(This was written by my husband, Aaron, (email address hidden)  who is currently deployed to Iraq, in defense of a recent comment made by Senator John Kerry. Pass it along, it might inspire someone else to speak up! ~ Michelle)

November 8, 2006 John Kerry said, "You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don?t, you get stuck in Iraq?

So I wrote him a letter:

I am a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. I am currently on my second tour in Iraq, a tour in which I volunteered for. I speak Arabic
and Spanish and I plan to tackle Persian Farsi soon. I have a Bachelors and an Associates Degree and between deployments I am pursuing an M.B.A. In college I was a member of several academic honor societies,
including the Golden Key Honor Society. I am not unique among the enlisted troops. Many of my enliste d colleagues include lawyers,
teachers, mechanics, engineers, musicians and artists just to name a few. You say that your comments were directed towards the President and not us. If we were stupid Senator Kerry, we might have believed you.

I am not a victim of President Bush. I proudly serve him because he is my Comm ander and Chief. If it was you who was President, I would serve you just as faithfully. I serve America Senator Kerry, and I am also providing a service to the good people of Iraq. I have not terrorized
them in the middle of the night, raped them or murdered them as you have accused me of before. I am doing my part to help them rebuild. My role is a simple one, but important. You see Senator Kerry, like it or not, we came here and removed a tyrant (who terrorized Iraqis in the middle of the night, and raped them and murdered them). And we have a responsibility to see to it that another one doesn?t take his place. The people of Iraq are recovering from an abusive relationship with a terrible government and it?s going to take some time to help them recover from that. We can?t treat this conflict like a microwave dinner and throw a temper tantrum because we feel like it?s taking too long.

Senator Kerry, you don't have to agree with this war. You don't have to say nice things ab out those of us who choose to make sacrifices for
the rights of every American rather than sit back and simply feel entitled to it. But please Senator Kerry, if you're going to call me a
stupid murdering rapist, stick by what you say. Don?t tell me that I misunderstood or that you would never insult a veteran because you're
one too. Having been there and done that does not give you a free pass to insult me.

My suggestion for you, Senator Kerry, is to remember that your speeches are recorded, and broadcast to us simpletons over here. You may want to write down what you want to say before you say it, maybe have somebody
look at it before you say it and tell you what others might hear. Remember that we can't read your mind, if there are any
misinterpretations in what you say, it's because you didn't communicate clearly.

Good luck to you Senator Kerry, if nothing else it's always entertaining to watch you try and climb out of the holes that you
constantly dig for yourself .

Sincerely,

Somebody who is watching his daughter grow up in photographs so that
you can have the right to say whatever you want about him.