Dear Sir or Madam: Although I will make an effort to shorten the overall length of this letter, I will not make any effort to disregard information which may, at some point to some person, be valuable & helpful. To assist the reader in understanding who I am & why I am who I am. I have been a smoker since around the age of twelve (12). Influences came from everywhere, even within the family, as is the case with most others. Growing up in my teenage years, I lived with little care & minimal regard for the feelings of other people, notably my own mother. In school they speak of health, wellbeing, good choices, & other helpful subjects & topics which no one I knew really cared about. I wound up being sent to the Philippines for fifteen (15) months as punishment when I was 14 years old. Due to this, I know by first-hand experiences what it is like to live in the most extreme of poverty, in the the most violent of places. Upon my return to the States, I found within myself a new purpose. A new love. New desires with fierce motivations. I discovered Patriotism & appreciation for my beloved United States. I was eager to be part of something greater than myself. Four (4) days after my seventeenth (17th) birthday, I was in the Denver MEPS station. I originally enlisted as a mechanic. I figured at the time that the world was at peace (relatively) & I needed an MOS that would help me land a job after service. I went to Basic Training in May of 2001. Since I was split-op, I went home after training on August 27th. Roughly two (2) weeks later, I watched the second impact on September 11, 2001 on one of the TV’s at my high school. Now, I once again found myself with new purpose. New love. New motivations. And a hearty desire for bloody revenge. I fought my way into changing my MOS. I was able to become the Soldier I always desired to be by becoming what the Army was made for: I went to Benning, earned my place within the ranks of the Infantry. Through all this, I continued to smoke, but took breaks for training. All the classes in school were right. My running, initially, was severely impacted in a negative way by my years of smoking. Unfortunately, my smoking was doubled in response to the attacks on September 11. I could not find anything that could calm my nerves as easily or quickly. Come late 2002, my orders finally came. Time to train for Afghanistan. Months later, and about a couple weeks before departure, orders came for us to participate in the invasion of Iraq. Around this time I began to use chewing tobacco in order to supplement my smoking. Yes, I was now smoking cigarettes with a wad of chew under my lip. Regularly. In Kuwait, it was not so severe. The frequency of my use or my capacity that is. Over the wire we go. Even in my death picture you can see my bulging lip & cigarette in hand. My tobacco use was soon to nearly double. It was not the first shot which came in my direction that influenced this. It was my first friend whom I could not save. Despite my own personal efforts, he was too far gone. My heart was broken. My fury was set. Due to many different problems, I fully believed I had nothing to come home to. This was also the belief of huge numbers of us on the ground. We fought with the passion of men who cared only for each other. Again, my smoking & dipping increased. And why would it not? If you were 100% certain you were going to DIE at some point in the next few months, & had a mind consumed with hatred, anger, & death, would you really care too much about lung cancer? Don’t lie to me. The only way someone would say yes to that question is someone who sits at desks & frustrations originate from personal complexes surrounding their weight or a yucky meal they just had. Don’t judge, don’t criticize. Unless you’ve been there, unless you’ve done our job, just stay in your fluffy bed or take a nice shower and speak to the toilet. Those in my squad who did not smoke initially, started. We volunteered to stay in theater & wound up spending a total of thirteen (13) months at war. It was an IED that finally sent my best friend & I home. He was the one who never let me get into a fight without being by my side. Not one engagement was experienced without him at my side. When we arrived at DIA, there were no banners;no parades or celebrations. No, we were welcomed home by shouts of baby killer, murderer, bastard & so on & so forth. My buddy agreed to go with me to the VA. I received word soon later that he had proceeded to seek help from whiskey & a 12-gauge. Extinguished cigarette still in the other hand. Only by the Grace of Christ was I able to find the girl who would go on to become my now wife little more than two (2) weeks before the news of my buddy. And I was still smoking like a train. Roughly two (2) years later, my miracle happened: the birth of my baby girl. I came to a familiar place in my life after that. A place of new purpose, motivation, love & desire. I wanted to give her what I did not know in my own life, a father. Although being active in physical ways is now extremely difficult. I am always going to be a 100% Combat Disabled Veteran. P&T. And I couldn’t be more proud. I needed to make sure I would be around for as long as possible. Still, I had the nagging sense within me that this would not happen because sooner or later, the vast amount carcinogenic materials I had introduced into my body over the years would take me from my new family. I just could not seem to quit no matter what I tried. Hundreds, even thousands of dollars were spent trying this & that technique or product to assist me in quitting, but nothing worked. And don’t speak to me about will power. Come ~6 months ago. I saw all the Blu commercials & thought it was interesting, but for a starter pack of about $80.00, it was out of my disability income’s reach. On a rare occasion where I had visited my local King Soopers I saw a little display of another brand of e-cigarettes called Metro. $20.00!? Really!? I can do that! The customer service representative at the store nearly talked me out of it with stories of a friend who says, but I decided to take my own word for it & took the plunge. Besides, if I didn’t like it or it did not live up to the hype, it was only $20.00 & I had a new experience under my belt. To my astonishment, I LOVED the e-cig’s from Metro! Since that day, I have the beautiful news of my savings account growing because I am no longer buying upwards of 2 packs of real cigarettes every day! I can literally feel my lungs beginning to heal with every clear breath I breathe. To know that the cloud I see upon exhalation no longer contains my soul within it, has brought me to tears several times. Metro has saved my life! Today, I am able to give my life, my WIFE’S life, & my DAUGHTER’S life a positive & optomistic view. As a Soldier, I lived by the mission of the day. I give myself my missions now! And my last one will NOT last a day, a week, or many months. No, my mission is to BE THERE for my daughter like I had originally intended! And, with the help of Metro & the entire e-cigarette lines that exist … I proceed with my mission knowing that I will not fail! I will not give up! And, unlike my old thoughts, I WILL SURVIVE!!! May our Lord of Lord’s in Heaven, Jesus Christ, lay His righteous right hand upon those who would seek to give people like myself their live’s back. My Christ, I beg that You would bless companies like Metro with success & properity. Please do not allow the giant’s to crush Your blessings You have given me & so many others, through Metro, by letting legislation trump LIFE. By Your merciful & loving name, in Christ I pray this prayer. Amen. Sincerely, LG (BS-V, BS-M, PH-S, ARCOMM-V, ARCOMM, … LIFE)