While putting up the xmas tree I reflected on the fact that as we settle in for the holidays there are a bunch of good folks overseas doing their job serving our country (and our allies troops, theirs) Some of these troops don't have friends or family that write to them and are basicly over there lonely and homesick. So lets send them a big piece of Xmas HAMB. Get off yer ass and get your friends(if you have any ) and family together and sign or even better make and sign some holiday card then send the cards you collect through Dec 20th to: SOAR Inc. PO Box 514 Emigsville, PA 17318 SOAR is trying to collect 120,000 cards to send to the troops For Questions please call SOAR at(717)845-9080 For more information, ProudNavyParents@suscom.net OFFICIAL RESOURCES Operation Dear Abby Email soldiers Operation Uplink Say Thanks USO Care Packages Army Emergency Relief Navy/Marine Relief Air Force aid C.G. Mutual Assistance Give the Gift of Groceries to National Guard and Reserve families who have family members deployed. USO: Other Ways You Can Support the Troops Operation Hero Miles ..donate your frequent flyer miles Soldiers on "Emergency Leave" Have to pay the full cost of their domestic travel when they are rushed home for the family death, birth, illness or other emergency. The military does not pay the cost of their travel in the United States. Donate unused frequent flyer miles to the Department of Defense to help troops get home and be with their families. UNOFFICIAL RESOURCES Operation Mom Operation TroopTrax send CDs to the troops. Support Our American Recruits If you have the name and mailing addy of someone overthere please share it with us. Thanks,
never really gave much thought to the people who make me proud to live here, that is, until one of my high school buddys lost a leg in iraq last april. kinda wish i'd thought about it more now.
Thanks, Zeke You're the kind of person that makes it easy. I'm extremely fortunate to be home for the holidays - spent Thanksgiving back home with the family and I'm home for Xmas too (even if home is overseas). The organizations you mentioned make a HUGE difference to our troops. Especially the young & single ones. Since 9-11, the "Any Servicemember" mail has been discontinued for security reasons and these organizations have stepped up and jump through some amazing additional hoops to satisfy DoD with the end goal only the troops' morale. These folks sacrifice their time - which to me is the most valuable resource I have - there's never enough of it. So to give of that really is very special and means a lot to the troops. Thanks for making it easy!
One of our local boys is home for his 14 days or whatever, and the City of Fulton, once they found out he was back, re-named the Christmas Parade at the last minute. They called it "Home for the Holidays" and put him on a Float at the beginning of the Parade. I have a young Cousin who is in SeaBee training right now and has missed his first Thanksgiving and Christmas at Grandma's in 21 years. He is pretty depressed about it, and the fact that we are able to email him helps a lot. I imagine that as soon as he gets his training in, he will be sent over to start rebuilding Iraq. My Grandpa was with the Marine Corp in WWII and although he said the "Brotherhood" of the Corp helped, there was no replacement for the letters from home, especially during the Holidays. A lot has changed since WWII, but that is one thing that will always remain the same. Heres something they are doing in Okinawa that should be done all over the world.... http://japanupdate.com/previous/01/12/06/story18.shtml
I was wnodering about how to send magazines to them. I have a bunch of issues of Hot Rod (new ones) I would send.
Donzie, check arounf to see if a local school or scout troop are getting care packages together.They can get address to ship stuff to units. DOD has been working with non profits and school to get troops care packeges and letters from home. This helps the troops get stuff from us joe civies that want to send but can't due to the safety issues. If nothing else, I'm sure if you PM'd 413 his pal could supply an address for you to send those mags direct. Direct mail still goes though.
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