“Any soldier” letter leads to “happily ever after”

CJTF7 ^ | Dec. 27, 2003

[SAMWolf]

What a great story, thanks RC.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

During his time in Desert Storm...Olinger happened to grab a letter out of a stack of “Any Soldier Mail.”

“I grabbed it because I liked the handwriting,” said Olinger, now a lieutenant colonel serving in Iraq as the 1st Armored Division’s logistics officer...

“Right away we clicked,” added Olinger. The two spent several days together, dining at restaurants, visiting the Dallas fairgrounds and meeting Sandy’s parents....kept in touch by telephone while he was home on leave.

“I couldn’t eat a thing the whole two weeks he was gone,” said Sandy.

When Olinger returned to Sandy’s house he proposed.

The Olingers celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary this December.

“We’d barely known each other a year and most of that time together was spent apart, but I have no regrets,” said Olinger. “The two best things I’ve done in my life are join the Army and marry Sandy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rare warm and fuzzy article from Combined Joint Task Force 7. (^:

8 "If you know someone who's serving there, write to them; write often; write regularly." ~ ["Adopt" a Soldier ~ please contact me, or tiki.] ~ USS Clueless | Steven Den Beste

[Soaring Feather]

Ohhhhh a wonderful love story. Thanks Rags for posting it.

Sam, thanks for the ping.

[snippy_about_it]

Awwww. So sweet. Gotta believe in fate!

[MEG33]

Romance is grand!

[KantianBurke]

Anyone ever read Schwartzkof's autobiography? In it he remarks that there was a case of a woman who wrote a nice "To Any Soldier" letter and got a ummm...a bit adultish response from a GI who had been in the sun for too long. :> The woman complained so I don't think that episode ended with matrimony.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Shaking my head in wonder at CJTF7, lol. Christmas sentimental spirit ~ or lots of wassail, far from home. I hope it brings them many more pen pals. (^:

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You're welcome, bentfeather.

Sharing the good stuff is a joy. (^:

[blackie]

Great love story ~ Bump!

[Capriole]

Wow, that's sweet. I didn't know you could write to "any soldier" and have it get there. I know my little boy would love to write to soldiers; he has written several painstaking letters to imaginary soldiers but we never knew we could send them. Does anyone know where to send them to be delivered to any soldier who is interested? We can't offer romance but this kid's letters would warm anyone's heart.

[2Jedismom]

You can't anymore. This was Gulf War 1...now you have to have a name on the envelope.

[VOA]

"I didn't know you could write to "any soldier" and have it get there."

In the good old days (before 9-11) you could do that, but security concerns have ended
that venerable program.
Now you must send letters/packages to a specific service-person and use their military
(usually "APO" or "FPO") address.

See post 3 above; Ragtime Cowgirl and friends can surely get you some specific service-persons
and their military address for you to write to.

And if you still need more addresses, you can find some at this page from my old
hometown newspaper (note that most are not if Iraq and Afghanistan; but I'm sure all
would get a lift from a well-meaning note).
http://www.poncacity.com/spirit/mailing.asp

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bump!

[Lazamataz]

I hate happy endings.

If I cannot find romance, I want everyone else to be miserable too.

The daisy hangs limply from your hand....she loves you not.
Sucks.
But you didn't need a stinking, dead flower to tell you that.
The fact that she tried to staplegun you to your cat
was what we Noo Yawkahs call a "clue".
So you're left with a tattoo that says, "Jenny Forever"
and a bag of hacked up, bloody,
festering bits of flesh that once was your heart.

[2Jedismom]

And the Hobbit Hole has a care package initiative going constantly...you can send money and letters to one of the Hole Dwellers and she sends them on to a platoon along with all sorts of items like mag-lights and pocketknives and every kind of munchie you can imagine. If someone writes back, then your son will had an address to send to!

[VOA]

"And the Hobbit Hole has a care package initiative going constantly..."

I'll bump the thread for that fine reminder!

[SAMWolf]

Try this link

Or this link

[VOA]

thanks for the links...
and bump!

[2Jedismom]

BTTT

"It’s like in the great stories...The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer."