I immediately knew that I wanted to write a soldier gone to war, wait for their response and write my story. Impossible... the story was due in 2 days. So instead I decided to write my letter and write a story based on what I wrote.
That night I went home and wrote a letter. I had know idea who I was going to send this letter to. I knew I few people who were deployed, mainly spouses of my moms employees or family friends I didn't really know. But I wanted this letter to go to someone I really didn't know.
I googled "send a letter to a soldier." The first search to come up was a site called "Any Soldier." I read though the site and I realized that you could mail to soldiers who get little to no mail at all. This is exactly what I wanted to do!
The bad part... I had to pick from a list of over 2,000 soldiers who I wanted to send my letter to. How could I possibly pick who to send to?
The first person I clicked on, James. I read through the message he wrote, but I didn't know if I should send it to him or not.
I then went through a few others based on male, female, what branch they were in, when they posted. But I couldn't decided on who to send to. Finally I decided I should pick something that was significant to me... so I thought my birthday. I clicked on a few but it was recommending not sending to anyone who they haven't heard from in that long.
I then decided that I would go back to the most recent added people count down 8 (my lucky number) Army people (since that is who we mostly served at my internship).
James ---> was the 8th Army soldier on the list. Fate. And my letter would be sent to him.
It had been almost two weeks and I had heard anything from him. I was watching a Christmas movie and I began to think about the website. So I went back to it and began to read more on it.
It is the job of any soldier who is on the website to pass on the mail to someone who doesn't get any mail. (Uh-oh, I didn't read enough!) I was so set on James getting my letter mainly because I believe there was a reason he was the 8th Army soldier.
From there I used facebook. I found him and sent him probably the weirdest message he has ever received in his life. I explained that he should be getting a letter and that although it's his job to pass it on I really want him to keep it.
Turns out I messaged the right person and the letter hasn't been passed on.
James is currently in Italy and is deploying within a few days. We have talked everyday via facebook chat for 2 weeks now. We are both looking forward to him getting my letter when he gets to Afghanistan. He will be deployed for about a year and 3 months. And we have plans to write the entire time.
I ask that everyone keeps him in your prayers for a safe return home!
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