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One of the reasons why I chose to paint an Operation Iraqi Freedom pony is there are a lot of

people I care about that have served in Iraq. I have too many friends to list that served over there but my husband was deployed in 2010 with the Michigan National Guard to Balad as a

part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was among one of the last combat troops to be

deployed to Iraq before it changed to Operation New Dawn. Thankfully everyone from his

unit came home safe. With that point being made a second reason why I chose to paint this pony is to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice fighting in Iraq. They died keeping us

safe and they should always be remembered as American heroes. Lastly I would like to thank all the OF veterans for serving and their families for staying strong and keeping it together on the home front because I know from experience that isn't always easy to do.

There are no words to explain my gratitude to the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars but all the wars and conflicts in the past, thank you for always keeping America the home of the free.