Yes, Anna, your father really is a brave soldier doing his duty Over There.

Greetings,

I'm NYPD P.O. Marmer, Alexander (shield 3315). I just finished my second year as a police officer. I’ve been a PBA member since starting the Police Academy in January of 2005. Since graduating from the Academy, I’ve been working in Transit in different districts. Started out in Brooklyn in TD 34, later in Brooklyn Transit Task Force (TKTF), then in Transit Manhattan Task Force (TMTF), and finally in TD 3 in Manhattan since August of 2006. I love being a police officer, love the NYPD and especially love Transit. I'm also an Army New York National Guardsmen (for 5 years) and was called up for active duty in "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in November 2006. Currently, I'm attached to the Alaska National Guard unit stationed in Kuwait.

Back home in New York, I have a family: my wife Cristina, my stepson Andres, my lovely daughter Anna and our newborn son David. It was very difficult for me to leave my family behind. My wife is taking this separation hard — my stepson, who is 14 years old, kind of understands what's going on and why I'm at war and not at home. My newborn son is still too little to understand (he was two months old at the end of January).

The one who is suffering the most is my daughter Anna. She is 4.5 years old. She knows that I'm a police officer, has seen me in uniform many times and drew lots of pictures of me in police uniform. But she doesn't understand the whole military concept. Back home I was drilling for one weekend a month, and it was completely unnoticeable to her. Now, she can't understand why I'm here at war and not back home with her. My daughter tells me on the phone that she thinks that I'm in jail and that's why I don't come home and can only call her on the phone. As you can imagine, I was shocked to hear that. And then I started thinking, how can I portray for her a different image about me?

I think I might have found a surprising solution. Interestingly enough, my daughter knows The PBA Magazine, and when a new issue would arrive, I would sit with her, reading her some of the articles and looking together at pictures of police officers. I just got the recent PBA Magazine here in Kuwait (my wife mailed it) and on Page 16 there were some pictures of NYPD officers serving in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I thought that if it would be possible to have my picture appear in one of the `issues, my wife would be able to show it to my daughter and that would clarify that I'm not in jail as she thinks, and that I'm still an NYPD police officer.

I'm sending my picture from Camp Virginia, Kuwait, where I’m attached to the Alaska National Guard unit and my job is patrolling the surrounding area. If it's not possible to print my picture in one of the issues of The PBA Magazine, I completely understand.

Thanks so much for taking your time to read my story.

— P.O. Alexander Marmer