UW-Green Bay care packages bring
touch of home to Iraq

A University flag is featured in this photo from Iraq in recognition of the UW-Green Bay faculty, staff and students who contributed to care packages for the troops. As part of Veterans Appreciation activities in November, staff member Elaina Koltz coordinated shipments of snacks, reading material and personal items to military personnel serving overseas. They also sent a campus flag so the Northeastern Wisconsin contingent could show its hometown pride.

Recipients — including former UW-Green Bay students Craig Destree and Ryan McGrew — responded this month with photos and letters of appreciation, noting that they were also able to share some of the food and writing materials with Iraqi children.

Destree (standing in the photo above) displays the UW-Green Bay flag in his bunk area, but because of the cramped quarters, chose to photograph it instead with his vehicle and buddy Ryan Fulcer (himself a grad student at Marquette).

To read the service members' letters, see below.

January 2, 2007

Dear Elaina Koltz, UW-Green Bay Staff and Students,

    Thank you from all the soldiers of the 121 FA for the package. The contents were great and are very much appreciated. Our mission here is going well, and we are approximately halfway through our deployment. We offer convoy security to convoys all over the country of Iraq. I am a medic, and support my platoon. The job is tough, but we are making an impact. Thanks again for all the support at home, and I look forward to returning to your great school.

Thanks!
SPC Ryan McGrew

Jan. 11, 2007

To the Faculty, Staff and Student Body of UWGB,

    I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for your efforts in collecting items for those of us deployed overseas. The monotonous lifestyle over here dissipates quickly upon receiving any mail, much less a package. The volume of mail that we receive is incredible and reassures me that despite the politics of this war, people have not used the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines as tools of the debate. It is a sign of our nation's maturation and I am hopeful for the prospects such a development offers for the years ahead.

    All the items were put to good use, either by myself or others around me. Even in Iraq, people are indulgent during the holidays. It is no doubt a difficult time for us but one shared with us by our loved ones at home and even by acquaintances and strangers. This universal emotion helps dissolve any disconnect between the civilians and the military that is so easily perceived over here. Some of the items were even shared with the Iraqi children, who take great delight in being given even a pen and paper, much less candy and snacks. So on their behalf I thank you as well.

    A little about myself: My unit is stationed on the Iraq-Kuwait border. We escort convoys into and out of Iraq, a mission that has brought us to nearly every FOB in the country and allowed us to see most of the country. We are almost halfway through our deployment and many of us are beginning to grow anxious (it is much too early to be growing anxious). I have a wife who lives in Green Bay and when I return I plan on resuming my studies in biology and chemistry at UWGB while she hopefully will have graduated and found a job in her respective field.

    Again I thank you for all you have done, and I am particularly grateful to Elaina Koltz and anyone who has assisted her directly.

Sincerely,
Craig Destree