Jun 21 2008
June 14, 2007Dear Andrew K. Mitnick,
You shipment arrived and Pedro (TSgt Santos) brought them to our meeting this week to pass them out. I have to say that this was a great surprise and please. I know that many of the service men and women here never had the opportunity to smoke such fine cigars and as an veteran cigar smoker I was happy to watch the happy faces of everyone as they smoked their first Opus X, Punch, Ashton VSG, Puros Indios and others from your gift. One of our troops (CD 'MSgt Chris Dunham)took a group picture and will be sending it to you and to Gary Manelski (cigars.about.com) to add to the picture gallery. Thank you again for thinking of us here and supporting our small respite from the dangers of war.
Respectfully,
Major Mitch Fadem
July 2, 2007
Gary,
I found out today that I will be redeploying home very shortly. The 'Camp Eggers Cigar Smokers' have been left in the very competent hands of TSgt Pedro Santos and MSgt Chris 'CD' Dunham. They both have the same address and will continue the 'Cigars for Troops' campaign. Just this week, 150 cigars made their way again from Larry Lynn, L.Lynn Cigars to TSgt Keith Gedick at Task Force Phoenix in Afghanistan. Thank you again Larry. TSgt Gedick will be taking some nice photos and forwarding them to TSgt Santos to send to you. It has been a real honor and pleasure to work with you on this program and when I return home I plan to work on some local support to continue this. I salute all of the services I have been deployed with (US and other) and wish them all a good and safe tour. It was an honor and privilege to serve my country one more time.
Major Mitch Fadem
July 12, 2007
Hello Gary,
Well, I am back in the good old US of A and on my R&R leave. When anyone returns from a deployment you automatically get 2 weeks at home with your family before finishing up your duty time back at your home station. My unit is at Travis Air Force Base and I will return there at the end of July to work at their medical research center for about a month before I go back to being a civilian. I have a sad note to pass on to you. One of our cigar smoking service members, MSgt Randy Guillespe was killed this week in Herat, Afghanistan. I cannot give you any details for security reasons but I will say that he lost his life in the line of duty along with two Afghan National Army soldiers that he was mentoring. This was to be his last tour of duty before he retired. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. All of us are deeply saddened by this. TSgt Santos wrote to me that he will he and the rest of the group will be 'lighting up one' in his memory and smoking in silence while we remember his ultimate sacrifice for his country. It was an honor to have served with him. I am personally sending a special package of stogies to the Camp Eggers group in his memory. Please mention him in your column. Thank you again for your support,
Major Mitch Fadem
July 16, 2007
Gary,
I am continuing my efforts with 'Cigars for Troops' and have sent a box of cigars to my buddies back at Camp Eggers. This included several Limited Reserve Oliva Maduro Torpedos, Bolivar Reserve Robustos, a few pre-Embargo Cubans and a dozen western-style cheroots. All this was packed into a nice 50 cigar cedar humidor with hydration system, hydrometer and a couple of cutters. I wanted them to have at least one real humidor for those special cigars that they might get. In addition to my shipment, Larry Monte from Monte's Pueblo Pipe and Tobacco Shop in Albuquerque, NM is sending TSgt Santos a box of Camacho Triple Maduro Limited Reserve. Larry as you might remember started our program out with the first box sent to Camp Eggers of Partagas 160s. Thanks again to Larry. I know that the Camp Eggers group and all the troops in Afghanistan really appreciate all that everyone has done to make things just a bit more tolerable and how much the people back home support our troops efforts. I will head back to Travis Air Force Base soon but when I return home in SEP I plan to continue working on the 'Cigars for Troops' campaign.
Take care and thanks again for your support,
Major Mitch Fadem
60th Medical Support Squadron
Travis Air Force Base
July 28, 2007
Gary,
My little vacation (leave) did not last long. I will be back on active duty soon but this time I am going to lucky enough to work at Kirtland Air Force Base which is only 20 miles from my home. I still call my buddies at Camp Eggers once a week on Thursday to join in by phone for about 15 min for cigar night. Okay, it is 6am for me and 7:30pm for them but it is never too early to light one up with some friends. They have already received the box of Camacho Triple Maduro from Larry Monte (Monte's Pueblo Pipe and Tobacco Shop) and the box of Oliva Special G that I sent them. Larry opened up a nice club in town called 'Albuquerque Cigar Club' and although it is not the same as sitting in Kabul at Camp Eggers across from the Green Bean it is a real classy place. On Monday, after a trip to the Air Base I am going to visit with other cigar shops in town to ask them for their support to the 'Cigars for Troops' program. Larry told me that every shop has a large box in the storeroom with old cigars, broken bundle packs, broken boxes, and just some stogies that never really sold. We are going to pack all that up his shop next week and send it to guys and I encourage the rest of our friends at cigar shops all over the US to do the same. The combat humidors that TSgt Santos created in Afghanistan work just fine and many a nearly totally dried out and unsmokable cigar can be brought back to life and enjoyed by any of the brave dedicated and patriotic service men and women who defend out freedoms. As promised, I am still working to keep this program going.
Major Mitch Fadem
