From: Garrett, James D
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2011 11:08 PM
To: Jcps-200-All
Subject: Mr. Garrett Update
Good morning Manual High School staff & colleagues,
Trust all is well at Manual. I know the students are studying hard, aggressively coming down the stretch as they prepare for their AP exams. Some of you, as my daughter Mary has been telling me, have asked about me. I am humbled that there has been concern...so I will give you a brief update.
I am in Texas. I have finished a lot of training, which has consisted getting qualified with the M-9 Beretta pistol and M-16 rifle. Got "lucky" in the process...I was the only one out of seven, in my class, that qualified as "expert" on the M-16. I recently returned from Wyoming, where for two weeks, I with 47 others, went through a combat training course. We learned how to recognize IEDs, provide emergency aide, and land navigate. We also fired our rifles (M-4 and M-16) with live ammo on fixed and pop-up targets. The climax of the training was a large exercise, consisting of a convoy of six Humvees, pushing through insurgent territory with buried IEDs, engaging the insurgents in the open field, and clearing them out of houses/villages. If you have seen the movie, "The Hurt Locker," the scenes with Humvees on a day-light mounted operations is eerily similar, except that in our case we did not nor will we dismantle IEDs.
On Sunday I will be leaving for Afghanistan. I will be working within a small, joint coalition cell. Wish that I could tell you more...perhaps in time. I will be on orders into December, though I may return by mid-November. While there, I hope to work on Afghan development projects such as educational improvements and women's organizations...my contribution to "winning the hearts and minds" of the people. Let me know if any school organization might want to get involved. Also let my white 3 class know that I have really appreciated the quickly made "card" with their comments and signatures. I will post it on an Afghan wall to occasionally read and to remind me of them and Manual High School. Take care.
Sincerely,
Mr. Garrett
Nothing is ever achieved without enthusiasm...Nothing is ever achieved alone...Choice, not chance, determines destiny. Character...integrity...and courage, in all we do...Hooah!