Letter from Chris Van Cott, SFC, US Army, Afghanistan

Hello, My name is Sergeant First Class Christopher Van Cott and I am an Infantryman and Senior Human Resources Specialist in the United States Army. Currently I'm deployed to Afghanistan and work in a job twofold, helping to furiously defeat the Taliban and its supporters, and providing mentorship/advise to Afghan leadership by implementing literacy and language proficiency programs; thereby helping to sustain and educate their forces for a greater future. In other words, I eliminate the Taliban and educate the Afghanistan forces. Recently, I received a package from your organization and I'm very delighted and amazed you took the time to create it! I opened the contents and I'm sharing it with my comrades. The two pictures are me as a security force atop Mt. Ghar, Afghanistan (7200 ft above sea level). I want to personally thank you for doing what you do. It's upstanding, great American Citizens like yourselves who help motivate our military's spirit to do what it does. I've been in the military for nearly 15 years now with 2 solid deployments into hostile areas and one humanitarian deployment as well. It's unfortunate some warriors come home to either: citizens who depreciate what the warrior does, or a community that shames them for providing the very blanket of freedom they sleep under. I take great pride in what I do and have done so throughout my entire career. My brother also served for 4 years in the Marine Corps and served in Iraq. If he was asked to rescind his time overseas he would say never, and his reason would be because of citizens like you! What you do is honorable. I believe I can speak for all of us service members in saying, "Thank you from the bottom of our hearts and we really appreciate your support!" I look forward to serving with my brothers and sisters in harm's way or wherever my country sends me. And as long as I know you are safe, I'll continue doing it! Lastly, I'll be back and I look forward to continuing my help with organizations like yours. Take care, God Bless, and be safe while I continue my march. Chris Van Cott SFC, US Army Afghanistan "All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time."