[fbodfather]

HEre was the original message.......

Good afternoon, Camaro Comrades and Firebird Friends......

I just received a different kind of Christmas Greeting from our friend, Bud Scolastico at the American Camaro Association. It came to him from LCDR Jeff Giles -- USN who is serving in Al Taqqadum, Iraq.


Every once in a great while, we get something to read that touches the soul -- and this one sure does.

While not everyone can agree on politics -- and there are certainly enough opinions on politics these days -- I think we can all agree that we owe the men and women who HAVE served -- or who ARE serving our country.........

As we approach this Holiday season -- I have two favors to ask of every one of you:

>Please take a few moments -- now -- to send a note to one of our brave men or women who are currently recovering from injuries sustained in the war.....If they could make this sacrifice, WE (that's you and me) should be able to sacrifice a couple of minutes writing a quick note --
Address is:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NorthWest
Washington, DC 20307-5001.



>As you celebrate with family and friends -- please - don't forget to say a prayer for our Military Personnel -- they are making huge sacrifices so that we (that's you and me) can have freedoms that the rest of the world envies.

(....just this past week, a British School Teacher received death threats simply because she allowed her grade school children to call a Teddy Bear "Mohammed" ......Do you think we need to worry about our Freedoms???? )




May you all be blessed at this joyous season -- Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

(..........don't forget my lecture on safety belt usage.......I'm not above printing it again!.......)


Your Camaro Comrade and Firebird Friend,

Scott



..........



From Bud --

Subject: Fw: A Different Christmas Poem

----- Original Message -----


A Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hea r,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."

"It's my duty to stand at the front o f the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,

I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ' Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ' Nam ',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister a nd brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."



PLEASE, Would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many people
as
you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our U.S.
service men and women for our being able to celebrate these festivities.
Let's try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves
for us.

LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqqadum , Iraq.