Dear Mom,

I am doing well! Thank you for asking. All the stuff that's going on out in Afghanistan is nowhere near us! The tensions were high during 9/11 but nothing happened out here. Everything went nice and smooth. It has been real quiet. It’s been kind of nice, a definite change from Iraq.

I think the is extremely impressive - Hell, the Vietnam Veterans are extremely impressive!!! I have met a few in my day and they are some nice people. We have something in common. The way some people see us when we return home is a mirror image of how they were treated when they came back.  Not nearly on the same level, because the Vietnam Vets had it worse than we have had, but there are some of the same assholes out there. 

I don’t remember if I ever told you, but on my return last time from Iraq one of our guys was spit on when we walked outside the Airport. He was a young guy and walked up to me and said, “Sgt. Cox I am going to go and beat that (expletive) ass!” I told him to calm down and we would take care of it.

There were people at the airport who had come to greet us. One of them saw the entire thing; it caused an extremely bad situation for that particular individual. There was a group of guys that came and “escorted” him away from the area.  It was actually quite impressive!!

The Maryland transit authority also witnessed the act and informed us they would take care of him and sent a couple guys over. The guy wasn’t too smart and he spit on the cops for supporting the troops. Needless to say, he walked away with some nice shiny bracelets! It was a good time feeling for us, LOL

How much is it to ? I am sure there are a group of us that are deployed (from Ohio) that may be willing to sponsor a flag if need be!

I think it would be cool to have a group of Air Force members deployed in Afghanistan sponsoring one. One of the guys here is actually a City of Akron Police Officer. He lived off of Market Street a couple blocks away from Tower 80.

Here is a little history on my job. In the past during Vietnam we were just in the process of being formed as a more Combat oriented unit. Our unit was known as the Best of the Best. There were so many things we learned and applauded for during Vietnam. Air Force Security Forces was actually listed as one of the top US Military Special Forces units. It wasn’t commonly known that we could perform that well when we were just getting started. I just thought you would like to know that!

Do me a favor and next time you see one of those Vietnam Vets shake their hand for me.

Well I hope you have a good day. I love you and trust me; I wish the time would go by faster so I could get home faster!

Andy