To the Honorable Collin C. Peterson,

I have a wife and two beautiful daughters, three-and-a-half and one-and-a-half. Besides my duties as a loving father and husband, I enlisted into the MN National Guard after first serving four years of active-duty Army with 1/75 Ranger Battalion. In addition to my duties as a team leader in our guard unit, I am employed part time with FedEx Ground and support my family on the $9.50 an hour I make there. In addition to this I am enrolled full time at Bemidji State University with 16 credits (I had to drop 3). On top of this I am also enrolled in their Honors Program, and am maintaining a 3.93 GPA.

I would think that it is obvious, to any observer, that I have little time. However I have taken time out of my busy day to inform you of what I feel is a positive way to correct a gross disservice to our military.

I will not lie out the facts, as I am sure you are aware of them, although allow me one more comment. I will most likely be leaving my wife and children soon to serve in Iraq, and would like to remind you that as the deaths of American soldiers continue their progress toward the scrolling text beneath talking heads discussing real air-time worthy stories like Michel Jackson, many of us have had to make do with yellow ribbon bumper stickers and American flags to show our support for the troops. You sir, stand in a position to aid us all in that capacity- support House Resolution 167.

Thank you for your time,

SGT Mattson, Robin A.

This was the letter I recently wrote and sent in. If you don’t know what I’m talking about but would like to, check out the save Pantano link or visit http://www.defendthedefenders.org/. Feel free to send in your own letters, if you have the time.