A letter from Loretta in Iraq

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Lynne-

WOW!! many gracious thanks to you and your friends, I appreciate the support as do many of my army buddies. As Marion has mentioned we take items of need to the Wounded Warrior Wing at the Balad Air Force Hospital and hand them out to Soldiers who have illness or have been wounded in action and receiving treatment most are non serious to serious but not enough to warrant medical evacuation to Germany or the states. Many of these Soldiers have injuries are caused by flying debris to vehicle accidents most are a result of Improvised Explosive Devices IED's. Others are burns, gunshots small arms and multiple trauma injuries caused by the vehicles rolling over to avoid or hit by IED's. These are the Soldiers who deserve the thanks. I work for a Logistical General Command that is responsible for all areas of supply for the entire theater of Iraq. This means our Soldiers in our Brigades send Soldiers on the road to protect the supply routes and clear the routes for the transportation of the supplies via Air and Convoy. The Command coordinates the movement of the supplies with transportation battalions and air wing groups. We control and monitor the amount of supplies to include bottled water, fuel, mail, vehicles...you name it we are able to order it and ship it to its final destination. Think of it as the worlds largest Wal Mart supplying all sustaining items to operate a large city (at war).

My piece of the puzzle involves the personnel aspect; my office manages all the personnel that it takes to run the operation and maintains the operating strength above 70%. We conduct a huge audit of Soldiers on the battlefield every day and package it and present it to the commanding
general in a formal briefing each day. We manage 20-26 thousand Soldiers in our office. It has its days but even the bad days are not the worst it could be, we always consider ourselves fortunate that we are not on the road daily dodging IED's or flying in Blackhawk helicopters that are being targeted for high value kills. My staff and I work in an office, it's sparse but adequate with little or no excitement unless we are under attack with mortars or VBIED vehicle borne IED's.

Please know that I will share in the kindness of hearts with all that I have contact with here at LSA Anaconda in Balad Iraq and also know that Soldiers do appreciate the thoughtfulness especially items like yours that are hand made.

I will take some pictures and send to you showing a little of what its like here with this I attached a few of myself with some of my fellow comrades in arms.

Thanks again
Peace and most of all love
Loretta Vandeborne
Sergeant First Class US Army