A Sweet Show of Patriotism

Jersey Shore Girl Scout Troop 706....How precious are they?!

I want to say a heartfelt Thank You to Jersey Shore Girl Scout Troop 706.... they donated 139 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to Soldiers in Afghanistan. My son and his platoon were the grateful recipients of this sweet show of patriotism and I am an appreciative mama!!

 The thank you letter my son wrote to the girls was so sweet to me that I wanted to share part of it. 

The Letter...in part...
My name is 1LT (first lieutenant) Andrew Mayville. I am a platoon leader, currently serving in Afghanistan. As a platoon leader, I am in charge of a lot of Soldiers. It's my job to take care of them and make sure they stay safe. The Soldiers in my platoon are in the Field Artillery, which means we shoot really big cannons to protect other Americans and the nice villagers ofAfghanistan. It's a fun, but very loud, job. The cannons we shoot are M77A2 Howitzers but everybody just calls them "triple sevens". They are very big and can shoot very far. 

 We're on a FOB in the mountains of Afghanistan. FOB means Forward Operating Base, it's where Soldiers live over here. Since we are up in the mountains, it got really cold this winter with a whole bunch of snow. We're thankful that spring is here and the weather is now really nice. I hope the weather in NJ is really nice for you all. It is so hot here now, some of my Soldiers wish it would snow again! Luckily you have the shore to go to when it gets too hot. There's no ocean over here, but that's alright.
Sometimes things over here get hard. Everyday we see bad things happen. I know that you girls have had it hard too with Hurricane Sandy. It is hard for even us to understand why these things happen, but one thing is for sure...things ALWAYS get better! When it's tough for us over here, we look to our left and right at our brothers standing here with us.

It's important to be able to rely on friends and family to help us through those hard times. 

Your Girl Scout Troop is like that, too. You all have sisters with you there and sometimes you have to look to them for support. It is especially heart warming that through your own hard times, you still continued to give support to others. You all are remarkable young ladies and it's people like YOU who make the United States the best country in the world!
We absolutely LOVED all the cookies you sent to us. We ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (but don't tell our moms!). That was very sweet of you all to think of us. I want each of you to know that while we are over here doing our part, it's these acts of kindness that keep us going! When things get hard here and when we miss our families, a box of Girl Scout cookies goes a long way to make us feel better. We all got the picture of your troop and we have it hanging up on our wall to remind us why we are here. You all look sharp in your uniforms, just like us! So, on behalf of all the Bulldog Soldiers of 1st Platoon, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so so much for the cookies and support! You girls are awesome!
Take care Girl Scouts and keep up the great work on the home front!!!

God Bless America, her Soldiers, and her Girl Scouts

Respectfully, Andrew Mayville

Bulldogs of 1st Platoon....they are precious, too!

Don't miss even the smallest opportunities to be a hero.

Happy Independence Day 

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