There’s no better feeling for American military personnel in a far away land than to receive a letter from a loved one. But this is close competition. It’s a letter to you, me and all Americans, from an executive officer in our armed forces from the front lines in Mosul, Iraq.
As the cavalry troop commander, Lightning Troop, 3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and nearing the completion of his third tour of Iraq, Capt. Hunter Bowers is an exemplary model of a soldier and a fine representation of the quality personnel we have defending our country. He has been serving for more than a year now in the last bastion of al-Qaida in Iraq (Mosul), the progress of which I wrote about in my last column as “The most overlooked news story of 2008.” His Christmas greeting from the front lines not only strengthens what I wrote, but it is reinforced itself by the fact that just before sending me this letter, he and his troops returned from another humanitarian aid mission in which they handed out 2,000 more pounds of food to a poor neighborhood in Mosul.
Thank you for taking the time to write us, Capt. Bowers. Your words comfort our hearts and give us (as you say) “the real story in Iraq” and especially the good our service men and women are doing there right now. Maybe with your letter we can at last inform all Americans and align all of mainstream media with the truths of your progress.
God bless you and all who serve this Christmas season!
Your friend,
Chuck Norris
December 2008
Dear families, friends and all Americans,
During this Christmas season I would like to take the time to express my deepest thanks for your wishes, praises and concerns for our troopers here in Mosul, Iraq.
The holiday season is a time of giving, rejoicing, thanks and most of all family. Although we are thousands of miles away from our families, we will be thinking of our families and friends and will still participate in the same seasonal holidays and activities. We have many things to be thankful for during this time. These things range in everything from family, friends, supporters of our cause, each other, our country and her free citizens, and most of all, the success we have had here in Iraq.
During this past week, Chuck Norris wrote a column speaking of the success of Iraq and what the reality of it is and how it is portrayed in the media. Some media outlets only portray the violence of Iraq and that is fine, but I want to tell you that there are far more nonviolent acts than violent. There are daily meetings with local sheiks, mukhtars, civic leaders and politicians, as well as humanitarian aid and civil affair missions that have helped shape Mosul into a better place today for the civilians. Our troop has conducted more civil affair and humanitarian aid missions than I can ever recall my entire last battalion having done here in my two previous tours in Iraq.
Let me be the first to tell you, as a cavalry troop commander on the ground, that we have been very successful here in Mosul. Success can be measured in many ways. I measure the success of my ground cavalry troop by the day-to-day dealings and patrols that we conduct with the Iraqi army, police and most of all, local civilians. Since we arrived here in November 2007 we have seen a drastic difference in Mosul. When we first arrived in Mosul, there were very few Iraqi army and police units conducting operations, civilians did not move about the city freely, and most of all, the total number of daily incidents of insurgent attacks was outrageous. This is not true today.
 Capt. Bower’s soldiers work with Iraqi security forces to bring food to poor areas in Mosul, Iraq |
When one traverses the city of Mosul now, they notice the amount of civilians that are moving freely about the city. This is because they now feel safe and have had security provided to them by their own Iraqi Security Forces. Attacks are way down in numbers compared to this time last year, and now a large majority of ISF operations are being conducted jointly between the Iraqi army and police. When our unit arrived in Iraq, our mission was to provide security to the civilians while at the same time, ridding the city of insurgents. Although the city is not totally free of insurgents, the amount of them and their freedom to conduct attacks is severely hampered. With Iraqi army and police forces in the lead, we have been able to establish a very competent security force for Mosul. The Iraqi army and police’s ability to plan and conduct operations with U.S. forces in a follow-and-support role, has led to this success.
This aforementioned success was obviously not something that happened over night. This success is the result of many man hours and sacrifices made by not only our Coalition Force soldiers, but also by all Iraqi Security Forces as well. We have spent countless hours helping them to construct new traffic control points, outposts all over the city, as well as joint operations. We have also developed relationships with not only the ISF leaders but the local leaders and civilians as well. They have our trust and know that the ISF will prevail in the overall mission, even after coalition forces pull out of Iraq.
This success is what I wish that everyone could see. It is not nearly as enticing as violence, which leads in the media, but it is the real story here in Iraq. I just hope that you spread the word of what the real story is here in Iraq, and that is that the Iraqi army and police are doing a tremendous job and that it is not without the hard work and dedication of our soldiers. Our soldiers are dedicated to the mission and their duty. They understand that the harder they work now, the more likely they will not have to come back to Iraq in years to come.
It is for these reasons and this success that we must be thankful. It is also something you should to be thankful for during this holiday season. Please continue to support our troops, and from here in Mosul, Iraq, and on behalf of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, we wish you all a happy holiday season and look forward to a safe return in the coming weeks.
I would also like to extend my seasonal greetings and love to my family and friends. I also extend those wishes to all of my troopers’ families. I also wish my immediate family, Patti and Ken Johnson, Tom and Barbara Bowers and Kat and Paul Connerty happy holidays as well. I would especially like to thank my wife, Lyza, for all her love and support, for this is our fourth holiday season to be apart since 2002.
Merry Christmas America,
Capt. Hunter Bowers
Lightning Troop, 3rd Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment
(In the spirit of Christmas, Chuck is giving away a free chapter from his New York Times best-seller, “Black Belt Patriotism.” To obtain yours, go to ChuckNorrisNewBook.com. “Black Belt Patriotism” would make a great Christmas gift for anyone – and a particular encouragement to any friend or loved one in the military!)
Let’s curb the kangaroo court of anonymous sources
Tim Graham