Nicholas "Niq" Rodenberg, 21, of Clermont County, is a 1999 graduate of Milford High School. He is the son of Kathy and A.J. "Tim" Rodenberg. He is a helicopter mechanic serving in the Mideast.

His father provides some highlights of a letter received late March:

How has everything been going around there? I got the Sports Illustrated and other news in the mail from y'all yesterday. I think that priority mail takes longer than first class.

It's crazy that I've already been here almost 2 months. It's been goin' rather fast. They changed our hours up again. It was getting hard for us to sleep during the day because it was so hot. Now, night crew works from midnight to noon, and day crew noon to midnight. I'm still on night crew. We're doing a really good job with the birds. I can't tell you how many we have up, but we are definitely ready at any moment to fly and mission.

Hopefully everything turns out for the allies as planned.

I'm not gonna act like everything out here is good or easy, but no one joined the Marine Corps expecting it to be. Things really aren't that bad for me still. The chow is warm, the showers are warm.

I'm not about killing innocent Iraqis, but I am all about no more us or British forces dying. I'm sure the president and his advisers know what they're doing. None of us chose to start this war, and none of us will decide when it's over. I don't know if this was the right time or situation to start the war, but now that it has begun, I'm putting all I got into it.

You guys always taught me to do the right thing, even if it's the unpopular way to go. I really feel like this is the right thing. I've had a lot of time to think of a lot of things while I've been out here.

I love you all. Please continue to support us and our allies in Iraq. Also, tell others to do the same.

Peace Out. NIQ