CARE PACKAGES for our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2008

Our grassroots group of troop supporters started in the summer of 2001 by sending VHS movies and Snickers candy bars to the 101st Airborne and later the 10th Mountain at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. We are not an organized charity as no one of us has the time or energy to do all that paperwork, and any contributions made are not tax deductible.

Our specialty in the past has been movies, books, snacks, personal care items, holiday decorations and some appliances like DVD players, microwaves, and Playstations; and we have sent many hundreds of movies to various bases. Normally we adopt a whole unit and send care packages to a contact in that unit who distributes the goodies to all in the unit. When our adopted units rotate back stateside, they leave the items which are not consumable for the use of their follow-on unit. Thus we have helped build up entertainment libraries throughout the war zones.

In 2006 we entered our 6th year of sending care packages to our troops in war zones We adopted the follow-on PSYOP company at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and a follow-on Stryker Brigade company at Mosul in Iraq. We also adopted a new company of 141st Signal battalion in the 1st Armored Division that started at Tal Afar and was soon moved to Ramadi as a tip of the spear there in 2006, just after another adopted unit (Old Sarge’s unit) at Ramadi left. Here are a couple emails from Chris that say it all for what they went through there.

“The bad news is that my team has been activated and now has a mission in downtown Ramadi, the most dangerous place in Iraq.” –June 15, 2006

[It didn't help that a reporter with a major news service helped the terrorists spot their RPG trajectories by publishing that one had fallen 20 feet short, resulting the next day in an RPG killing one of our contact's fellow soldiers.]

“Last week another soldier and I were at our communication trucks when an RPG hit a humvee right outside our compound wall about 10 feet away. It rocked the trucks. We both opened the doors to our trucks to run inside when a 2nd RPG flew over the wall, through our camouflage net, bounced off the top of our trucks and hit the ground exploding right in front of us. I was closest, about 2 feet away. The blast threw us back into the trucks. The other guy only had his glasses knocked off. He got right back up and ran inside. I don't remember the exact details but I remember the blast throwing me back inside the truck and into the signal equipment. I think I was stunned and dazed because I sat there for a few minutes before I regained situational awareness and got the hell out of there. I suffered a concussions and some hearing loss.” –August 10, 2006

A lot of prayers were said for our guys at Ramadi, which is now a relatively peaceful city under Anbar Awakening, and our contacts are safely home.

In 2006 we were also glued to a couple companies of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Richardson in Alaska. (Most of the Brigade bases at Ft Wainwright.) Our adopted company in an SBCT the year before had been at Fallujah 2004 and then met evil face to face and endured some horrific times at Mosul (2004-2005). They witnessed atrocities to the civilian population by the terrorists and they experienced IED attacks and the mess hall bombing at FOB Marez that left some of our company very severely injured with one KIA.

Their follow-on unit and a sister company that we also adopted were faced with pacifying the towns along the Syrian border. In 2006 they moved out from Mosul into Ft Talafar, FOB Heider, COP Rawah, and other locations and brought a return to sanity for the locals from the murderous reign of radical and vicious terrorists enforcing their idea of Sharia law.

Alpha company of 4-23 infantry regiment of SBCT was out in the sand in tents at COP Rawah in the late winter and into the blistering summer heat with few amenities, so we concentrated on sending them packages.

In May of 2006, because I believed our adopted 172nd Stryker units and our 1AD unit at Tal Afar were going to be in an upcoming major offensive, I urged our troop supporters to send a great many care packages for the Fourth of July.

The Merry Band of Patriots responded by sending over a hundred care packages to our adopted units for the Fourth of July. More detail will be in one of the first posts of this new thread.

As feared, just as their tour ended and they were getting on planes to go back to Alaska, our two adopted 172nd SBCT companies had their tours extended and were turned around and sent to Baghdad in 120 degree heat. They pretty much arrived with just the clothes on their backs, having given away to their follow-on unit or mailed home most of their “comfort” and recreational items. They had to beg back their Stryker vehicles and unpack and reassemble and resight their weapons. ‘Stryker at the special location’ (FOB Heider) went, too; and all were reunited again at FOB Stryker at Baghdad. Some 200 plus of them returned from Alaska.

We did an emergency mailing of packages to help reequip them with odds and ends, like surge protectors, flexible cold packs, pillows, sheets, soccer ball inflators, drink mix, DVD movies and boxed TV series. kattracks, bjcintennessee, daybreakcoming, DAVEY CROCKET, JaneAustin, Just A Nobody, SwatTeam, JoyjoyfromNJ, Enterprise, MJY1288, norton, JustAmy, Abigail Adams, DrDeb, Ros42, my optometrist, SENClander, patriciaruth all sent packages.

In return a few of us got T-shirts from the Apache Renegades (Juan’s Stryker unit), with their mascot [skull with Indian war bonnet] over a map of Iraq with this inscription:
OIF
Aug 05 – Dec 06
Mosul Rawah Baghdad
“STRIKE FEAR”

We adopted a new unit in the Fall of 2006, an NPTT unit (National Police Transition Team) at Baghdad, on the recommended of Juan in the 172nd SBCT, because his brother Andy was a member of the unit. (Another brother was serving in Afghanistan. What a family!)

We also sent 19 packages to Kirkuk for Operation Crayon summer 2006 with school supplies for the local kids.
We communicated with and sent some packages to a few wounded warriors at a Fisher House for transitional treatment of those just discharged from Walter Reed.
We sent some packages to Irbil where some MI soldiers were liaisoning with servicemen from Republic of Korea, and some to a military intelligence unit at Kirkuk.
I sent a few packages to a Marine from my town who was near Baghdad.

2006 had its victories.
Zarqawi was killed at Mosul in June and Saddam was executed in Baghdad in December. But the bombing of the Golden Mosque at Samarra by al Qaida early in 2006 sparked escalating sectarian violence that almost derailed everything we had accomplished. Anbar Awakening (where the Iraqis in Anbar Province decided the al Qaida types were evil and decided to band with the Americans to get rid of them) and the Surge in 2007 put Iraq back on the freedom track and our soldiers closer to seeing a victory for their heroic and costly efforts in Iraq.

2006 had its sorrows.
2006 was a difficult year for me due to personal and family health problems and the beginning of kattrack's final illness, and thus I never posted a new 2007 thread with a summary of 2006. The advantage of the delay is that I was able to include much more detail about what was going on with our adopted units in 2006.

kattracks was our Fairy Godmother Dept for our soldiers in harm's way. In the first 9 months of 2006 she sent at least 92 care packages, many of them large. 7 went to Camp Ramadi and included an large inflatable wading pool, 9 went to Stryker at Mosul. 23 went to Tal Afar for general distribution to all the units there. 11 went to A company of Stryker at COP Rawah and then 11 more went to them after they were redeployed to Baghdad; 2 went to C company of Stryker at Ft Talafar and 11 more after they redeployed to Baghdad. 9 went to Kirkuk for Operation Crayon, and 9 went to Bagram air field, Afghanistan.
kattracks was given the precious gift of the Rapture in May, 2007, and we were left to carry on without her.

A few other special projects in 2006 that caught my eye as I was counting the packages from kattracks:
18 boxes of school supplies were sent in 2006 to Operation Crayon in Kirkuk by Coop, kattracks, Jane Austen, patriciaruth, my mother, Just A Nobody, Enterprise, DrDeb)

Two framed quit claim deeds to Zarqawi’s safe house were donated by doug from upland (together with copy of the ad on eBay) and sent to MI at Kirkuk and to 1AD at Ramadi.

Christmas, 2006, packages went to
Bagram (from Nina0113, Enterprise, daybreakcoming, airborne)
Baghdad:
10th Mountain: (from patriciaruth)
NPTT (from SENClander, daybreakcoming, with 11 Petzl headlamps sent directly)
a local Marine near Baghdad (patriciaruth)
4th ID north of Baghdad. (from patriciaruth requested by Abigail Adams)
Mosul: Stryker that was redeployed to Baghdad (from jtill, a Santa suit from patriciaruth, LittleBlogSpot, Freedom is eternally right, SwatTeam)
Ramadi: (from jtill, fanfan, SwatTeam, daybreakcoming and her sister, Merlinator, Abigail Adams, Enterprise, Just A Nobody)
Wounded:
Walter Reed (from Enterprise)
Mologne House for recovering wounded (from patriciaruth)

daybreakcoming sent pre-lit Christmas trees to Ramadi and Mosul, and her tree to Stryker at Mosul ended up at FOB Stryker in Baghdad as they were redeployed there just before Christmas. SENClander sent a pre-lit Christmas tree to NPTT at Baghdad.

Many care packages went out throughout 2006 which are not listed, like all those nina0133 sent to Bagram; but I have decided to cut the effort to list everything now so I can manage to get a new thread posted.

In 2007 we sent out over 71 care packages to Afghanistan, over 105 to Stryker Brigade Combat Team units in the Surge to pacify Baghdad and environs, over 83 to NPTT units at Baghdad, and 4 to Balad for an estimate of over 263 packages sent to our adopted units in the war zones.

. The Surge meant our guys were on walk about more than they were at home base -- looking for and finding AI (al Qaida in Iraq) as well as enough caches of weapons to carpet California.

Afghanistan heated up and we ended the year 2007 sending a few care packages to a group holed up on high mountain ledge near the Pakistan border and scoring 400 plus fire fights with Taliban and al Qaida trying to infiltrate back into Afghanistan.

Last year 2007 we grieved at the loss of troop supporters kattracks, kayak, 68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub, GretchenM (formerly GretchenEE), and the husbands of jtill and SENClander. We also continued to miss COB1 (AKA Texas Cowboy). God holds them all now in the palm of His infinite hand.

CREDITS:
AFGHANISTAN 2007:
BAGRAM Air Field near Kabul:
SENClander's sister sent 3 care packages in January to 315th PSYOP unit just before they left, and we [nina0133, Ros42, Abigail Adams, Just Amy, Jim Robinson, jtill, Paperdoll, PigRigger, manna, patriciaruth] sent 61 care packages (5 were large) to A Co, 13th PSYOP who took over and who have now departed early this year. These packages included 55 bags of beef jerky given to a Special Forces unit there from airborne, norton, Kitty Mittens and my mother. SW6906 sent most episodes of 3 TV series.

BATTLE Company on Pakistan-Afghan border:
Early in December 2007 we sent them 7 care packages for Christmas:
5 boxes of Hickory Farms cheeses (with 37.5 oz of cheese in each) from Enterprise and patriciaruth, a box with 17 packs with 1/2 lb of beef jerky from 4Godsoloved...Hegave, and a box with 14 Hickory Farms 14 oz beef sausages from by cshnorthcarolina.

Email to maine-iac7 from her grandson: “We ate all of that cheese and meat, it was amazing. We really pushed through all of it fast. awesome. I can’t find the box to tell who sent it - if you know, PLEASE thank them and let them know how great it was! Best food in some time! It means a lot to us that people back home know we are here. We;re so isolated that it really is awesome to know. It means a lot to all of us.”

IRAQ 2007:
In 2007 we [[nina0133, SwatTeam, manna, jtill, patriciaruth, Enterprise, Ros42, Abigail Adams, mathluv, Just Amy, Jim Robinson] sent 66 care packages to our adopted Stryker unit at FOB Stryker at Baghdad up to their departure at the end of the summer --including a microwave [Enterprise], a Nintendo Wii [my optometrist], and 210 blue ice gel packs [SwatTeam and jtill].

We sent 39 care packages [deadhead, SENClander, JustAmy, Jim Robinson, Paperdoll, Abigail Adams, patriciaruth, 4Godsoloved...Hegave], 18 Petzl headlamps [Enterprise, jtill, manna, PigRigger, Kitty Mittens, MEG33] and a Christmas tree with ornaments [mass55th] to the current Stryker unit at Baqubah in Diyala Province, after we made contact in November.

To 3 NPTT (National Police Transition Team) units in Baghdad (at Camp Liberty) we [SENclander, patriciaruth, mass55th, Yaelle] sent 56 care packages including 22 Petzl headlamps [MEG33, SwatTeam, norton, Enterprise, jtill] and a Christmas tree [MJY1288] and ornaments. To one of these units (to Juan's brother Andy) we [Enterprise, Tunehead54, patriciaruth, my mother] also sent 12 boxes of school supplies for him to distribute to local school children.

To an NPTT unit at FOB Falcon near Baghdad that left in September we [patriciaruth, iceskater, Enterprise] sent 15 care packages and SW6906 sent most or all episodes of 5 TV series.

BALAD, Iraq 2007: 4 care packages sent for Christmas to mystery-ak's husband (doing another tour of duty).

Our many generous donors of checks, cash, money orders, Paypal, shopping cards, phone cards, etc are listed in the Accounting posts toward the end of our 2006 thread (which also covers 2007) and which can be linked from the post below. Many of our members are now trusted to mail their packages directly.

Oh, that’s so great! Thanks for NPTT and PSYOPS care packages!!

I have been busy recovering from a mild concussion. Pretty stupid. I got out the car a couple weeks ago to pick up some mail left in the garage and the car rolled back and the door whammed me good over my left eye, breaking my glasses and leaving me stunned.

Got a nice shiner, but was really lucky that the upper corner of the door impaled on a garage post and prevented the car from rolling more and knocking me over.

Don’t even want to think about what would have happened to my skull if I’d been knocked over onto the garage cement floor.

Was pretty dingy this last week, but I seem to be coming out of it now.

My sister is here helping with Mom, and hubby is out of town visiting his Mom for Mother’s Day.

Your packages sure have a lot of goodies in them. Our soldiers will really enjoy them. THANKS AGAIN!!

Here is our thread for sharing information about requests from our adopted units.

We are currently trying to get another contact in a Stryker unit in Iraq at Baqubah. We have new contacts with a PSYOP unit at Bagram Air Field near Kabul, Afghanistan and a NPTT unit at Baghdad, Iraq.

Earlier in the thread I posted information about mailing care packages, and will post some specific requests and recommended items this weekend.

I had to cut back on my work here this last year as I was taking care of my failing elderly Mom until my sister moved her to her home last week. Now I’ve got more time, but no longer have enough money to adopt more than these three units. Also, tomorrow I have to go and try to pass the eyesight test to renew my driver’s license and I’m not sure I’m going to pass. Losing my driver’s license would put a big crimp in my activities here.

But I’ll be happy to help you get an APO to send your items and advise you on what to buy. Right now I’m recommending high SPF chapstick, Gold Bond body powder, Blue Ice lunchbox sized flexible gel packs (found near ice chests and fishing equipment in Walmart sport’s department for 98 cents a pack), and sunblock or sunscreen with high SPF, as well as the drink mix powders (singles are easier for them to use), for the summer heat.

I had to use some special eye drops for about five days to improve my vision, but I did manage to pass.

Now I have to be responsible and continue to use the drops, and only go out in the afternoons.

I’ve got the name of a new Stryker unit at Baqubah, but our contact there just got back from a patrol and hasn’t gotten us a name of a soldier willing to receive the care packages.

Soon as we have it, I’ll put out a call for 4th of July care packages.

Congrats on passing the test.

Is your head better?

Care package for a Private at Operation Athena at Kandahar, Afghanistan:

1 Magazine : Men’s health
1 Large package beef jerky
5 Packages indiv. crystal light, and ice tea.
1 bag Tostios
1 pkg. onion dip
4 Tuna snacks with crackers
1 box peanuts
1 bag assorted hard candy
1 small M&M’s

Mailed today.

:-D

Our new NPTT contact is now at FOB Falcon near Baghdad, and I’ll post some email excerpts below.

Anyone who can volunteer to send them enough lemonade mix and cans of potato chips or chocolate chip cookies for 14-15 men for the Fourth of July by Saturday, June 21, please let me know.

Care packages of the same for Bagram air field in Afghanistan are also needed. I am packing up now many bags of trail mix (thanks to donation from jtill) to send them, as well as the HBO DVD miniseries “John Adams” based on the book by David McCullough for their Fourth of July present. An excellent series covering the winning and keeping of our Independence!

We have not been able to establish a new contact with a Stryker unit, and our former adopted unit has left for home and is hopefully safely there now. I will write a letter to the “commander” of the new Stryker unit (I only have the unit name and APO, no name) and see if I can get another Stryker contact. Our last adopted unit saw a great deal of action in southern Baghdad and Ba’qubah, had 7 KIA in their battalion last year, and had great responsibilities during the turnover to the new unit.

Mailed June 16, 2008, to NPTT at FOB Falcon, with help of donations from jtill and manna.
1 box, insured $197.02 (value $212.02), postage $13.55
14 DVD movies:
Independence Day (Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman)
National Treasure (Nicolas Cage)
Die Hard trilogy (Bruce Willis)
Airforce One/In the Line of Fire (Harrison Ford) (Clint Eastwood)
Alien/Predator (Sigorney Weaver) (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura)
Gettysburg/Gods and Generals (Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger)
Open Range (Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall, Annette Bening)
The Jackal (Bruce Willis, Richard Gere)
Robocop (Peter Weller, Nancy Allen)
4 Books:
The Great Raid on Cabanatuan *
Winston Churchill, The Last Lion: Visions of Glory 1874-1932 (William Manchester)
The Gods Themselves (Issac Asimov)
Red Mars (Kim Stanley Robinson)
Personal Care:
9 travel size Gold Bond body powder
16 Lip Balm SPF 30
11 travel size Artificial Tears
8 cartons 4 window clear Fly Trap paper (nontoxic)
Decorations:
1 small American flag
1 American flag pinwheel
3 short sprays of red, silver, blue stars

*From SwatTeam, valued by Amazon at $24.09

THANKS to fanfan for sending care packages to the defenders of Kandahar!! (see post above)

Email excerpts from NPTT now at FOB Falcon:

...have read 1776 and I did enjoy it immensely. But I haven’t read the book on England and Russia. I would love to read the Mars series. Frankly I am running out of reading material and need something new. I don’t have much time to read, but I always pick up a book and read at least 30 minutes before I go to sleep.

...Hi Patty,

I’m so sorry for not emailing sooner. It has been a very busy couple of weeks as we are getting to know the area of operations and all of the personalities that are key players. I’m glad to say that I think that we got a lot of things accomplished in the short time that we have been here.

We just got word that we will start moving to FOB Falcon next week. On Tuesday we will stop by the FOB and get a new mailing address. Yes, we did get your package. Thank you very much. The blue gel packs have already come in very handy. Last week was a little warmer than usual and we expect the same temperatures in the coming week. Thank you. Please relay my warmest thanks to Amy as well.

...I’ve seen the Mars books but I haven’t read them. One of the things that irritate me is when book stores (and the PXs are notoriously bad for this) don’t stock the entire series. The might have Blue Mars but they don’t have the other two. How did you like the rest of the Dune series? As you say, very deep thoughts. Right now I’m on a military history kick. I just got done reading Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire from the 1st Century AD to the 3rd (mouthful of a title) and I am now reading D-Day.

patriciaruth...

Bless you for all you do! Especially with your own trials to deal with

An update on boxes to Battle Co.: The middle school that my grandson graduated from has really gone gung-ho for him and Battle Co.

They have, in two mailings, now sent over 30 boxes - the teacher spearheading the group got a grant and he and I went on a shopping spree!

The kids packed and taped and addressed and wrote letters - and made a huge (about 4'x6') poster with photos I supplied and that they pulled off the net from the ABC and NYTimes photos of them...They designed a plaque for "AIRBORNE" and made a CD...and used them for their Science Fair project.

These kids did a fantastic job. My grandson is going to visit the school when he gets a leave in the fall.

Mail cut off was the end of May - they will get out of that hell hole at the end of summer 0 and they will be stationed in their base in Italy for the year out of the war zone.

Most of the Sky Soldiers do not have family there so there's no "Welcome Home" party to greet them, but one is being organized, spearheaded by tankerbabe...and posters and $ donations are being sent to organize a "Welcome HOme" party like other units get when returning from deployment.

One of my granddaughters is helping me with a "poster" - we are painting a sheet~ It's not only bigger, but easier to mail than a cardboard poster - Pillow cases are great to use also.

We're painting the logos - for AIRBORNE, For the 173rd BATTLE CO< and for "The ROCK" - the small Rapid Response Team that my grandson is with. ..and we are going to iron on photos -

Since they don't get to come stateside, where they would get the "Welcome HOme" when they set foot on land - we are going to send the party to them in Italy...But don't tell any of them! It's a surprise...

Again, Patricia, THANK YOU for all you do for our incredible troops and BLESS and THANK YOU for also including Battle co,....

as we speak, no only has the spring surge that the big wigs said wouldn't come this year = come, but it's worse that ever. Prayers for our troops up in those isolated valleys infested with taliban...and the Pakis allowing the tallis free reign to ooze over the border, attack and scoot back to safe arms in Paki - where the Paki military is infiltrated/simpatico to the talies...

At least, this year, Battle co. has a howitzer for better and more precise cover...and they have a new puppy ;o)...they named him AIRBORNE - for two reasons...one being that everytime a mortar goes off or comes in, he goes "airborne"

UPDATE on 4th of July for BAGRAM air field, Afghansistan.

Enterprise sent out 15 canisters of lemonade mix to Bagram yesterday, to make up 10 gallons each of pink lemonade, regular lemonade and strawberry lemonade.

Mailed June 19, 2008, to Bagram
1 box, insured $73.43, postage $13.65
1 TV miniseries (7 episodes) “John Adams” based on book by David McCullough
9 American flag pinwheels
1 box CL On the Go singles orange
1 canister CL Raspberry Ice drink mix cups
1 bag with 5 sample packets cream, 4 sample perfume paper
1 strip stickers for all occasions

I’m still up to my hips in trail mix here, but hope to have that out on Monday.

Hi Patty!
Thanks for the ping.

Well done, Enterprise. :-)

I may have an opportunity to support a Canadian, Immediate Response Team near Kandahar, but nothing is worked out yet.

I’ll keep you posted.
Would anyone be able to help in any way with a new group?

I met the mother of a soldier moved to this team, and I got the impression she was grateful for the support.

It was Friday, we were both wearing red, and we talked about her son.

*smile*

How’s your Mom, Patty?

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