Goodbye, 105.3 The Spy

You will be missed in OKC and around the country. Thanks to Larry Bastida, Chris Baker, Dooney The Rock Lobster, Tyson Meade, Ferris O'Brien, Bladerunner, Bittner, Jake Daniels, Mark Wheeler and Johnny Vomit for an experience I will never forget.

A Soldier's View

Someone forwarded this to me . . .

Good things are happening

Dear Editor:

As I head off to Baghdad for the final weeks of my stay in Iraq, I
wanted to say thanks to all of you who did not believe the media. They have
done a very poor job of covering everything that has happened. I am sorry
that I have not been able to visit all of you during my two-week leave back
home.

And just so you can rest at night knowing something is happening in
Iraq that is noteworthy, I thought I would pass this on to you.

This is the list of things that have happened in Iraq recently:

· More than 400,000 kids have up-to-date immunizations.
· School attendance is up 80 percent from levels before the war.
· More than 1,500 schools have been renovated and rid of the weapons
stored there so education can occur.
· The port of Uhm Qasar was renovated so grain can be off-loaded from
ships faster.
· The country had its first two billion barrel export of oil in
August.
· More than 4.5 million people have clean drinking water for the
first time ever in Iraq.
· The country now receives two times the electrical power it did
before the war.
· 100 percent of the hospitals are open and fully staffed, compared
to 35 percent before the war.
· Elections are taking place in every major city, and city councils
are in place.
· Sewer and water lines are installed in every major city.
· More than 60,000 police are patrolling the streets.
· More than 100,000 Iraqi civil defense police are securing the
country.
· More than 80,000 Iraqi soldiers are patrolling the streets side by
side with U.S. soldiers.
· More than 400,000 people have telephones for the first time ever
· Students are taught field sanitation and hand washing techniques to
prevent the spread of germs.
· An interim constitution has been signed.
· Girls are allowed to attend school.
· Textbooks that don't mention Saddam are in the schools for the
first time in 30 years.
Don't believe for one second that these people do not want us there.
I have met many, many people from Iraq that want us there, and in a
bad way.
They say they will never see the freedoms we talk about, but they hope
their children will.
We are doing a good job in Iraq and I challenge anyone, anywhere to
dispute me on these facts.
So If you happen to run into John Kerry, be sure to send him to
Denison, Iowa. This soldier will set him straight. If you are like me and
very disgusted with how this period of rebuilding has been portrayed, send
this to a friend and let them know there are good things happening.

-- Ray Reynolds, SFC
Iowa Army National Guard, 234th Signal Battalion