Hooah!

Ok, so you know my admiration of and feelings toward our troops. (I blogged about this when my brother-in-law was serving in Iraq and have highlighted some cool things companies are doing to remind the troops we support them.) Brad came home safely more than a year ago, and since that time we've known a few co-workers' relatives and friends-of-friends who are deployed.

Late last year, one of my colleagues -- who is just an incredible guy in every way -- was called up by the National Guard and is serving now as an Army Sergeant outside of Baghdad. I think about him all the time and am always looking for goodies to add to the care packages NRF sends over.

Earlier this week, a few of my worlds collided, as I got the opportunity to profile my friend for one of our association's blogs. People from almost every department at NRF submitted questions for him about his experience and he tackled them all, talking about what the environment "over there" is like, how being deployed has changed him, and what he looks forward to the most when he sets foot again on American soil.

If you have a few minutes, read what he had to say. His optimism really fills my heart with pride.