Posted on 09/19/2004 5:57:53 PM PDT by Dubya
FORT HOOD - Julie Curtis-Win was not in the Army. Her husband, a physician, was never in the Army. Neither was her 25-year-old son.
She has no idea what a multiple launch rocket system is or why the soldiers request Q-Tips to clean their rifles. Some of the junior troops are taken aback when she calls them "sir," a courtesy typically reserved for officers.
Yet this soft-spoken, hug-happy 47-year-old woman has in less than two years endeared herself to thousands of soldiers at Fort Hood, one of the busiest combat bases in the nation.
"We'd like to take her to Iraq with us," said Sgt. Mitchell Land, a Missouri National Guardsman who left for Iraq last week.
Win is the director of the Texas Military Family Foundation, a fledgling nonprofit soldier-support group that has evolved into a lifeline for the homesick and isolated soldiers of the Army Reserve and National Guard at Fort Hood.
She provides free cellphone use for soldiers because the barracks don't have phones. She set up computers for them to go online and check e-mail because the barracks don't have Internet service.
Because many of the soldiers are cash-strapped when they arrive, she doles out toothpaste, Q-Tips and baby wipes. She arranges pizza parties and barbecues, and she hustles up Army vans for transportation because personal vehicles aren't allowed.
And she runs a game room for soldiers fortunate enough to live nearby.
"Ma'am, do you mind if we have the TV room tonight to watch the Pack?" asked Lt. Mike Hartzheim, a soldier in the Wisconsin National Guard.
The foundation started simply enough and has grown because of Win's most glaring weakness -- the inability to say no to young men who are headed to the combat zones of Iraq.
"It's the right thing to do," she said.
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Its so hard for them. I am praying. My nephew Kenny is there.
BUMP!
Yes, thanks! :)
THANKS TO GOD
I pray that this will bless you as it blessed me.
Hello God,
I called tonight
To talk a little while
I need a friend who'll listen
To my anxiety and trial.
You see, I can't quite make it
Through a day just on my own...
I need your love to guide me,
So I'll never feel alone.
I want to ask you please to keep
My family safe and sound.
Come and fill their lives with confidence
For whatever fate they're bound.
Give me faith, dear God, to face
Each hour throughout the day,
And not to worry over things
I can't change in any way.
I thank you God for being home
And listening to my call,
For giving me such good advice
When I stumble and fall.
Your number, God, is the only one
That answers every time.
I never get a busy signal,
Never had to pay a dime.
So thank you, God, for listening
To my troubles and my sorrow.
Good night, God, I love You too,
And I'll call again tomorrow!
Bump!
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