A relative of the captain in Iraq writes in:

This email was from my brother to our mother and his wife who is in [ Wiesbaden]. We have no idea how it ‘got out’ as we received it Thanksgiving morning. We had heard on the news that the Pres.had visited the airport (where my brother is based with the intel division) and so we (the family) knew we’d soon get an email from him. Sure enough, this one came and my mother read it to us all as we stood around the den. My mother sobbed and the rest of us got very teary-eyed as well…even my 18 year old son.
I had forwarded this to a friend of mine (who is a retired Navy Commander) whom I keep updated on my brother’s ‘goings on’ and he wrote me yesterday that he had received the same email from several of his friends. He was flabbergasted that my brother’s email came to him from other sources far and wide. He had not sent it to anyone. Interestingly enough, in the version he sent me the names are edited out with X’s. In the version you published, the names were still there…i.e. my nephew.
So see? This is a real letter from a real patriot and soldier who is serving his country per his chosen responsibility. Not all warm and fuzzy sentiments are staged after all. My question remains…how the heck did it get ‘out’ unless Shelly passed it along to other mil. Personnel in Germany who may have distributed it. Never the less, the point, again, is that this is not a military PR ploy.
Thank you for your time,
Marsha Jefferson
Prairie Grove, Arkansas