There is a saying in the military—when someone calls you a POG (pronounced POOG), it means Person Other than Grunt. FYI: A grunt can take anything.

After Hurricane Sandy, local volunteer fire department companies, EMS, sheriffs departments, state police and National Guard, along with the countless local organizations (too many to mention in this letter) went downstate into a war zone; I witnessed the destruction first hand.

In this writer’s opinion, without question you are all grunts, and please take that word as the highest compliment a soldier can bestow on a fellow warrior. You know who you are.

I would also like to thank the local trucking companies, who without any compensation in this economy, with the price of gas and tolls, donated their time, equipment, manpower, compassion and energy to bring vital supplies to people who had nothing.

Thank you all for your service to our country.

Harold Kelly

Durham, NY