Story Posted from The Laurel Outlook

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 2:18 PM MST

Merry Christmas Laurel from U.S. Army troops in Iraq ... and a big thank you to Laurel Hometown Troops. We thank you for your support and wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas.

Editor's note: Last week the Outlook received this letter and photograph from Sgt. First Class Jeffery S. Shipp, stationed at FOB Normandy, in the Diyala province of Iraq. He is with the Fourth Platoon, Charger Company, 2nd of the 3rd Infantry Regiment. Sgt. Shipp grew up in Laurel and still has family here. The unit is based out of Fort Lewis, WA.

A lot has changed in Iraq. This is my third tour, I was here in the initial invasion in 2003 and during some of the heaviest fighting in ‘05 and ‘06. Today, though, the signs of progress are abundant: shops are open, children are attending school, utilities and city services are taking shape in municipalities.

This is in sharp contrast to my last tour ending in 2006, a tour that included the assault on the city of Tal Afar. Every day during that long 12 months we were in constant danger. Even on the Forward Operating Bases, safe from the IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and snipers, we received sporadic mortar fire throughout the nights.

Comparatively, this tour is spent helping the local leadership better their communities. Soldiers that once kicked in doors of houses are now sitting in those same houses drinking tea and discussing unemployment rates and provincial restoration.

The danger is still present; there still are attacks against coalition forces and against our allies the Iraqi security forces. These attacks are the exception in today's Iraq, though. Iraqi security forces are quick to respond and help us deal with these situations, almost as if they take it as a sign of disrespect for US forces to be attacked on their watch.

Iraq today is not the Iraq of previous years.

Thankfully, not everything has changed. Laurel Hometown Troops has not changed the unquestionable support to America's deployed servicemen and women. It is the organizations and especially the people that make up Laurel Hometown Troops that deserve recognition and thanks this holiday season.

Almost seven years after the initial invasion of Iraq, and nine years since the attacks in New York and DC, Laurel Hometown Troops still is sending me care packages and support wherever I am deployed. They sent every soldier under my charge a holiday gift this year.

I can't express the gratitude my men and I feel for them. I would also like to thank other businesses in the Laurel area, a town that I grew up in, but have not lived in for the last 15 years that I have been a soldier.

Beartooth Harley Davidson sent a great package of calendars and posters for Veterans Day. Dr. Krayton Kerns and all the people at Beartooth Veterinary Clinic take care of my dog (best buddy) while I am deployed.

Thanks to SEG credit union for helping a soldier as he travels the world and working with me any way they can. Can you imagine any other bank receiving a phone call from some third world country where I ask for money, not remembering my account numbers, and telling them I will come do the paperwork the next time I return home?

Bette, Janis, and all the ladies down at SEG bend over backwards to help me it seems. All these folks, and so many more, have helped me and my soldiers, directly and indirectly for a long time. We are so very thankful and lucky this has not changed.

These people, and many more that are not named, are true patriots and the real reason the American way of life is safe and envied.

Morale is so very important to soldiers in any conflict. It is too easy to slump into depression being far from home, seeing injury and death, dealing with people that are, at best, indifferent to your well being, sometimes openly hostile to you and your buddies. Knowing that the simple stresses of life, your finances, your pets are taken care of is a huge relief.

To come in off a patrol hot and dirty or conversely, cold and wet, and receive a package containing cookies, some chocolate, and a note that says “Thank you,” I just cannot explain in words how that is such an incredible boost to morale.

So, I can only ask that if you see some of the people from Laurel Hometown Troops, or if you happen to stop by Beartooth Vet, Beartooth Harley, or SEG, that you tell them “thank you” from me.

I want to extend my most sincere thanks and holiday wishes on behalf of Fourth Platoon, Charger Company, 2nd of the 3rd Infantry Regiment. We thank you for your support and wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas.

I know I speak for all of us when I say we are proud to be soldiers in the United States Army. We are proud of the United States and we are so lucky and thankful to serve this nation and her people.

Happy Holidays.

- Jeffery S. Shipp

Article originally published in The Laurel Outlook