WRITE A THANK YOU NOTE TO A SOLDIER IN IRAQ THIS MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

5-29-04 | patriciaruth

[patriciaruth]

Please support our troops this Memorial Day weekend by writing a note or letter to a soldier. They will be sent to Balad and Mosul in care packages that should arrive by the Fourth of July.

You can get my address by FReepmail and send a hand written letter or thank you card to me and I will put it in the next box or manilla envelop going to Iraq,
or you can FReepmail me a note or letter and I will print it out and put it in the Fourth of July packages.

Also, if you have any used books or movies or magazines that you enjoyed, you can mail those also to me to be included in the packages. If you use book/movie/magazine rate, they may arrive too late for this wave, but they will go in a future package.

Monetary donations for care packages are also always gladly accepted.

Finally, I'd appreciate suggestions of good books, movies that could go in the future. I've just subscribed for Sports Illustrated, Road and Track, Men's Health, American Heritage, and U.S. News and World Report so I can send them regularly (until my introductory offer runs out....) I get the women's NRA mag and AUSA and Army regularly now.

Last year and this year, these are the packages we have sent to Baghdad, Balad, and Mosul.

BALAD
Magazines: People, Men's Health, Army mag, NRA mag, latest women's NRA one on training puppies, and an AUSA one,Sports Illustrated, AUSA, Decision
Books: Clancy's Without Remorse; L'Amour's Last of the Breed; Koonz's Icebound; Wister's The Virginian; Heinlein's Glory Road; a biography of Washington, the Indispensible Man, Bill O'Reilly's Those Who Trespass, Random Harvest by James Hilton, Goodbye Darkness (WWII in Pacific memoir)
Movies: DVD's Seabiscuit; Mystery Alaska; Gettysburg; Open Range; Last Action Hero; Stand and Deliver; Fifth Element; Glory; Shanghai Knights; Die Another Day; We Were Soldiers; Last of the Mohicans; Antwone Fisher; Windtalkers; October Sky, Enemy at the Gates, Gladiator, Young Frankenstein, Ghost, Moulin Rouge; and VHS Die Hard, Witness, Baby Boom
Misc: 2 disposable cameras, 2 phone cards with 120 minutes, 4 envelops with 4 sheets paper, pens, envelops, note pad, pkg 2 small flashlights Card games: poker chips, 4 decks of playing cards, Skipbo
Snacks: 2 boxes Wheat Thins, 2 boxes of brownies, can Lays potato chips, box Cheezits individual size 2 starburst, 2 pistachio nuts, Snickers, Kitkat, Reese's Peanut butter cups, 2 fig newtons, 2 chips ahoy, 2 vanilla cream cookies, 3 berry Skittles, 1 tropical Skittles, 2 pack sugarfree spearmint gum, 2 bread sticks/cheese, 2 cheese and peanut butter crackers, 3 long smoked deli jerked sausage, 6 American cheese sticks with jerked beef sausage, 4 lemonade Crystal Lite cups, 4 raspberry Crystal Lite cups, humungus decorated chocolate rocky road Easter egg, 2 bags Reese's peanut butter cups; bag Jelly Belly; bag regular jelly beans; bag mixed hard candy, bag candy corn; 3 cans mixed nuts, 2 cans pringles potato chips
Toiletries: lip balm, 4 wet wipes, 3 Kleenex, toothbrush, toothpaste, 3 bottles 45SPF sunscreen, Sunscreen Shade SPF45, 2 chapstick SPF30, hand sanitizer, Charmin t.p., Old Spice aftershave[Post office thought it was an IED due to alcohol content and had me remove it], indulgence items for female soldier: tampons, facial cleaning wipes, night moisturizing face cream, manicure set, nail file, cuticle cream, nail hardening and repair kit, bar mild soap Jergens

MOSUL
VHS recording of Pres. Bush talk and Jay Leno monologue at WH Correspondent's dinner 5/1/04.
15 DVD movies: Gettysburg; Glory; We Were Soldiers; Die Another Day; Tears of the Sun, Galaxy Quest, Total Recall; Second Hand Lions; Independence Day; Last of the Mohicans; Shanghai Noon; Along Came a Spider; Open Range; Signs; Moscow on the Hudson. VHS: Fletch
Books: On War (Clausewitz), Tunnel in the Sky (Heinlein), Tactics of Mistake (Dickson), Scrabble dictionary.
Games: Tin of poker cards, chips and dice; travel Scrabble in case with pencil
Toys: Radioshack radio control racer (yellow wheelies jeep) and batteries; 2 Liquidator supersoakers; 250 water balloons
Snacks: 1 bag mixed hard candy; 2 bags Tootsie pops; 1 bag Lifesavers assorted flavors; Reese's peanut butter cups (double wrapped in Ziplocks); 12 packs Juicy Fruit gum; 2 cups raspberry Crystal Lite drink mix; 1 can deluxe mixed nuts Magazines: AUSA's Army on WWII memorial; Truckers
Toiletriesone each for recipient: bandaids; foot powder; fungal cream; deodorant; hand sanitizer; Charmin t.p.; wet wipes; floss; toothpaste/toothbrush; shaving cream; Q-tips; Kleenex; chapstick SPF30; sunscreen SPF45
Misc: 6 envelops with 2 sheets writing paper in each; 2 retractable ballpoint pens

BAGHDAD
The 4 Valentine care packages that went out 1-16-04 contained 26 movies, 14 paperback books, 6 decks of cards, a Frizzbee, 4 thingees of Crystal Lite mix, 45 sewing needles and 2 spools of thread, 23 notepads of paper (50 ct each), 600 envelopes, 47 packages of Bic pens (11 to a pack), 4 calendars, magazines (3 Army, 2 NRA, Star with Mel Gibson cover, Time with Saddam capture, a Schwarzenegger bio in pictures), 15 packs of gum, 6 each personal care items: travel size Kleenex, wet wipes, toilet paper, hand sanitizing gel, mouthwash, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, shampoo, shaving cream, disposable razors, dental floss, lotion, Q-tips, deodorant, chapstick SPF15, baby powder, 8 mild soaps, special wrapped 6 tampons, 6 small leatherette bag to carry travel toiletries. 2 boxes of bandaids. 1 small package of M&M's. And over 300 Valentines. 5 packages of Hershey's kisses (~670), 5 bags and 5 boxes with 506 lollypops (300 Tootsie Pops, 96 Charm bubblegum cherry and berry pops, and 108 Charm Valentine cherry suckers.
Movies are DVD: Gov. Schwarzenegger in Total Recall and The 6th Day, Crichton's Andromeda Strain, Antonio Banderas in Mask of Zorro, Kurt Russell in Stargate, Finding Nemo, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Star Wars II, Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest, The Matrix, Samuel L. Jackson in Shaft, Harrison Ford in Air Force One, Will Smith in Independence Day, Tom Berenger in Last of the Dogmen, October Sky, Carl Sagan's Contact. VHS movies are Bruce Willis in Die Hard, the Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable; Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, Morgan Freeman in Along Came a Spider, Good Will Hunting, Mel Gibson in What Women Want, Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, Casablanca. [Movies previously sent to Baghdad are Die Another Day, Collateral Damage, True Lies, Windtalkers, We Were Soldiers, Lawrence of Arabia, Last of the Mohicans, Return to Me, The Rookie, Antwone Fisher, Shanghai Knights, Tears of the Sun, Sum of All Fears, Panic Room, Ghostbusters, Frequency, Remember the Titans, Forever Young, Predator, Men in Black, The Great Escape.]

Books are Crichton's Timeline, Clancy's Without Remorse and Sum of All Fears, L'Amour's Last of the Breed, Heinlein's Starship Troopers and Double Star, Larry Bond's Red Phoenix, Stephen Horn's Law of Gravity, Don Coldsmith's Runestone, T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, Olson Scott Card's Postwatch and Enchantment, Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage. [Books previously sent to Baghdad are Ice Station Zebra, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength, Manifold Time, Manifold Space, The Pilgrimage, No Different Flesh, Glory Road, Tunnel in the Sky, Ender's Game, The Virginian.]

June2003 personal care items sent to Baghdad: 3 bottles sunblock 45 10 each travel size, gum, eyedrops, wet wipes, toilet paper, pens, small notepads, SPF45 chapstick, Kleenex, 3 magazines, music CD Have you Forgotten, music tape, q-tips in a baggie, box of Ziplock baggies, Box Cheezit crackers.

So far In the next boxes:
Mosul: Book's: Clancy's Without Remorse, Sun Tzu's Art of War, Goodbye Darkness (WWII Pacific memoir), Olson Scott Card's Enchantment, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, 50 Pocket constitutions (at cost by Vetscor
Movies: Fifth Element, Count of Monte Cristo, True Lies, Starship Troopers

Balad: Book's: Nevil Shute's Pied Piper and A Town Like Alice, 50 Pocket constitutions
Movies: Last of the Dogmen, Moscow on the Hudson
Envelops, Writing Pads
President Bush Address to the Nation on Iraq 5/24/04 recorded on VHS

[BJungNan]

Sitting at the airport waiting for someone to arrive, there was a young Marine on the bench next to me. I did not have a greeting card with me but I sure as heck shook his hand and said thank you.

[patriciaruth]

My association with the military is fourfold: My father was in naval intelligence in WWII; my foster father was a naval aviator who died serving his country; my cousin was career Army; and my friends here at FR have husbands and sons and nieces, etc serving and our prayer circle at my church remembers those serving.

I joined AUSA in summer of 2001.

Also, my brother is sort of on the front lines at home, so to speak, as he is a captain for one of the major airlines that lost crew and planes and passengers on 9/11. He took it very personally and has done training since.

[patriciaruth]

I'm so glad that there is a strong contingent of Americans that are happy to give our soldiers, sailors, airmen, coast guardsmen, marines a handshake and a free lunch from one end of the country to the other, just as long as they stay away from liberal activists.

Whatever my packages cost me, and it is generally more than what I get in donations to help, I just thank God I wasn't in World Trade or the Pentagon or on a plane over PA on 9/11, and I thank our service members for keeping the war against evil murdering fanatics over there.

Cheers!
Patty

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[Bottom_Gun]

13 yrs Active Duty Navy 80-93, Crewed and qualified on 3 different Submarines.

oh shore duty in 90, met my wife NavyGal, who was my younger sister's roomate (both active duty Navy), been together ever since, and they're both 4 yrs to retiremnet

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Aloha, Patty, and thank you for sending my message of Love and Support on to our Freedom-Fighting HOLY American Soldiers.

You can also send on that I have also shared my message of CLARITY on the air on Talk Radio/TV Programs such as:

C-Span TV's 'Washington Journal'
'Judicial Watch Report' Radio Show
etc...

.

[TruthNtegrity]

Patty, I seem to have fallen off of your ping list, and but for Tonk, wouldn't have known about this campaign.

I wish I could help but with the gas increase, it takes all I have to visit Walter Reed and Bethesda and continue to take prepaid phone cards and cheer to the wounded.

Please include a note from me that I love them, pray for them and their families and their safety. God bless them all, wherever they are.

Thanks.

[nmh]

BTT

[HitmanLV]

A funeral brought me back to nyc this week - the fleet is in and I make it my business to stop and thank as many sailors and others (I have seen marines and air force also) and greet them warmly and thank them for their service to the country. Most appreciate it a lot (me and my friend Carl apologized to some sailors that, while NYC isn't as neat at Shanghai, it's neat too!), though I wish more would do it.

And yes, I have a habit of stopping the sailor-ladies more often than the sailor men! ;-)

[writer33]

No need to thank me. It was all my pleasure. Thank you for supporting the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coasties. You're a great American, ma'am.

[Libertina]

BTTT Thank you - will do!

[patriciaruth]

You're back on the ping list. I had to make it from scratch after my laptop broke.

And I copied your sentiments for a note for a soldier.

I'm most appreciative that you take advantage of your location and visit our wounded. God bless you and them.

Cheers!
Patty

[patriciaruth]

KEEP THOSE CARDS AND LETTERS COMING, FOLKS!
We need many more notes. Please take the time to type a short one and FReepmail it to me.:-)

Getting the following to be included in the Fourth of July care packages:

Books: Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence, The Altman Code (a Robert Ludlum book), Shogun by James Clavell, Ice Station Zero by Alistair MacLean, The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy
DVD's: Frequency with Dennis Quaid, Lawrence of Arabia (superbit) with Peter O'Toole.

Anybody who wants to slip five or ten dollars into an envelop to help pay for these, please ask me for my address.

One of the books was a suggestion from a poster, and another poster will be sending Aliens (DVD).

Any more suggestions, y'all??

[Mo1]

Hey there Patriciaruth .. I would be more then happy to help out .. it's the lest I can do for our troops

Should I send it to the address you gave me before?

[Tunehead54]

Any more suggestions, y'all??

---

I had a guy over in Iraq that greatly appreciated "Eyeglass Cleaner" which was useful for people wearing glasses - for the dust - but also for the night-vision optics. Freepmail your address and I'll get a check off. Promise. ;-)

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

Send DVD's of "WE WERE SOLDIERS"

Just got thru viewing it again.

http://www.WeWereSoldiers.com
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_set1.htm


.

[Mo1]

I know the cost problem. It has definitely been more expensive to buy DVD's for Iraq than it cost to send VHS to Kosovo. I shop Wal-Mart and get preused at Hollywood video mostly

I just got back from Block Busters .. there were having a sale on pre-viewed DVD's .. 3 for $25

I'll be sending them off to ya

[redrock]

BUMP!!!!!!!!!

redrock

[Victoria Delsoul]

Good idea, thanks.

Bump!

[ConservativeMan55]

A heartwarming Memorial Day Story below!!!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145219/posts