who work here on the base and it's funny how much some of the personalities remind of the guys I used to play with back home.
I think the most inspiring thing and the thing that makes feel that at the end of the day we're all the pretty much the same, is that in spite of all the war and the extreme poverty that the Afghan people know only as way of life, they still find ways to smile, and they appreciate, just as any of us do, fun and a good laugh. This truth makes me feel connected and secured all at the same time, I guess because seeing it firsthand makes me stronger in my belief that there is nothing that this world could throw at us that would make life not worth living. It's also amazing to see the beautiful scenery of Afghanistan,  before I came here I kind of had this idea that Afghanistan would be an ugly, war ravished Country... I stand corrected.
I hope this email finds you all well and I want to thank you all very much for your support. Sincerely, Jesse |