A Fallen Soldier's E-mails to Home
Well, I must go for now because I need to sleep. I love you guys and really need your prayers and so do my men. May God give us the strength in the face of such senselessness.
Skipper
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From: Darrell Griffin, Sr.
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2005 11:27 AM
To: Darrell Griffin, Jr.
Subject: RE: bad day, skipper
Son we love you very much. God gave us minds and we are allowed to doubt.
The only explanation that satisfies me when I ask myself where is God today are the following:
1. C. S. Lewis (from the book that You and Diana got me for Christmas) said that early man felt he was on trial before God and modern man feels that God is on trial before him. We now live [in] a society/world where we always question God. This is not a bad thing, but our acceptance of the ability to question God's judgement does add significant complexity to our relationship with him.
2. When I think of my love for Mom and her love for me, I understand my relationship with God. I would not want the love of Mom if I forced her to love me. When her love is given freely to me, it is a gift that is just beneath the gifts [of] our Lord, but far above any imaginable earthly pleasures. Our relationship with God is similar. He loves us so much that he stays out of our (the people of this planet) way and lets us go on our way, be it good or bad. Unfortunately, man has a way of constantly screwing things up and constantly coming back for forgiveness from God.
There was a story of an American in Asia that was caught up in the Tsunami that killed over 150,000 people last week. He said that as he clung to a tree for survival for 8 hours, he talked to God for the first time in 10 years.
You are seeing things that no man or woman should ever have to see. You have a strong relationship with God. God will see you through this ordeal.
He has great plans for you, which may not be in the Army, or may be in the Army. As I have told you on a number of occasions, once you let me know which direction (the Army or no-Army) I will deploy whatever resources I have to help you in the direction that you and Diana choose.
We love you and as always we pray for you, [your] men and Diana daily.
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From: Darrell Griffin, Jr.
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 5:28 AM
To: Darrell (DAD) Griffin
Subject: Skipper checkin' in
How are you all? Hopefully this e-mail finds you guys doing well. As I write, I can hear the 21 gun salute firing for the soldier that was killed right in front of me. I forgot that the memorial service was today and it made me jump right out of my seat! Well, it was a quiet 24 hr. rotation at the castle in Tall'Afar. That is what we have been doing for awhile. We will go on missions outside of the castle such as raids, cordon/searches, cordon/knocks, and route interdictions. If not on these missions, we guard this old castle along with Iraqi police that are too scared to do their jobs. We called in an air strike yesterday with AH-64 Apaches that decimated a suspected insurgent meeting place. We had the privilege of sitting back and watching the fireworks. I wanted to enter and clear this building to find any valuable intelligence but higher would not let us. There is a growing trend where we get anonymous tips concerning possible locations where insurgents live: we show up and nothing is found, not even people living in the target house. We found out that in Mosul, this same thing is done and Iraqi cops rush into target houses just to get blown up once inside so we have to really scrutinize these so-called anonymous tips because we kick in a lot of doors with me leading my squad into these target establishments. Well, I gotta go for now. I love you guys and truly covet your prayers and do not take them for granted!
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