Letter from child highlights appreciation

  • Published
  • By Col. Riley Porter
  • 189th Airlift Wing commander
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. (AFPN) --  It's always special when something unexpectedly brightens your day. It happened to me the other day when children from a local elementary school sent letters to the family support center to forward to our deployed Air Guard members.

One letter, written by fourth-grader Calie Barron, caught my attention.

"Dear Soldier," the letter started. Never mind that we're airmen. I'll let her slide because soldier is a term used to describe all service members except Marines.

"Thanks for being brave for us and going to Iraq and stop(ing) them for us," she wrote.

Calie, it is a brave and honorable thing we do. We volunteered to serve our country, and we are proud to defend upstanding citizens like you who appreciate our service.

But it was her last sentence that stuck with me: "Another thing I want to thank you for is thanks for being there for us when we needed you the most."

Maybe this young girl is wise beyond her years. Perhaps she already understands you can't just create the world's greatest military overnight. It takes years and years of training, honing the skills of each airman to the razor's edge.

In the Guard, we hone those skills during every unit-training assembly weekend and during annual training each summer. It is important that we put forth maximum effort every day. People like Calie are counting on us.

She concluded her letter with a simple, "Your friend, Calie Barron."

I haven't met Ms. Calie, but I think she's the kind of person I'd like to call a friend, too. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)