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Testimonials
(Received Through 22
December
2008)
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22 December 2008
From: FOB Prosperity
Dear Mrs. Hubbard,
On
behalf of all of my men and I, I just wanted to say thank you
for all of the packages that you and your organization sent us a
few weeks ago. The cookies were great! The packages
really brightened our day. Please know that we all
appreciate your generosity and kindness. Once again --
Thank you.
Sincerely,
1st LT Brian Ivany |
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Paula,
Thanks for
all of the packages. I have more stuff now than I know what to do with. I
put the 7 giant boxes of, well, boxes, out in the common area for all of the
soldiers to pick through. The Cav Scouts of 1st Platoon, Alpha
Troop thank you from the bottom of their collective hearts.
I hope all
is well back in Houston. I plan on coming down to Houston pending my
redeployment to Fort Hood .
Once again, thanks for the packages.
-Dembo
V/R,
MATTHEW J.
DEMBOWSKI
1LT, AR
PL, 1/A/7-10
CAV
PB Stone,
IRAQ
From CPT Reginald Williams
-----Original Message-----
From: Williams, Reginald E CPT B TRP 38th CAV LRS
Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2008 4:52 AM
To: sswain@comcast.net; susankoontz@bakerhughes.com; Hubbard, Paula;
jdurner@aol.com
Subject: Thank You (UNCLASSIFIED)
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
Troop 5282, Museum Oaks Service Unit, West Point Parents Club, and Mrs.
Hubbard,
I would like to take the opportunity, on behalf of Bravo Troop to thank
you for your generous donation of cookies, coffee, and snacks; the boxes
were well received, and the contents quickly devoured. The war has been
going on for over seven years now, and in the wake of a weakened economy
it is nice to know the Soldiers have not been forgotten. The contents
of those boxes although insignificant to some are constant a reminder of
the freedoms we have and why we fight for them. Without the support of
a nation and patrons like you, it would make our job difficult and in
vain. Again thank you for your contribution, support,
but more importantly thank you for not forgetting.
v/r
CPT Reginald Williams
CDR B/38 (LRS) (ABN)
TF Lucky
Classification:
UNCLASSIFIED//
Dear West Point Parents Club of Houston,
Thanks very much for the packages you sent
recently. The entire Division Surgeon section was happy to see them arrive
and have been sharing in the cookies and other things. We all appreciate
your support as we come down the homestretch of this deployment.
Thanks again,
Chris
Christopher Ivany, M.D.
MAJ, MC
MND-B Division Psychiatrist
13 August 2008
13 August 2008
I have just received
your package and I want to thank you all very much for the support that is given
to our troops. We greatly appreciate it. The girl scout cookies were
especially appreciated as they were devoured quickly! Thank you!
SPC
Rassi, Jenna
96th ASB
TF Troubleshooter
S-6 Chupacabras
DSN: 431-2723
Dear Girl
Scouts of Troop 5282 and West Point Parents Club of Greater Houston,
Thank you so
much for the boxes of girl scout cookies and for the care packages! They
are very much appreciated by my soldiers in the Military Police platoon
and by the soldiers in my company. I am forwarding on a few of the boxes
to my soldiers who are out at the Iranian Border training the Iraqi
Border Police... they currently do not have running water, bathrooms,
showers, or hot meals.. they have been eating MREs, using baby wipes to
stay clean and living in un-air conditioned tents for the past month.
The weather here has been very hot, in the high 120's, so it has been
hard on my soldiers who are out conducting training. The rest of my
soldiers are training the local Iraqi Police, so they are out every day
for training... so the snacks and other care items are good because they
can take them with them.. Thank you again for all of your support and
everything you have sent for us has gone to good use!
3 August 2008
From: Commons, Brittany G 1LT 326th EN BN Maint Expeditor OIC
[mailto:brittany.commons@iraq.centcom.mil]
Sent: Saturday, August 02, 2008 6:32 AM
To: Hubbard, Paula
Subject: RE: Boxes on their way (UNCLASSIFIED)
I got your boxes! Thank you thank you thank you!
They are great! I tore into the Girl Scout cookies because I'm
disgusting and can't stand myself around junk food. I also missed
dinner last night, and consequently demolished nearly an entire can of
the Pringles. So it has definitely all been going to good use.
We are grateful for anything you send us. Stuff that I don't want to
tempt myself with (extra cookies) and some of the toiletry articles I
send to some of my friends that are in dire need of it. My best friend
here and fellow West Point classmate is married to our classmate who is
in Afghanistan. Those guys have nothing, and are constantly begging for
the bare essentials (most of which was sent in the one box you packed).
So I passed a lot of that on to her so that she could send it to her
husband's platoon. So it has all been put to extremely good use -
thank you again very much
-Britt
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
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20 June 2008
Today marks the end of the 479th EN BN's 400 day mobilization to
Camp Striker, Iraq in support of the Global War on Terrorism.
I wanted to take one last opportunity to send a "thank you" from
Iraq for your thoughtful prayers and support. Without
people like yourself and the strong hand of God, we wouldn't
have been so successful! Our mission was a daunting one,
but we've come through magnificently, and tomorrow our last
aircraft departs for Kuwait with every soldier we left with on
board! Praise God!
When you hear the news and hear of General Rick Lynch of the
Third Infantry Division, you will be reminded of our exploits
here. We were the main engineer effort for the Third
Infantry Division, and it was often said of us that, "The
division [3rd ID] paces their operations off the availabilitly
of engineer assets".
So again, thank you and God Bless You!
Chaplain Joe Grace
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From: shubhra.jones@iraq.centcom.mil
To: jdurner@aol.com
Sent: 6/9/2008 4:09:25 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Thank you!
West Point Parents’ Club of Greater
Houston,
Thank you for
your time, effort, and gifts to us here overseas serving our country
and doing what we can do to ensure our freedom and safety.
It really means
the world to the Soldiers and it is a pleasure to give them
something from back home when they are not expecting it. Mail time
is the best time here and goodies are helpful to the morale and
welfare.
Thanks again and
see you when we get home!! HOOAH….Fort Hood, Texas…the greatest
state!!
v/r,
Shubhra Jones
2LT, MS
546th ASMC
ERC/Ground Ambulance Platoon Leader
From: christopher.ivany@mnd-b.army.mil
To: jdurner@aol.com
Sent: 5/30/2008 7:40:02 A.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: [U] Thanks
Classification:
UNCLASSIFIED//
To the Houston
West Point Parents’ Club,
Thanks for boxes
of snacks, candy and other good stuff. Its always nice to get
packages in the mail, especially from you. Everyone in my section
appreciates your efforts to support us here.
Thanks again,
Chris
Christopher
Ivany, M.D.
From: "William Jones" <roostjones@earthlink.net>
To: "Raquel Cunningham" <rmcun@sbcglobal.net>
Cc: "MALO Doug & Debbie Rambin" <drambin@alltel.net>; "MALO Mike
Jackson" <TJA10@alltel.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:37 PM
Subject: Care Packages
Raquel & Larry, Mike, Doug & Debbie, West Point Parent's Club and the
Houston Malo Team:
Just wanted to thank all of you for the recent deluge of care packages
I've received. I was overwhelmed with goodies and much as I've tried,
there's no way I can use everything myself so after dividing up a
couple of boxes with my tiny group we gave the rest to a Special Forces "A"
Team, the embedded training team (14 American soldiers), the LST (8 more
American Soldiers) and a platoon from the Brits who take me on patrols
when I'm in Lashkar Gah. Everything found good homes. Thanks for the
expense, effort, and time involved in getting this stuff to me. You're a
great bunch of folks and I'm touched by your generosity and attention.
I've got about 3 more months to go here so am starting to see the light at
the end of the tunnel.
Mike - please pass this message on to the rest of the MALO group.
Doug & Debbie - please pass it on to the West Point Parent's Club. Thank you
again!
Mr. and Mrs. Durner,
Thank you very much for
the care packages. They are fantastic! Please know that all the food and
supplies is going to soldiers. I serve as a liaison officer at LSA
Anaconda, and the rest of my unit is at a different FOB, but we have many
convoys come through my location throughout the week. I always put the
boxes out for them when they come off the road, and they pretty much dive
into everything. Thank you again very much for all of your support! It is
much appreciated!
Very Respectfully,
1LT Brittany Commons
326th ENG BN
Forward Logistics Expediter
Hi Paula,
Kathryn sent this
additional thank you. I sent a box full of stuff from the dollar store for
children - The manager actually gave two items for a dollar after he heard it
was going to Afghanistan children.
Mary Davis
-----Forwarded
Message-----
From: Kathryn
Hermon <kathrynhermon@hotmail.com>
Sent: May 18, 2008
6:19 AM
To: "Mrs. Davis" <gwdavis11@earthlink.net>
Subject: Thank
you!
Mrs. and Mr.
Davis, thank you so much! What a blessing! I brought the boxes
out to my platoon
and they were excited! I am excited about the toys. We
have a good will
mission coming up and I can give the stuff out to the
children.
Please thank the parents club for me! God Bless you all!
2LT Hermon,
Kathryn
62nd Engineer
Battalion
A Company, 2nd
Platoon
FOB Kushamond
APO AE 09311
From: roostjones@earthlink.net
To: jdurner@aol.com
Sent: 5/17/2008 10:20:21 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: Care Packages
Hi Jerry - just
wanted to let you and the other Houston Parent's Club members know that
we received 4 packages from you this week - I split up one package with
my team and gave one package each to the American Logistical Supply Team
and the American embedded trainers team here at Tombstone. There's
about 20 soldiers amongst those 2 teams. The last package I'll give to
6th Platoon, B Company, 5th Yorks as they take myself and SFC Wilson out
on patrol with them when we need to get to Nod Ali. Please pass on my
thanks to all the parent's club members for their thoughtfulness and
generosity. The items sent will all be put to good use! Thanks again!
LTC William Jones
USMA '83
16 May 2008
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13 January 2008
Dear Ms. Hubbard & the WPPCGH,
Hello, & a belated Happy New Year! How is everything going
at home? Things are going well here, although the weeks
after the holidays tend to be a bit anticlimactic.
Thank you
so very much for all the packages the Parents' Club & IREM sent
to the Troopers in my unit. They put smiles on many faces,
& reminded us all how much everyone at home cares.
We are halfway through a 15-month deployment right now, so your
gifts & thoughtfulness could not have come at a better time.
I am proud to know my parents are part of such a supportive
organization. I thank you all again for thinking of us!
Strike Hold!
CPT Elizabeth McGovney
1st BCT, 82d Airborne
Division |
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-----Original Message-----
From: William Jones
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 9:55 AM
To: Hubbard, Paula
Subject: Thank You!
Hello! I just wanted you to know that we received your care package and
I've distributed amongst my men. Everyone was very thankful that you
thought of us and enjoyed the treats you enclosed. We've hung up the
girl scouts' cards on our dayroom wall to remind us of the people that
haven't forgotten us. Thank you!
LTC William Jones
Resident Engineer
Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge
Dear Mrs. Hubbard,
My name is CPT
Kathleen Moffatt, and I am the company commander of HHC, 1BCT 82nd
ABN. One of the officers in my company received a bunch of boxes from your
parents' club today, and I was with her when she opened them. We gave out a
bunch of the stockings and then put all the snacks and treats in the company
morale trailer. That is where the troopers go to use a computer or call home,
so they love to get other little things while they are there. I know they will
find plenty and something for everyone.
I am also a West
Point graduate from the Class of 2000. It really means a lot to me to know that
the parents' clubs that helped get us through 4 years of school are still here
helping us get through long deployments. Please thank the other contributors
and let them know that this company of troopers is very appreciative.
Thank you.
Kathleen Moffatt
Thank you for serving our country. The support we as soldiers receive
from American citizens, like you, make this all worthwhile. Thank you
for thinking about us during this holiday season and for taking time to
send a message of encouragement. It is an honor and privilege to serve
and protect grateful citizens like you.
God Bless,
John C.
Richie
CPT, IN
Houston Parents' Club,
Thank you so much
for taking care of me and my soldiers throughout this deployment. I want to
wish you all a Happy Holiday season and the best to you and your families.
Maybe I will get the chance to meet you all when I get home.
Happy Holidays and Many Thanks!
James Alfaro
Thank you all so much for the boxes of goodies. It is wonderful to know there
are people back home who take time out of their busy days for us. It is
starting to get cold here, so the hot chocolate was great to get along with all
the chocolate. I hope and pray everyone there has a wonderful Christmas and a
Happy New Year.
1LT Patricia
Barrett
LTC David J. Freeman
325th Combat
Support Hospital Al Asad Air Base, Iraq
Dear friends and
generous contributors,
On behalf of the many
deserving soldiers of the 325th Combat Support Hospital, Al Asad,
Iraq, permit me to express my deepest gratitude for the Herculean effort put
forth by all of you to make this Christmas a most memorable one. We
recognize not only your abundant generosity, but especially appreciate the
words of encouragement and prayers you offer on our behalf while serving our
great nation thousands of miles away from home. Many of our dedicated
soldiers might not have received anything from home without your
thoughtfulness and generosity.
As soon as my
email went out expressing the needs of individual soldiers, the response was
swift and overwhelming, as I believed it would be. Within days the boxes of
goodies started arriving. It was not so much the contents of the package,
although what was sent met specific needs, as the fact that the box was
addressed to an individual soldier adding a sense of connectedness to home.
Without exception every person who was listed on the “request list” received
several boxes full of an array of items. Some of my colleagues in other
departments made similar requests regarding soldiers in their work areas and
they too enjoyed an enthusiastic response. When the boxes were given out to
those in various sections of the hospital, we caught glimpses of these
soldiers quietly opening their unexpected gifts from generous patriots like
you. It was tempting to take photos of the experience, but decorum and
discretion dictated that those reflective moments go undisturbed. Suffice to
say there were many glistening eyes and much lip-biting, none the least of
which were ours. It was indeed a cherished moment for all.
For those of
you who graciously sent boxes filled with flannel pants, socks, T-shirts,
snacks, books, CDs , DVDs, house/shower shoes, toiletries and other personal
care items for the general troop/patient population …Mission Accomplished.
With the able assistance of the OICs and NCOICs of the Intensive Care Unit,
Intermediate Care Ward and the Specialty Clinics, the many contents of the
packages were distributed generously according to need. We will continue to
distribute these items to our injured patients as needs present.
Please know
of my heartfelt thanks, as well as those of our Command Staff,
physician/nurse providers, other professional staff and senior
non-commissioned officers. For those who coordinated the effort stateside in
response to the needs of the wounded and those serving away from home this
Christmas season, a special thank you to my wife, Evelyn, Dave Garrett of
Mission Foods, Kelly Franz of Pinnacle: Partners in Medicine and TJ Anderson
of Jackson, Mississippi. Each of you helped make this a memorable Christmas
for all of us.
And finally, a big
THANK YOU to all of you who sent various items to me personally, among which
was enough coffee to open my own coffee shop complete with nuts and cookies!
Know that your willingness to give selflessly to these deserving troops was
gift enough for me.
May
each of you have a blessed joyous Christmas season and Happy New Year!
In association with the "Gifts for Troops Program", Paula Hubbard has
received (on behalf of the West Point Parents Club of Greater Houston) a
U.S. flag that had been flown in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi
Freedom. Along with the flag, were the following two certificates:
In a message dated 5/3/2007 12:22:48 A.M.
Central Daylight Time, COL_haustein@hotmail.com writes:
Thanks for all that you're doing to support the troops that are
deployed. As a USMA grad and Houston resident that is deployed in
Afghanistan, your effort strikes close to home. If there is anything
that I can do to help you from Kabul for the next 6 months, please don't
hesitate to ask.
COL Steve Haustein
USMA '81
CSTC-Afghanistan
I apologize for the
tardiness of my e-mail, but I received another GREAT box from you and the
West Point Parents' Society of Houston a few days ago. I've been busy
lately flying missions and conducting an investigation for some government
property that a soldier lost, so I haven't had much time to e-mail. The
cookies and all the goodies in the box were awesome...I passed a bunch of
the stuff out to soldiers in my company, who really appreciated it! Thanks
again!
From: Morgan Brown
[mailto:x50767@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2007 6:10 AM
To: Hubbard, Paula
Subject:
Thanks so much for your
continued support. I am interested to know how the Larson family contacted
you ... I am a Texas native but my parents are San Antonio residents ... the
Browns. I am not sure if you know them. Anyway, all that is
irrelevant except to say thanks so much for your continued support, which is
doubly appreciated since it means you are reaching outside of the
Houston-area graduates. It helps me keep goin' and the food is great.
Please tell the Kottlowski family, another group of generous people I have
never met, that I enjoyed the package they prepared. They left me a
note inside.
God Bless,
Morgan Brown
PS Are any of the
Houston-area grads currently stationed in Ramadi? Interested to see if I
know them ...
From: rhonda kondo [mailto:rkondo@houston.rr.com]
Sent: Friday, April 20, 2007 9:43 PM
To: Hubbard, Paula
Subject: jacob's address
Hey Paula,
I went
to see my older son and his wife in Hawaii this last week. I was approached by
several wives who thanked me so much for the care packages you have sent to
their husbands. You are doing great things.
Jacob
has been in Taji. Which I believe in still north of Baghdad. I put a small
piece of his email below.
"I'm in
Taji right now and will be here for a while at least until we get
everything done here. . This place is an old Iraqi base and when we
first got over here in OIF1 we took it over and kicked all of the Iraqi
forces out. You can still see bullet holes and rpg rounds in the
buildings and all the old officer training areas where they trained the
Iraqi officers. I've been going pretty hard and I don't think I'll have
much time to write or check email, but maybe I will later. Just wanted
to let you know in case I don't write for an extended period. Life's
real busy, but I'm learning a lot and its really helping become a better
officer. You really start to learn a lot about yourself when your all
by yourself, but I'm doing fine, don't worry about me. Take care and
I'll talk to you later.
"
Thanks for sending him a few surprises.
Love,
Rhonda Kondo
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4 April 07
Dear West Point Parents Club,
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am belated in writing a
much deserved thank you note for the awesome Christmas boxes we
received here! Everything was snatched up quickly and so
much appreciated!
Everyone here is always impressed to see that the WPPCGH is
still taking care of her kids. My boss is a VMI grad, so I
rib him about where's your VMI Parents' Club love?
☻
Amazingly, I do miss
my USMA days and greatly enjoyed visiting Jeremy ('10) over my
R&R. I do hope to go back and teach in the future. I
fully believe that the values, discipline, character, and
leadership that are taught at WP is exactly what this Army needs
in its leaders. It's the LTs and CPTs that are making a
lot of key decisions in the battlefield.
You cadets are going to keep needing your support as they grow
and prep for the challenges of officer life. The more they
embrace the values and concepts of officership, the more
prepared they will be when they join our ranks. I am glad
to have my opportunities to lead some of these junior officers
as I get ready to take command.
Thank you so much for your support of us over here, for your
support of your cadets, and ultimately this country! It is
my honor to serve!
From Baghdad
Brittany Meeks
CPT, MP
USMA 2002 'Pride in All
We Do" |
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Mrs. Hubbard,
Last night I received your package – thank you so much! I
can't tell you how much it means to anyone serving over here to get things like
that. It's always nice to know people at home are thinking about us! I think the
oatmeal will be especially useful – while flying on the night shift we always
miss breakfast. Sometimes you just don't want to wake up and eat lunch!
I'm glad to hear you're receiving my e-mails. Hopefully there
will be some tidbits in there that will help your son out at some point. On that
note, if he needs absolutely anything in regards to deployment, Fort Hood,
graduation, or anything else, I would love to help answer his questions. Have
him e-mail me anytime. I think he'll really like Fort Hood. For the short time
that I was there I really began to enjoy it. Close to Austin, close to home,
lots of restaurants…it's no Las Vegas but really nothing to complain about!
Thanks again for the package. There's a lot of great stuff in
there that I'll certainly use. Please let the Parents' Club of Greater Houston
know how much I appreciate not just the stuff, but the thought too!
Lots of thanks,
Matthew Mazar
Dear Ms. Hubbard,
Thank you so much for care-package you sent us while we were on
deployment. Everything was so useful and thoughtful. Support
from you means so much. On behalf of myself & other troops, thank
you.
| |
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Kindest Regards,
Bill Jones
Virginia Beach,
VA |
From: James [mailto:aguila21@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2007 7:39 AM
To: Hubbard, Paula
Subject: Thank you
Mrs. Hubbard and the Houston Parents Club:
Thank you so much for the care package. It is always nice to
get mail and even better when it is from the Great State of Texas.
Everything that you sent me will be used by me or my soldiers. We
are living a good life here in Baghdad. We have running water, TV
and even internet in our rooms if we pay for it. Things are not
that bad here.
I am a 2005 grad and currently in an EOD (Explosive Ordnance
Disposal) company. We are responsible for the IEDs around the
Baghdad area. Our unit is stationed out of Ft. Stewart, GA.
We are about two months done on this deployment and it feels like being
a firstie again counting the days until graduation!
Thank you again for the care package. We really appreciate
everything that y'all do for us. And it is never too early for a
Go ARMY, Beat Navy!
Respectfully,
LT James Alfaro
Captain Clayton L. Combs, Commanding
Paula,
I
just wanted to drop you a note to say thank you for the care packages
you sent to the fellas. Thank you for taking the time and effort
to send us a little piece of home. I appreciated your note, and
wanted to wish your son, the best of luck. The fact that your
oldest is going Combat Arms means he will be in the very best of hands.
Please give the parents club my best wishes and pass along my
appreciation. I hope the new year finds you all well. Please
continue to pray for us as we get through this year together.
Thank you again.
Clay Combs
Click
here to view a video
from Iraq provided by USMC MSgt A. M. Magallon
Gifts for Troops Links
Related Links
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