Letter # 16

A little background on this letter.... This was the first letter that J sent to L after being deployed in Iraq. He included a drawing of himself with the letter.

L,
It is now May and in four months, we will have known each other one year. It makes me pretty happy to know this. Time seems to fly by when I'm busy. Don't take this the wrong way, but I prefer to work hard, so not to think about you as much. When we have nothing to do I become an emotional rollarcoaster. Happy you're in my life, happy to know you are the one waiting for me, then so dissapointed that I can't spend these days with you. Then happy again because I know deep down that I see this light at the end of the tunnel. Its me and you feeding ducks, pondside, during a cool Mass summer day.

So you want to know what I do for a living, have you heard of the term "seek and destroy?" I hunt terrorists and their supplyloads. Don't worry they usually don't stay to fight, they can't shoot straight at all. On my team there are four positions: Team Leader (Me), Saw Gunner (S), Grenader (F), and Rifleman (empty). As the TL I control where and when they shoot and also how fast they shoot.

Well I need to wrap this up, very late and I'm writing this under a head lamp. Please don't mind the handwriting and spelling, because I don't (haha). You're all I want. Pretty soon its going to be a lot of cocktails and moonlit skies.

Your soldier,
J


I like this letter a lot because it is pretty honest. When you're in those beginning stages of your relationship, you usually spend those times together doing the cutesey things that J refers to, like feeding ducks, or if you're luckier, you can enjoy that stuff throughout your entire couple-hood. He talks about how he is glad time is passing quickly because he can see the light (begins with the letter L.... like the receiver :) ) at the end of his tunnel. This letter I think represents those euphoric times you have with your lover, before you start getting a little pissy with each other over the silly stuff sometimes... I know I'm not the only one. I feel bad for these two because they had to spend some of their get-to-know-each-other-and-feel-each-other-out time apart, but each couple has their own fingerprint and unique experience and being apart because of the war is part of theirs'. As I have expressed before, I really enjoy love letters that were written over a distance or an event, like war... or it could be personal travels or two people who are simply stretched over a distance because of work. I think people are very truthful with their feelings in these kind of letters, because nine times out of 10, that letter is their significant other's representation of them until the next letter comes.
- Amber