This morning, I received an email from Greg at Rhymes with Right. Last night, he put up a blog post, Support A Marine. In it, he urges people to send letters to the Fightin’ 6th Marines. This morning he has another post, In Memoriam -- 9/11/2001. I have sent the following email to the Marines, pulling in my own thoughts from 9/11. Please consider writing a letter yourself.

Six years ago today, my wife had an early morning appointment at the obstetrician’s office. Our daughter was due about a month later. Everything had gone fine. As she stood at the counter scheduling her next appointment, she looked up at the television screen and saw something horrible, smoke billowing out of the World Trade Centers.

She called me up and we talked on the phone as we watched the second plane hit. At the time, we were living in Stamford CT, a short commute from New York City. I had worked in New York and knew a lot of people that worked in the World Trade Centers. I had even worked in a building right next to them years ago and used to walk through them regularly on my way to work.

The freedom and security we have here in America is very important. It includes the freedom to criticize our government and state our disagreement with its policies and actions. I do not believe that we should have gone into Iraq the way we did and I believe that we should bring as many members of the armed services home from Iraq as quickly as possible.

Some people may try to characterize this as lack of support for our men and women in uniform. That is not the case. They are doing important work and they have my utmost respect. I pray for our servicemen and women serving in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and around the world. I pray for their families. I cherish the freedom they defend.

So, on this sixth anniversary of September 11th, my thoughts and prayers go out to the men and women of the USMC Regimental Combat Team (RCT) 6 serving in Iraq. Be well, be safe, and come home soon to the heroes’ welcome you deserve.