Dear VFW Brothers and Sister:

I received your Care Package yesterday (17 July 08). Thank you for your kind words, gifts and support. I am sharing some of the these items and reminders of home with my unit and battle buddies.

The support that we receive here from our loved ones, families and friends keeps us going, the support we receive from our brothers and sisters that have gone before us keeps us motivated, inspired and strong. Your continued service to the nation and the men and women of the Armed Forces is phenominal and testimony of the true character of the American Spirit. Thank you for all that you do and continue to do.

I am now in Kuwait at Camp Patriot. We are a battalion of about 60 Navy MP’s. This is a huge difference from my Army MP days. We are called Master At Arms here. The Navy does things different then what I’m used to. We are tasked with many duties. Our primary mission is Convoy Escort and Mobile Security, we also do other things, like training the Kuwaitee forces and work with allied forces and inspections of equipment, you know how the military loves inspections. These are some of the things that we get thrown at us. I don’t mind though, I’m doing my part and doing it proudly.

We have all 5 branches of the US military here in addition to some special groups. We have Rangers, some SF guys, Seals and Recon. We also have the Austrailian and English forces here with us. Everyone is proud to be here and in my book a true patriot and hero. The morning they flew this flag that I am flew it was hot, it was 138* This flag was also flown in Bilad Iraq, Camp Arifjan and at Camp Spearhead. There is a certificate of authenticity signed by MAC Thomas Contant.

The days here are long and the nights are short. I’m on the night shift. It’s a lot cooler to work at night. We pull some long shifts and crazy hours. You grab sleep when you can. Right now the temperature has been hovering right around 116-131* Believe it or not I look forward to cooling off with a nice 95* or so and a cold beer.

We had quite a few sandstorms blow through here lately. It’s amazing how quick and from nowhere these things come from. It’s just like in the movies.

Well, I’ve rambled on long enough, I have to return to my watch, thank you again for your support and for never forgetting. It’s the folks like you back home that truly deserve a medal.

Respectfully and proudly serving

Tom Merkert, US Navy MA2

(Soon to be going back to the Army, the Navy just isn’t my thing)    madmanmerk@yahoo.com