[livesbygrace]

I thought this put kind of a face on some of our brave young men...

[Holly_P]

My son - an "old man" at age 29.

[dwilli]

The average age of the military man is 19 years

Untrue..The average age of recruits is 19 yrs old...The average age of the entire military is 24-25 ears old.

[VOA]

Ollie North gave his short version of the current "average" soldier in Iraq during a
recent airing on "Focus On The Family".

Actually, they aren't average these days...probably about the best-educated volunteer
Army ever fielded.

As much as it pains me to agree with an ivy-tower professor at USC, the prof
did sum up our current active military's face:
"More 'Shane', not as much 'John Wayne'."

(but I suspect some Marines would challenge the professor on that! LOL!)

[taxed2death]

The article left out one important description....they have brass ba!!s big enough they need wheel barrows to cart them around. As a group, these people (men and women) define bravery.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

Apology, the "too lazy" in my previous refers to the people who send the e-mails, not you.

[Cacophonous]

Nice post. It's easy to forget these just kids. I had dinner with a couple of young troopers; one fellow was nineteen with a wife and kid and another on the way. Good kid.

[Eagle Eye]

Damn dude. You got me. <<<>>>> These guys are great, they're not usually clean, but they're in great spirits.

[VOA]

livesbygrace, I apologize to you and Jim Robinson for a short diversion of your thread...
but I thought some folks might like details on how to really tick off Saddam, Osama,
and their buddies: send a package to some good soul doing the heavy lifting in Iraq,
Afghanistan or elsewhere.

Dear Fellow Freepers...I'm hi-jacking this thread for a short side-bar in hopes to inform you and to motivate y'all just a bit.....
the deadline (November 13th) for mailing military care-packages via the APO/FPO route to
our best and brightest has passed.

BUT...you can still mail military care packages!
I know, I DID IT YESTERDAY! (Saturday 11-15-03)

TIME to:
SHOP
BOX
and
MAIL

for shipping advice, see threads at these URLs:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1003802/posts
(please not that the USPS website URL are missing a ".com"),
and remember to mark the "Redirect" box and write in "Commander/Chaplain"
on the Customs form...that way your box will definitely be used
AND
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/997310/posts


Further info. on VOA's mailing of two packages on 11-15-03, Saturday

I'll admit that it's costly. I loaded up one of the free "Priority Mail" cardboard boxes from the
local United States Post Office.
I loaded up each of two boxes with all sorts of "comfort food" and "personal hygiene" items that
should be useful, no matter if the recipient gets them or they are redirected by a "commander/chaplain".

I loaded each boxes with food items like...
flavored coffeed (e.g, hazelnut flavored that had sugar in the blend),
artificially-sweetened Tropical-Punch-flavored Kool-Aid (so sugar isn't required),
Spam-brand "Oven-roasted Turkey" (no pork products; metal-sealed for long-term preservation)...something
that a hungry Iraqi might really appreciate as a gift),
Lipton soup-packets in the flavors of "chicken noodle", "ranch", and "beef onion" (humble, but a change of pace!)
Oreo Cookies ("America's Favorite Cookie"...so I bet US soliders like 'em),
M&Ms -- holiday-colors...bet those will be well received around the tent!,
disposable razors (and a bar of "Burma-Shave" brand shaving soap!),
new toothbrushes (heck, might just be useful in cleaning an M-16!) and toothpaste,
solid-form under-arm deoderant....

I'm sure that folks who've actually served in a long-term deployment far from home, especially when separated
from beloved family and friends DURING THE HOLIDAYS can come up with even much more meaningful
and significant items to send to those who are abroad...protecting us, their fellow band of brothers and sisters,
and, at a long reach.....you and me.