Dear Kids Celebrate Soldiers:

I received a big box of your cards, letters, and pictures here in Afghanistan. I enjoyed reading all the things you wrote and I have shared them all with my fellow soldiers here. Since I don't think I will be able to reply to all 1,000,911 letters you are writing, I am writing one e-mail which I hope your advisors will distribute to several of you.

First, a little about myself: My name is Chris Carpenter, and I am a Sergeant First Class in the Army Reserve. I am part of Task Force 325, which is responsible for all the military medical units in Afghanistan. Our main base is at Bagram Air Field, which is Northeast of the capital, Kabul. We have a hospital here, as well as ambulances, veterinarians, a dental office, an eye doctor, and all the things you might find in a hospital where you live. I work in the Operating Room and we do a lot of surgery here!

I have sent two pictures with this e-mail - one is the entrance to the operating room, and you can see that our hospital is made out of tents! They are much bigger than camping tents though, and they have electricity, air conditioning, and heat. On either side of the tent you can see our supplies and equipment ready to be used in surgery.

The second picture is taken inside the operating room. You can see the OR table, the anesthesia machine, and all the other supplies and equipment we use. If you look on the ceiling, you can see that the last thing a soldier sees before he goes to sleep and the first thing he sees when he wakes up is the American Flag.

Many of you have asked questions and I will try to answer all of them, but here are just a few:

Yes, we have women here as well as men. In our hospital we have almost as many women working as men, and they work just as hard! There are also women who fly helicopters and planes, military policewomen, and many others too.

We have Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines in our Medical Task Force - each branch of the Armed Forces is a little different, but we are all working together on this mission and we help each other out.

This mission is called "Operation Enduring Freedom" and it is a part of the Global War on Terrorism. Most of us hope that by our coming over here, we can prevent future terrorist attacks on America.

I am married and my wife is also a soldier. She works in Independence, Missouri and she is a Sergeant. She has not been sent to Iraq or Afghanistan (yet) which is good since we have a 7 month old son named Joseph.

Several of you also said you were in Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts. I think that is great! I was a Boy Scout for many years before I joined the Army, and many of the things I learned in Scouts are things I still use today in the Army - things like first aid, using a compass and map, even sewing! For those of you that said you wanted to join the military when you get older, I think that is also great, and since there are so many different jobs in the Armed Forces to choose from, almost everyone can find something they like. Most of us really believe in what we are doing here and in other places like Iraq, but no soldier, sailor, airman, or marine likes wars or fighting, we just want to keep our families, friends, and country safe. Your letters, cards, and pictures help us to do just that. So thank you very much for what you do for us, and write again anytime!

Christopher Carpenter
SFC, NCOIC, OR/CMS/Orthopedics
Task Force 325 (Medical)
Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan