I work with hundreds of teenagers. The following is from one whom I care about deeply, and who confides in me from time to time. She expressed all of this, tearfully, to me verbally, and I asked if she felt comfortable sharing her feelings with all of you. Not only did she agree, but she was passionate about letting "the world" know what many kids are currently going through.

I have not changed one word. It's a copy-and-paste and expresses her feelings in a way that has touched me profoundly. It's the first in a series, simply because the email she sent me was too long to include all in one post.

T he truth about the families and the kids on Iraq.

My name is Tiffani, I'm 14 and my father is deployed to Iraq. This is my fathers second time overseas and it has been extremely difficult for my family and extremely difficult on me. A lot of people are saying "o ya!! Support the war lets go! Whoo hooo ya war!" a lot of people are saying that" a lot of people are fighting for a good cause". Don't get me wrong now. I love and support all of our troops in Iraq, but I don't support the reason were there. You say o ya yay war? Well think about this…..Think about all the soldiers who are dying. Think of the sons, the daughters, the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, who are dying each and everyday……… not because of terrorists' but because of oil?
My dad left about two weeks ago, and it has been very hard for me and my family. We had to sit thorough meetings of very intense stuff. How many kids watch there father sign there will? How many kids have to sit in a room while the frieking army discusses what happens if they die? I had to sit in a meeting a listen to some stupid guy go through the preparations of "the death of your soldier". They gave us all a copy of the letter, and we held it. As if they didn't torture us enough they have to sit there and give us the letter??? I don't care who you are you can't prepare someone for the death of a loved one especially if that loved one is you dad! You don't give them a letter like that right before they deploy and not expect them to worry …but the army doesn't really care about the families , as long as there fighting…they couldn't care less.