American Red Cross of Florida's Gulf Region Shares Soldiers' Letters of Appreciation
The American Red Cross Stockings for the Troops event
held at Arthrex on Friday,
November 8, 2013, was a huge success thanks to many Arthrex
employees and American Red Cross volunteers who stuffed 1,000 stockings that
were shipped to members of our U.S. military serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and
other overseas locations. Our local chapter of the American Red Cross shared the following
two letters of appreciation thanking Arthrex and other volunteers of Southwest
Florida for their thoughtfulness this past holiday season...
"I want to thank you so
much for all of the items that you and the AMAZING people of Lee and Collier
Counties provided to us," said Sergeant First Class Doileen Dolo. "It
is more than we could wish for. Today one of the boxes containing personal
items, snacks, socks and books was delivered to the soldiers (about 25+
soldiers) that are currently responsible for making sure all of our equipment
makes it back home. Those guys and girls have a very important job and they are
truly grateful that you all put in so much of your time and money for them."
"I
wanted to personally thank you for the care packages I received here in
Afghanistan (AFG) from the American Red Cross," said US Army First
Lieutenant Octave A. Houdegbe, UH-60 Blackhawk Pilot.
"My platoon and company
are extremely appreciative of the holiday stockings and food as it was a very
thoughtful expression of your patriotism and kindness. I am a 24-year-old
Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot and Platoon Leader with 51 soldiers under my command.
After I graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2011, I commissioned
through Army ROTC and moved to Fort Rucker, AL to begin my flight training. I
graduated and pinned on my Aviator Wings on February 20, 2013. Upon graduation,
I moved to Fort Hood, TX and trained for seven months before deploying to
Afghanistan for the first time.
"My platoon is responsible for the maintenance of the three
Army helicopters; the UH-60 Blackhawk, CH-47 Chinook and AH-64 Apache
Longbow. Here in Camp Marmal, Mazar-e Sharif, AFG we are located West of the
Hindu Kush Mountain range and experience a desert-like climate. Some days the
dust is so heavy in the air that you have less than a mile of visibility. There
are no trees and the sandy landscape can get very boring to look at day after
day. Fortunately, being a pilot, I have greater appreciation of the environment
for being able to see the snow-capped mountains from the air. The weather has
drastically shifted in the past two weeks with lows in the 20s and highs in the
40s. Luckily, it'll be back in the 100s within a few months, since that's what
we're used to back in Texas. Snow hasn't settled on the ground just yet, but
the mountain ranges are covered in it. Needless to say, it'll be a
"sandy" Christmas here in Afghanistan! I'm confident that with some
of the Christmas decorations that have been left here from past soldiers over
the years that we'll be able to decorate the aircraft hangars and get these
troops into the holiday spirit!
"The holidays are always
the hardest part of any deployment and the most challenging of times to lead soldiers.
Online social media platforms like Facebook are an excellent tool for staying
in touch with family and friends, but a constant reminder to our troops of what
they're missing out on while being deployed. As packages arrive we all share
them with each other and ensure that our youngest soldiers receive the support
first. Out of my 51 soldiers, their ages range between 19 and 42 years old, and
believe it or not, I only have two female soldiers. Included is a photo of
myself and my platoon. Unfortunately, there are 12 soldiers missing from the
photo that were conducting details at the time and were unable to leave their
place of duty. Again, I would like to express my deepest gratitude and
appreciation for your care packages and I hope you have a wonderful and safe
holiday season!"