While we in OJC have yet to realize our primary goal, we can rejoice in knowing that we have already made a positive difference...We have influenced legislators, made our presence known inside the Beltway, reassured the families of our unrepatriated brothers and sisters that they are not alone, and we have made a lot of friends who share our goals, objectives and hopes.

And we've let the world know we are here, we care and we're not going away until we accomplish what we set out to do. We did this by working together...with a single purpose. We did it by sticking together through all of the difficulties that occur when people who share the same goals, find they have different ideas as to how those goals should be achieved.

A very few have elected to go their separate ways but we have been blessed with a membership that has continued to function with no lost motion. When my HD Crash put my activities on hold, Steve and Doc stepped in kept us from falling behind. When we lost Jason, Bill Osborne, Charles, Kathryn, Steve, Doc, Steve, Joni, Weezie, Bubby, Shelly, (I know I'm leaving people out but we all know who they are) and a host of others jumped into the void and had us back up and running before most knew anything had gone wrong.

In the very beginning, Colonel Guy put a quote in a message to me that went something like: "Look out Congress. Here comes the OJC Army and they're unstoppable." Well, I like to think of it more as the "OJC Marine Corps" ;-] but the idea is the same...and we are unstoppable...as long as we continue to work together.

OJC isn't about some tired old Gunny or a debonair F4 jock or the "Wall" or the "Last Firebase" or any number of government officials. Operation Just Cause is about thousands of Americans and citizens of The World who believe in honor, loyalty and everything else that prompted several million men and women to take time out of their lives to fight for an ideal.

It's about those who supported them and waited for them. And most important of all, it's about those who still wait...To those of you who have hung in there with us in 1997: "we're not done yet". To those who watched from inside the Beltway waiting for OJC to wither on the vine: "We haven't even begun to get serious yet". And to those of our Brothers and Sisters who still wait:

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A heartfelt thank you to the members of the OJC Newsletter Team for their efforts and hard work. It is especially commendable that this undertaking has been kept on schedule during the holiday season. We all know how busy everyone is in their personal lives this time of the year and to have the OJC teams still giving their all during this time is in our opinion "above and beyond".

Chuck "Doc" Stewart
OJC Executive Board

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Click on POW/MIA graphic to return to the January 1999 issue