I don't think Rick and Garrick will mind if I repost the message from the Riverine Squadron to remind everyone how much the packages we send are appreciated.

Quote:

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Dear Members of the Randall Knife Society,
It's with great pleasure that we send this message, thanking you for your support of our team, but more importantly our mission. Riverine MIO operations are new to the Navy, and are unique but stressful way to fight a war. A quick history... Riverine operations after Vietnam consisted of Special Boat Units and SEAL teams and were limited in scope.
The Navy sought to turn over riverine responsibility to the Marine Corps and in 1991 SBU 26 and SEAL team 4 trained and turned over riverine operations to the USMC small craft company.Small craft company employed a boat unit, and a ground combat element (GCE). They served with distinction in South America and Iraq. Due to an overstreched Marine Corps and the Navy's desire to have a face in the global war on terror small craft company was relieved buy the Navy's newly formed Riverine Squadron One. Anticipating the need to field only a boat unit, the Navy was surprised that a GCE would also be required. Usually shying away from ground operations, the Navy pressed on and trained three GCE teams per squadron (one for each boat detachment). The teams were renamed Maritime Interdiction Operation teams. MIO, being a traditional Navy term was preferred over GCE or anything that implied "a squad of guys who jump off the boat, search for weapons, look for bad guys, and kick in doors". MIO teams received training at Blackwater USA, and after numerous stateside field exercises deployed to Iraq in February 2007. During the war our MIO team uncovered numerous weapons caches and detained many suspected insurgents. No team members were injured, each man coming home in one piece.Many people and organizations send packages, but yours directly helped the mission. During a mid-summer operation moving south on the Euphrates river, we encountered temperatures upwards of 125 degrees and due to our excessive consumption of water and lack of electrolytes many of us suffered a type of hydro-poisoning. After your gatorade shipments arrived we had enough for each remaining summer day mission. Ours is an expeditionary unit, never staying in the same place (or having the same address) for too long. Mail can take awhile, but when it does catch up to us it feels like Christmas morning. We enjoyed beef jerky and magazines from home, fighting
over the fishing pole, and forgetting about the war for awhile. We all looked forward to your packages and extend our most heartfelt appreciation for making life on the riverbank that much easier.

Sincerely,
RIVRON 1 DET 3 MIO Team

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BTW, the fishing pole was suggested by Sgt. Doug Matthys. It was actually a complete mini-tackle box designed for fishing on the Tigerus and Euphrates rivers. Sgt. Doug and I had a fun afternoon shopping and discussing the species of fish that could be caught in Iraq.