This is Marit in Dayton, Ohio. Nice to have you on the program.

Hi, Russ. I actually just wanted to thank you. I am a wife and sister of two Army soldiers.

My brothers serve three tours in Afghanistan and my husband's now in Iraq.

It's set to do a year and it's nice to know that there are other people going over there

and telling them that they're doing a great job and we're all ready for them to come home.

We love them and we support them and they're doing the right thing.

Thank you. They are special people. It was an honor to be able to talk to them and convey

what I think to be the majority sentiments of the people in this country.

But I want to tell you, they were... We were Kandahar.

Kandahar is the place where there still are skirmishes going on.

There was mortar fire the night we were there. No, we're nearest but at the base. The base is huge.

One of the things that I noticed when I had that troop event is that these people would all tell me

what an honor it was to meet me. I thank them. But I'm honest here folks.

I can't tell you how small I felt compared to these.

These are the age range anywhere from 18 to 30 and even older.

Some of the commanding officers over there have been a career military and been around for a long time.

I'll be honest.

When I got there second day, I was looking forward to leaving.

It was not a pleasant experience in terms of just living.

It was not anything in America that is accustomed to.

I had it better than the troops did in the accommodations that I had.

They were nothing to write home about. I'm not complaining about it.

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