Hello from Captain Matory, Golf 2/3
June/09/2008 20:59 Filed in: Iraq
Updates
This is why I do what I do! God is certainly
"Supporting Our Heroes" how on earth could I do any
less. This came from Dianne, in Tampa
FL.
Date: June 9, 2008 4:52:28 PM CDT
Subject: Hello from Capt Matory, Golf 2/3
Dearest Dianne,
I know this message is pretty late considering the wonderful support you and your people have shown Golf 2/3 but we just recently took over an area that had email. While I always try to impress upon Your Marines that email is a "lazy" form of communication and that writing a letter and mailing it is always preferred when connecting with family and friends back home, I have found that I myself have just got to use email to ensure that folks back home know what is going on.
Also, I am not sure if you are aware, but due to our lack of email and internet, I failed to keep up with the Any Marine program so you are actually our sole supporter at this time. I am not sure how your organization works but if you can no longer support us I understand. We getting to the end of our deployment and they will actually be sending our mail to Hawaii beginning in Mid-July.
I wanted to take an opportunity to let you know how important your contribution has been to the Golf Company. I am sure you are following developments in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but Iwanted to let you know how important the donations have been to our little part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the best way to do it is to tell you about something that happened very recently.
At about 6 AM one day I got a call in my office that something very bad had happened. Of course, I cannot say exactly what happened but what I can say is that the incident had a negative effect on the many good things Golf Company is doing where we are.
By 9 AM I was standing in a home that had been nearly destroyed the night before and was listening to more than a few angry villagers. All I could do was apologize. I had nothing to give these people except for my time. I don't carry money with me and whatever money I would be able to give them would really not be enough. There are only so many ways to say "I am sorry" in Arabic but, there are plenty of ways to express how upset the Iraqis were at us at the time.
After a few more hours a number of children entered the home and the situation became more uncomfortable. I don't like getting yelled at in front of children. I really don't like any yelling or confrontation in front of these kids...they have seen enough.
After standing there a little while longer, I had an idea. These people need water. I had bottled water in my Humvee. I ordered my men to give them our water. That helped a little. I asked my Marines if there was anything else we could give the families. All we had left was our mail.
I went to my vehicles to look at the mail, instinctively looking/hoping to see if there was a package from our friend Dianne Villano. Behold, there were three packages! Two were for kids and another had writing pads and pens!
Seeing this, I took the notepads outside and asked the kids to follow me. The yelling continued inside, but I ignored it. Waiting for all the kids to follow me I sat down on the patio and began writing the ABCs on the pads. All Iraqi kids begin to take English Lessons at a relatively early age so all of them either need practice on their ABCs but if you can imagine even pens and paper are very hard to come by in the rural areas in which we work.
To make a long story, short, a simple thing like pens and paper helped me to diffuse a very tense situation. By the end of the day, all was fine in this little village because of three packages we received from Tampa Bay.
Your packages really helped the Marines look good on a very bad day in Iraq.
I will send photos in the next email when I have a better email connection.
Thank you very much!
Semper Fidelis,
Capt Bill Matory
Date: June 9, 2008 4:52:28 PM CDT
Subject: Hello from Capt Matory, Golf 2/3
Dearest Dianne,
I know this message is pretty late considering the wonderful support you and your people have shown Golf 2/3 but we just recently took over an area that had email. While I always try to impress upon Your Marines that email is a "lazy" form of communication and that writing a letter and mailing it is always preferred when connecting with family and friends back home, I have found that I myself have just got to use email to ensure that folks back home know what is going on.
Also, I am not sure if you are aware, but due to our lack of email and internet, I failed to keep up with the Any Marine program so you are actually our sole supporter at this time. I am not sure how your organization works but if you can no longer support us I understand. We getting to the end of our deployment and they will actually be sending our mail to Hawaii beginning in Mid-July.
I wanted to take an opportunity to let you know how important your contribution has been to the Golf Company. I am sure you are following developments in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but Iwanted to let you know how important the donations have been to our little part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the best way to do it is to tell you about something that happened very recently.
At about 6 AM one day I got a call in my office that something very bad had happened. Of course, I cannot say exactly what happened but what I can say is that the incident had a negative effect on the many good things Golf Company is doing where we are.
By 9 AM I was standing in a home that had been nearly destroyed the night before and was listening to more than a few angry villagers. All I could do was apologize. I had nothing to give these people except for my time. I don't carry money with me and whatever money I would be able to give them would really not be enough. There are only so many ways to say "I am sorry" in Arabic but, there are plenty of ways to express how upset the Iraqis were at us at the time.
After a few more hours a number of children entered the home and the situation became more uncomfortable. I don't like getting yelled at in front of children. I really don't like any yelling or confrontation in front of these kids...they have seen enough.
After standing there a little while longer, I had an idea. These people need water. I had bottled water in my Humvee. I ordered my men to give them our water. That helped a little. I asked my Marines if there was anything else we could give the families. All we had left was our mail.
I went to my vehicles to look at the mail, instinctively looking/hoping to see if there was a package from our friend Dianne Villano. Behold, there were three packages! Two were for kids and another had writing pads and pens!
Seeing this, I took the notepads outside and asked the kids to follow me. The yelling continued inside, but I ignored it. Waiting for all the kids to follow me I sat down on the patio and began writing the ABCs on the pads. All Iraqi kids begin to take English Lessons at a relatively early age so all of them either need practice on their ABCs but if you can imagine even pens and paper are very hard to come by in the rural areas in which we work.
To make a long story, short, a simple thing like pens and paper helped me to diffuse a very tense situation. By the end of the day, all was fine in this little village because of three packages we received from Tampa Bay.
Your packages really helped the Marines look good on a very bad day in Iraq.
I will send photos in the next email when I have a better email connection.
Thank you very much!
Semper Fidelis,
Capt Bill Matory
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