Dear
Patrick Buffet:
Soldiers face the reality of moving to a
new home more often than civilians do. Moving
from base to base every two or three years generates high level of stress. This also adds stress to the soldier’s family.
It is common to see a new soldier at a
new base, therefore at a new job, low-performing due to stress. This stress and low productivity is the result
of frequent relocation.
Soldiers and family members can benefit
greatly if they know how to prepare for a new move. If soldiers and their families learn how to prepare
before the transition, they will be set for success. My goal is to teach soldiers and family
members to transition with the least amount of stress possible. Most of the coordination before and after the
move is done by the soldier. The soldier
is responsible for arranging transportation for him and his family, pickup and
delivery of household goods, and pickup and delivery of personal vehicle, and
if the soldier owns a pet, the coordination is even more stressful and time
consuming.
I believe that “Ready Your New Home in a
Week” is a must read for soldiers and their families getting ready to
transition to a new base. After all, The
Fort Lee Traveler is tailored for the local military community in Fort Lee. This article is a perfect match for such a
great community. With recent expansion
and the inclusion of the Ordnance and Transportation branches, and the Defense
Contracting Management Agency, Fort Lee saw an increase in personnel of over
seven thousand soldiers. Totaling around
twelve thousand people, Fort Lee has become busy with incoming and outgoing
personnel.
I believe an eight hundred words article
can do the job; however, I can be flexible and adjust to your needs. For this assignment I plan to interview
soldiers with twenty plus years of service. I am sure they can provide helpful tips. I will also interview relocation companies with
experience moving soldiers’ property. A point of view from these companies would
shed light on what prepared and unprepared soldiers tend to do. Interviewing soldiers that just arrived on
base can provide firsthand accounts of personal struggles and success stories.
As a soldier with seventeen years of
service, I have moved twelve times. I
have gained a great deal of experience about moving to a new house. In fact, I just returned from Turkey, and have
been in two houses in the last two months: I stayed on base housing for a
month; now I lived off base in my own house. I can tell you that this was the easiest move
ever for me and my family. How did I do
it? The experience I gained through
these years allowed me to do that. I
want to share that experience with others, especially with soldiers and their
family members.
With
my education background I feel that I can meet and exceed your expectations. While undergoing my degree in English, I have
gained the writing and research skill necessary for this assignment. The American Public University’s literary
publication, The Eagle, published one of my works in poetry. You can review my poem at http://apus-literary.com/on-writing.
Thank
you for your time and consideration; I look forward to hear from you soon.
Best
regards,
Juan
Nieves
Student/Teacher
Memo
The reason for my query is because I
have seen the need for more guidance for soldiers that often move around. No doubt that this creates lots of stress on
soldiers and family members. With my query I want to create the effect of
awareness; I want the editor to notice that the advice I want to offer can help
other soldiers with their move to different parts of the world.
I believe the strengths of my query are
the point that moving around very often creates stress on soldiers and family
members; also, I am a soldier and know what I am writing about. To that effect,
I think I made my point clear. If I had more time to revise my query, I would
reflect more on giving the editor a link to my poem. Since my poem does not relate to the
relationship of moving and stress, I am not totally sure if I made the right
decision.
I
believe I am qualified to write about moving and stress because I have been
doing it for seventeen years. With that
said, I have learned how to prepare before and after moving, and still have a
new house ready in a week. Additionally,
I have helped other soldiers do the same with my advice.
I wrote this query for the Fort Lee
Traveler, a weekly newspaper for the military community in Fort Lee, Virginia. The website, nor the print version, offers
submission guidelines. Nevertheless, I
called the managing editor and asked for guidance. Because of the holiday schedule, the Fort Lee
Traveler staff was working day-on-day-off schedule, and I was not able to
obtain submission guidelines. Fortunately, I will be able to get that
information after the holiday season.
I have to admit, I am excited about this
assignment because I really want to use this as my first published article,
hopefully!
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