Well, it has been a busy year preparing for this week! I'm exceedingly excited to see everyone again, and as always, wish everyone the best of luck!

Here are a few more words from the previously published letter:

"From my own personal experience, it is not just the people of Iraq benefiting from this, but most soldiers are developing a much greater appreciation for life back in the States.

A phrase I use quite often is that I can’t wait to get back to the good life
again. This deployment truly opened my eyes to all the blessings I have back
home, particularly the people. I now realize I took for granted all I had. Two things in particular made
me conscious of the good life: the quality of life the Iraqi citizens currently live, and the lack of
freedom that comes with living here. Back home I could take a 15-minute shower and not
think twice; and here the people are happy to have water suitable for drinking. I
used to be able to hop in the car and drive to the next town and not even think
much of it, here I have to throw on 50+ pounds of body armor and hope I don’t
get hit with a roadside bomb."

I received some statistics recently regarding how blessed we are here in the United States; if there
were one hundred people in the world, one would attend college.  One more would have a computer.
Six of those one hundred people would control 50% of the world's wealth ... and all six of those would
be from the United States.  Whenever I'm feeling upset about something, I remind myself of this and
am thankful for all the blessings we have here.

Again, good luck to all, and I am looking forward to seeing you all to tomorrow!

~Amanda