'Stand Behind Us'

Marine Pvt. Noah L. Boye
March 20, 2004

Dear Mom,
Well, I am finally in Iraq.  I've been here for about three days. I can't tell you exactly where I am due to security reasons. I'm fairly close to Baghdad though. It's not too bad here I guess. We about to take over for 82nd Airborn. These guys are so lazy. We drove here in a big convoy from Kuwait. It's only like 360 miles, but it took like 14 hours 'cause we had to make a couple stops or the vehicles would overheat.

We also found some explosives rigged up on the side of the road. Those f---s fight so chickens---. We only took fire once at the rear of the convoy, but they took care of that. When we showed up to the camp we told the Army guys that we took only that one contact and they were amazed 'cause they said contact is constant when they go out. They realized when they saw us show up that it's the way we conduct ourselves out on patrol. They said it's the constant vigilance, alertness and readiness that makes Iraqis not want to engage us. I like it that way. I was kind of hoping they'd try to hit us 'cause they don't attack in very big groups so we would have slaughtered them. It's kind of sick to think that way, but that's what this place does to me knowing that these cowards are killing Americans by hiding explosives in dead animals and trash along the highway.  These aren't just pop-ups you throw on the ground either, these are artillery rounds connected to fuzes ready to blow at the push of a button.  And these things will f--- your world up. But we've been traning the last couple of months just on how to spot them, avoid them, and kill the motherf---ers settin it off. Once these guys try to hit us with one of these everyone's gonna come to that final realization and it's gonna piss us off and we're gonna be relentless and not stop killin' til there's no one left to kill. Especially, if any of our Marines gets hurt bad. That's just a little 411 on the situation. Don't worry too much. I can't die anyway. I'm too good lookin' ...
Love always,
Noah

Boye, 21, of Grand Island, Neb., was killed April 13, 2004, when he came under hostile fire near Fallujah.

Army Sgt. Zachary R. Wobler
January 2004 (open letter to U.S. citizens)

My Fellow Americans:
I am a United States Army Ranger. I am twenty-three years old, I look thirty-two and I feel like I am fifty. On a daily basis I put my body through hell, so when needed I can move further, faster, and fight harder for you. I do not choose my battlefields. I do, however, choose my citizenship. I am a patriot. I bleed red, white, and blue, for you. I have a three-year-old daughter. I've missed two-thirds of her life. Everyday I think of my friends that have died, and I fight back tears. I carry a set of dog tags in my pocket, lest I forget. I spend my holiday season staring at a six-inch, fiber optic Christmas tree that my Mother sent me. I pray for forgiveness. I've done things that I'm not proud of, but I'm not ashamed of them either, because I did them for you. I prefer the road less traveled.  I don't do what I do for personal recognition, glory, pity, or money. I do it for you, my fellow Americans. And now I ask one thing of you. Stand behind us. If you choose to degrade my Commander-in-Chief for his decisions, try living in one of the nations of the oppressed.  Our nation is a strong, proud nation capable of defeating any enemy. But to do it, we must all, civilians and soldiers, stand behind each other. Visit Arlington National Cemetery. Those that lie there are my brothers-in-arms, my friends, and OUR fellow Americans.

Wobler, 24, of Snowflake, Va., was killed Feb. 6, 2005, by insurgent fire in Mosul. He lies at rest in Section 60, on the corner of York and Marshall Roads, at Arlington National Cemetery.