Thanks for Pesach items sent to the troops in the Middle East.
  While I am not an active military member, I was on active duty during Vietnam, spent 22 months there, and then nearly 35 years as a active Reservist, so I know what it is like to be away from family during the Jewish holiday and Holy Day cycles.
 I am employed here in Kuwait with the International Broadcasting Bureau and my family and I participate in services with Rabbi Soussan at Camp Arifjan, south of Kuwait City.
  Again, thanks for helping us, both the uniformed members of the US armed forces and the fewer of us as civilians, in support of our country's aims and goals in the region. J. and S., and daughter M.

Dear Friends:
  Thanks so much for the MOT Passover box.  I am a civilian supporting troops at Camp Virginia USO in Kuwait.  A friend and I participated in the Passover seders at Camp Arifjan (which is 2 hours travel from where we are).  Rabbi Soussan conducted two of the nicest, warmest, most delightful, hysterical and thought provoking seders I've ever been to.  There were approximately 30 troops and families the first night and 20 of us the second night.  I was thrilled to receive the MOT box and find the Jewish Journal (I had stopped my subscription when I moved from LBC to Kuwait), the book by Rabbi Telushkin (aka Joseph Letushkin, BCI August 1976), the cake (breakfast this morning), and various other very-much-needed gifts and supplies. 
I was even more delighted when I saw that my cousin Joan Glanz Rimmon is one of the MOT supporters.  Please know that we (the troops and those of us in country supporting them) very much appreciate your thoughtfulness, consideration and generosity.  It's difficult to be here away from family, but it's much easier with the gifts, notes, jokes, cards, supplies and prayers included in the MOT box.  Thank you. B. B.
[Joan's note: I had no idea B. B. was there and I was wondering what her email was doing in the ProjectMOT mail box.]

  Thank you for your wonderful packages. As the Jewish lay leader here in Kabul, I handed them out at our recent Seder and they were a great hit.
 

  I have attached a photo taken that night for you to share with your colleagues. Please let them all know how much the men and women here truly appreciated your kind efforts.
 

                                  Sincerely, P. D. W. COL (ret), USA

Dear Project MOT members,
  Thank you so much for your notes, letters, and all the Passover items you sent to us at Al Asad Air Base. Our appreciation extends not just to the physical items you sent but to your kindness and thoughtfulness in doing so. It makes us feel appreciated and cared for during our absence from home and our families.
  Just to bring a more personal note to this, I will share my background with you. I am a Reserve Navy Commander and Supply Corps Officer. I am here with the Seabees who assist the Marines in building things inside and outside of the air base where we live. Many of our officers are civil engineers and the sailors all have construction expertise. I’m a little different in that I’ve never been in the construction business. I am a reservist and this is the first time I will have been deployed for 8 months without my family. The last time I volunteered for active duty, I was able to take my family to Spain for two years. In this mobilization I was given only six weeks notice and had to put everything on hold, including my civilian business (I sell body armor, believe it or not).  I have a wife and two daughters, H*, age 12 (almost 13) and E*, age 18. H* was due to have her Bat Mitzvah this June but we had to delay it until next January so that I could be home to celebrate with her. E* is graduating high school in a few months and I will, unfortunately, miss her graduation and start of college. My family has been very understanding although we miss each other very much. We do talk on the phone often and send emails every day.
  There is no Jewish Chaplain (Rabbi) here but usually someone volunteers as the Jewish Lay Leader. I am assisting in the organizing for Passover and a Chaplain from the US is coming to celebrate Passover with us. There is only a small group of Jews on the base and they come and go all the time with various deployment schedules. I don’t know yet how many will turn out for Passover but large or small, it is still a community.
  We look forward to using all of the Judaica and food items you sent. It will help make our Pesach celebration that much more fulfilling. On behalf of the Jewish sailors and soldiers stationed at AA, thank you once again. Best wishes for Pesach. W. T.

Dear MOT members,
  I was recipient of your wonderful gift to the Jewish soldiers in Iraq of supplies for our Seder. I am the public affairs chief for the Corps of Engineers Gulf Region North District. Although I am a civilian government employee, I did spend 20 years in the Navy.
  Our Seder was held at the airport control tower, in what use to be the living quarters of the Iraqi soldiers who worked at the airport in Tikrit. Tikrit was Saddam Hussan's home town and a strategic base for U.S. forces. 
  As the picture shows, we had a good and diverse group of participants both young and old. This is the third foreign country that I have celebrated Passover. I am sorry that I missed by wife's hosting of the Seder in H* P*, IL, but your gift made it a most enjoyable event and brought a touch of home to our group so far away.
 Once again, thanks for what you are doing. Your support reassures us of our decision to help bring some semblance to this neglected nation and its people.

Seder at Tikrit Airport Control Tower