In every war, for each Sailor, Marine, Soldier, or Airman, their greatest treasures are the letters from home.

I had just left Iraq in 2003 and was waiting in Kuwait for my transportation home when I met this Navy corpsman. He was on his way into Iraq. This was a time before widespread use of smartphones with email. Paper letters from home were cherished and the sight of him reading them echoed the timeless ritual of the warfighter far from home.