Please distribute to all the schools that have written my guys and I:
Jenny’s school in Boston,
Elizabeth Dete’s school in NYC,
Jenniger Gilligan’s class at Christ the King,
Sally Barnett’s school in Atlanta,
Crabapple school, specifically Anna Walker’s class
Tara Land’s school in Indianapolis,
the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf,
the Campus School at Middle Tennessee State University,
Mrs. Schefstad’s class and any of her friends who wrote me too
Most Importantly Mrs. Baxter’s class at OLA!
I have received many letters from classes and many bright young school children. I thank you for your support of my platoon and myself. I wanted to send this letter to answer some of the many questions I have received.
My favorite color: (seems to be the most asked question)
Growing up it was always Red, but my favorite combination of colors is Black and Gold they are my school colors from West Point and the color of my truck at home.
My favorite sport: is football, but I love all sports.
Pets: I grew up with cats but I look forward to returning home and adopting a Boxer (dog) from the Austin, Texas Humane society.
The Army:
I do enjoy being a soldier. It is something I take great pride in because I help people everyday and I get to do a lot of exciting things. It allows me to be a part of something bigger than myself and gives me a sense of purpose.
My Platoon, The HOOLIGANS:
My guys are from all over the county and all have different backgrounds. They all enjoy their job but miss their loved ones back home dearly. I have Bradley fighting vehicles and HMMWV gun trucks. The Bradleys are like tanks because they are heavily armored vehicles with tracks instead of tires, but they have a smaller gun and can carry passengers in the back unlike tanks. My gun trucks are up armored HMMWVs with a turret and machine gun on top.
Iraq:
Iraq is a third world country with potential. I live right by the Tigris river which is surrounded by Palm, Orange, and Date trees on both sides. There are beautiful blue skies and sunset’s everyday. Baghdad is a big modernized city with a university, zoo and museum. The people here are good people but have lived under Saddam Hussein’s oppression for so long that they are too scared to do a lot of things. Insurgents and Terrorist are trying to prevent the good people from Iraq from having the freedom’s they deserve such as education, food and the chance for happiness.
The children of Iraq don’t have the typical childhood of American boys and girls, death and violence are apart of every day life. Most of the kids go to school 4 days a week for 3 hours a day, boys from 9-11am and girls from 12-2pm. The weekend starts on Friday here as everyone spends the day in their mosques in prayer. Saturday and Sunday are typical leisure days that most people don’t work during.
Jobs in Iraq are scarce and majority of the people in my area don’t have jobs and can’t read. A lot of the people in my area are farmers. There is an intricate irrigation system set up, reminiscent of Babylonian times, which allows people to crop and harvest their own food to eat and sell. It is quite common to have farm animals fenced in people’s back yards much like American’s fence in their backyard for dogs, but the farm animals are chickens, cows or donkey’s that they actually use. There are many beautiful Arabic houses of all sizes around me, but the engineering and or the poor upkeep is causing some of the houses to collapse. Many of the intelligent and educated personnel in Iraq have left for Syria or Iran in fear for their own safety. The young children of Iraq who go to school and grow up around seeing American’s help them truly are the future and hope for their country.
Go Braves!
Go Falcons!
Go Jackets!
Go Dawgs!
GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!
Thank you all,
1LT Will Sullivan
