A Tale from Tallil . . .

I received this today from my friend in Iraq. . . touching . . .

Hey,
Yeah its all true and pretty crazy. There are some things I cant talk about because of security reasons. All I remember is standing listening to my Ipod with one headphone in my left ear that way in case something does happen I will know about it. I heard a sound comin from the sky but I thought maybe it was an incoming C130 and then a loud boom with a flashing light. A force pushed me off my feet and I landed about 5 feet from where I was standing back into a table. I couldnt hear anything but ringing in both my ears, my right one more than my left. After recovering I had realized we were being attacked. It was by the grace of god that missile landed the way it did because if it had landed 5 feet in either direction I would have been seriously injured or dead. I pulled/tore the muscles in my right shoulder and have hearing loss in my right ear estimating about 5-10 percent but there is a chance it will be back. I keep a bible in my left inside pocket with a bookmark on Psalm 91 and realize how grateful/lucky i am to be today.

Thank everyone. . . for all their support at such a difficult time because through it all its what we need the most over here. The thank you letters and care packages we get are all greatly appreciated. Words cant express how appreciative we are with all the support we get. It brings up our morale and allows us to keep going....especially when the goin gets tough. I met an Iraqi boy when I went on a tour at the ziggurat and noticed that his shoes were all torn to shreds and barely fitting him as they were about 5 times his size. I made it my top priority to go to the bx and order him a pair of shoes his size. The following day during my only day off I went out to where this boy is with his father selling merchandise to the tourists at the ziggurat and gave him the shoes. The smile on his face just made my day and even my deployment. Its the kind of thing that reminds me we can still do good and that little boy will hold that memory with him forever. I have a photo of him and me together I will send. Thank you again and let everyone know I am recovering fine. Take care and god bless.

He is an amazing man . . . one who will be changed after this deployment . . .