Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
and the family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.
Posted on 03/06/2003 12:45:39 AM PST by kattracks
FORT BENNING, Ga., Mar 06, 2003 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Pamela Bates worried about getting depressed after her husband shipped out to Kuwait for the possible war with Iraq.
Her solution was a project that keeps her busy 16 hours a day and lifts the spirits of thousands of soldiers living in tent cities in the Kuwaiti desert.
Her Adopt-A-Soldier Web site - Hugs to Kuwait - was originally intended to serve only members of her husband's unit, the First Battalion of the 10th Artillery Regiment from Fort Benning. But the overwhelming response from soldiers, military families and other supporters led her to expand it to all branches of the military and even to a British unit.
"I don't have a guarantee that my husband will return," she said. "I pray for his safety and I have to support those who watch his back everyday."
Bates launched the Web site on Jan. 4, two days before her husband, Sgt. Daniel Bates, boarded a plane for the Middle East. He is an artilleryman in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which would likely take the lead in an invasion of Iraq.
So far Bates has arranged the adoption of more than 9,800 troops, and 18,000 people from every state and 11 countries have applied. She and a group of volunteers screen the applicants and then link them with troops who agree to be adopted.
Mitch Dunn, a disabled Vietnam veteran, and his wife, Sandy, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, have adopted two sailors aboard the USS Constellation, an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf region, and three soldiers from Sgt. Bates' battalion.
"Every letter I write, I say, 'I hope the good Lord brings you home safely,"' said Dunn, who was wounded in Vietnam while serving aboard a Navy river patrol boat. "You know those kids have to be scared. If you're not scared, there's something wrong with you.
"It really means a lot to get support from people back home," he said.
Sandy Dunn has become one of the four assistant managers who help with Hugs to Kuwait, which has also linked churches, civic groups, scout troops and veterans' organizations with the troops who soon may face combat.
"I was determined that I was going to do something for the guys in his unit," said Bates. "It never was supposed to get this big."
Her Web site also offers chat rooms that provide support for military spouses, tips on what to include in care packages for soldiers and soldiers' pictures from the desert.
It has a link to another group, Operation Military Pride, which works to boost the moral of troops based overseas through cards, letters and care packages. Operation Military Pride plans a Washington rally on Armed Forces Day, May 17, to show support for the military.
"We've created a community, and it's been a godsend for me," said Bates, who has two teenagers. "I don't sit around feeling sorry for myself. As a spouse, you can get the blahs when your husband is deployed. You don't want to get out of bed."
She runs the Web site from a laptop while seated on a sofa in the living room of her home in a military housing development. She receives more than 100 e-mails a day and her coffee table is piled high with printouts. She also gets a flood of regular mail from people who want to apply, or to offer their thanks and support.
"When I get down in the dumps, I read the letters that people send to me thanking me for setting up the program, and it always picks me back up," she said. "I support my husband 100 percent and what the military does, 150 percent. I have to be strong for him and for my kids."
Bates, who had little experience with Web sites, built the site on her own.
"We're home. We feel safe and comfortable with our families and friends," Bates said. "They don't have that. What they are doing is what they have been ordered to do, what they took an oath to do. If we can make one soldier smile, then we're happy."
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On the Net:
Hugs to Kuwait: http://groups.msn.com/hugstokuwaitadoptasoldier
Operation Military Pride: http://www.operationmilitarypride.org/
By ELLIOTT MINOR Associated Press Writer
Back when I was in 7th(90-91) grade I remember that my reading teacher had us one day start writing Letters to troops stationed over in the Gulf. My class was give one Marines name and the whole class wrote him letters. He would read them and pass them along to others. We received many letters back from many other soldiers and the Marine we initially started sending letters to CAME TO MY CLASSROOM after he was back in the states to say how much the letters ment to him and to say thanks in person.
Do any schools do this today?
Yes. We had quite a few instances of that during Desert Storm. But now it's more difficult with the anthrax threat.
It served as an ever-present reminder that someone was putting their life on the line for freedom.
If you have a person's name, they should receive their packages. I've sent several out to my pen pals overseas and they've all received them. I believe it's only if you address a package "To Any Service Person" that they have concerns about delivering packages.
So go ahead and have some fun shopping for an "adoptee" at one of the sites kattracks has provided. It really does make a difference to those who receive cards, letters, or packages from us back home. Knowing they have our support is a huge morale boost!
Also, the link provided at post #7 here has more info on contacting our service men and women overseas. That's where I contacted all my pen pals.
State sues, saying it can't tell how woman used about $300,000
By Jeff Long
Tribune staff reporter
Published January 19, 2006
A McHenry County woman who has collected nearly $300,000 to help boost the morale of troops overseas has been sued by the Illinois attorney general amid concerns about how the money was spent, officials said Wednesday.
Arlyn McClaughry and her organization, Operation Military Pride, were sued this month after officials determined there was no way to tell where the money went.
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