Smartie Soldiers' Angel

You may remember this photo and this post from a couple of years back. Well, I found this new blog a few days ago called Wings Over Iraq and a post about packages he had received from Adopt a Soldier. The WOI post reminded me of a Jesse story that had to do with Capt. Jeff and a package that Jesse sent to him way back when.

As I mention in my old post, Capt. Jeff wrote the most interesting and funny emails. For those of you who do not follow my links, Capt. Jeff was stationed in Kuwait flying the no-fly zone back before the Iraq War. I wish I could just copy and paste his old emails here, but that was almost ten years ago and several computers ago. Jesse and I followed his emails as any two groupies would, and Jesse began writing to Jeff at that time. In one of his emails, Jeff told a very funny story about the USAF issuing a new, huge knife to go along with his other huge, USAF issued knife. He joked about strapping a knife to each leg. Apparently, there was a lot of downtime between flights with pilots waiting for assignments. You can just imagine several young men with new knives sitting around bored. Jeff joked how they had tried out their new knives on everything possible and trimmed every stray thread from their uniforms. We got a big laugh from his description.

So, Jesse decided to be funny although she did not know Jeff well at that time. She sent him a package. Inside was a cross-stitch kit complete with needle and thread. She wrote him a letter explaining that when he was bored he could do the cross-stitch and put his new knife to good use. Now, can you imagine a bunch of stud pilots gathering around the new package from home, from a pretty girl wondering what goodies had been sent – only to open the package and find a cross-stitch kit? Jeff’s reply to Jesse’s joke was, "Jesse, you are a very funny girl."

Here most recent soldier appreciated her enough to send this T-shirt. Maybe we will get to meet this soldier someday. He actually called her about a week ago. I only heard Jesse's side of the conversation, but I got pretty tickled. She kept saying, "I live in Oklahoma; you need to slow down. I can't understand you when you talk so fast." He is from NY.