Posted on 01/21/2006 3:06:06 PM PST by patriciaruth
Welcome to the 2006 thread of the Merry Band of Patriots!
Our grassroots, volunteer group of troop supporters has been sending care packages to servicemen and women in war zones since the summer of 2001 when we began by sending VHS movies and Snickers candy bars to the 101st Airborne and then later the 10th Mountain at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.
This last year we sent a couple hundred care packages to troops at Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Tal Afar in Iraq, at Bagram in Afghanistan, at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and to our wounded at Landstuhl Regional Hospital in Germany.
Our specialty in the past has been movies, books, snacks, holiday decorations and some appliances like DVD players and Playstations, and we have sent hundreds of movies to various bases.
This last year we had 6 main projects in addition to the usual care packages:
1. We sent over 80 state-of-the-art Petzl headlamps to our adopted company of Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Mosul and 35 to an MI unit at Kirkuk. This was probably the most appreciated item we've ever sent, thanks to a project that got off the ground due to the work of Spanaway Lori, HannaUSA , and Oatka and 3/4th of which was funded by my optometrist.
2. There was the Personal Care items "Emergency" Airlift to Bagram air base in June and July. (mathluv, nina0113, Coop, JustAmy, airborne, iceskater, Tunehead54, jtill participated.)
3. The 4th of July Party Decorations and Snacks blowout for all our adopted units. (pictures at posts 357, 358, 368 of our 2005 thread)
4. Operation Popcorn in August and September for the Engineers at Baghdad (iceskater, mathluv, SENClander, Coop, Abigail Adams, Ros42, Ican'tbelieve it, jtill and ebay's mshoponline sent over 600 bags of microwave popcorn, while omegatoo's were lost in the shuffle of her evacuating New Orleans prior to the Katrina flooding)
5. The End of Summer Luau for psyops at Baghdad in September and October (MJY1288 mailed off the party things we bought at eBay and Amazon with contributions from fanfan, kattracks, jtill, Just mythoughts, Ros42, Pig Rigger, MJY1288 and Kitty Mittens. Pictures at post 809 of the 2005 thread)
6. Halloween candy and movies for the Troops (kattracks, SENClander, Ican'tbelieveit, Abigail Adams mailed boxes in addition to the ones I sent with donations)
7. The Amazing Christmas and New Years Deluge, when it rained packages at all our adopted bases, especially at Tal Afar.
Special mentions go to Teams captains: mathluv (Engineers Baghdad), Ros42 (psyops Baghdad), CAluvdubya (Tal Afar), Abigail Adams (Stryker at Mosul), VeniVidiVici (MI at Kirkuk), nina0113 (Bagram, Afghanistan). Fairy Godmother Dept. (kattracks), Christmas Trees and Christmas Cards R Us (daybreakcoming), Shipping Dept (MJY1288), DVD Recording Dept (MJY1288), Webhosting and Photoshopping Dept (New Perspective), Daddy Warbucks Dept (my optometrist).
Among the many care packages sent by our troop supporters are these projects.
Boxes of school supplies for Iraqi children were sent by mathluv, Ican'tbelieveit, and my mother to Operation Crayon in Kirkuk.
Some members (CAluvdubya, angelsonmyside, 4integrity, ebay's susiemck) helped fill requests for Western Movies from an MI unit at Kirkuk (now home, movies still there) and Clint Eastwood and Adam Sandler movies from Fox Battery at Kirkuk (now home, movies still there).
bjcintennesse made many dozens of cooling neck scarves and sent them to pysops and Engineers at Baghdad.
DAVEY CROCKETT mailed boxesful of car magazines to a couple units.
A copy of the hardback book about the first year of the Revolutionary War (1776 by David McCullough) was sent to most of our units by DrDeb, iceskater, SwatTeam, and Just a Cowgirl.
Ros42 and mscht adopted a unit at Camp Ramadi for Christmas. (picture at 1195 of the 2005 thread).
CheneyChick and daybreakcoming saw to it that some care packages went to a remnant of our troops still in Kosovo.
Daybreakcoming's sister helped the staffers of the Louisiana legislature send about 8 boxes with around 32 bags of Christmas candy to Tal Afar.
Our many generous donors of checks, cash, money orders, Paypal, shopping cards, phone cards, etc are listed in the Accounting posts in our 2005 thread which can be linked from the post below.
We were surprised and emotional when we received back from our adopted units some of the items pictured below, and a big thank you to jkphoto for taking the pictures and webhosting them.
Many thanks to you and the merry band for showing us how it's done. Our troops are lucky to have you!
If you know of any specifics that need to go to Tal Afar, let me know...
and general stuff also...
I am still new here...so I need a hint...like do they want food stuff...or clothes, or toiletries, or magazines,??
The only time I really have a chance to go shopping is on Saturday, Sunday, Monday..so, if you can think of anything let me know...okay?
We still have a window before the heat begins at the end of March to send American brand candy bars, bags of smaller ones so they go around further.
I suggest getting big (or most economical) bags of popular candy bars, fun size or miniatures, and sending them. If you have any paperback books you'd enjoy reading again and think a guy would also enjoy, then I recommend books and magazines for filler.
I just emptied all of our closets. I was going to send them to Salvation Army. I can forward them overseas, a little at a time. And, I have close to 20 boxes with books. Mostly science, kids fiction, & some adult fiction. Again, I can send a little at a time.
Okay...thanks...I will get some together...and let you know..so you can give me an address...
Have a wonderful weekend!!!
On the books. I sent quite a few books to both Tal Afar and Mosul but I did not write the titles down when I sent them or reported them to you. They were mostly spy thrillers. But what I wanted to tell you was that I got a very nice note this week from one of the places thanking me for the books. Will FReep mail you the return zip code. I think I've got some movies I can send soon. Will check that out and get back to you.
has the contact for Tal Afar changed now? I am going to go by the suggested items you gave TxSleuth and get some boxes ready to go.
As far things to pass out to the kids, what about something like birthday party favors? I think there are even small packs of like 6 crayons. What do you think of something on this order?
Bump for the troops.
Yes, air fresheners still needed at Tal Afar and will probably be needed with the new company that will have few amenities, especially now as they are more crowded than ever with the turnover going on.
At Bagram, I think they would like almost anything that is not tied to Hollywood movie companies that can be given to kids, but the greatest need is warm clothing and foot wear. A really great thing would probably be those shake and light flashlights. Going to the latrine at night can be scary for a kid.
Contact for Tal Afar is good for mailing another 3 weeks, as he will be staying to midMarch at least. After that I'll update you more exactly on when our contact is leaving.
I just sent off messages asking him to try to rope in a replacement from among the follow-on units that are arriving in the area.
My wife is all about the food. If I eat one more Little Debbie or cashew I'm gonna need two trips to haul a$$.
The Little Debbie cakes fascination is funny, especially when they send them to me to send to the troops. Then it is always a nightmare fitting them into a flat rate priority box and putting something in the carton so they don't slide around and somethings around them so they don't get crushed.
Cashews I understand as they are delicious and the crops these last couple of years must have been bountiful as the prices are the lowest I've ever seen them.
Just don't pack air fresheners and other redolent items like soap in with food, so the food doesn't end up tasting like air fresheners.
Please transcribe and post your thank you letter if you can find the time, as it's great to get feedback around here.
**Thanks so much for your books you sent. It is helping to fill our library for the troops up - 'UR Blessed' This was passed to me to put in the Troop Library MWR (Morale, Welfare, Recreation)**
Ping for later.
I think she picks the Little Debbies because of the individual packaging, and the fact that the chocolate on some is less likely to melt. She usually breaks up the boxes and separates the indivisual packs amongst our three adoped Bravehearts. They all wrote back saying how much they appreciated everything, but went on and on about those little Crystal Light packs that they could mix in their water bottles. We once filled one of the flat rate boxes with AA and AAA batteries. The Post Office lady wasn't too happy about that.
The most touching thing was my niece giving up most of her Halloween candy for one of our shipments back in November. She was absolutely giddy knowing she was helping the soldiers. And when we told her that the soldiers liked to share their candy with the Iraqi children, she got most of her friends to pitch in their candy as well.
I haven't always been able to practice much philanthropy, but there's nothing like getting those letters of appreciation back from the soldiers. It makes me misty every time.
When Target did a clearance of those little boxes with the little envelopes of Crystal Lite, I bought all 26 boxes and sent them to Mosul.
They were normally selling for $4 a box which is pretty expensive, but I got them for about $2.08 a box on clearance.
Not sure where I can get another deal like that.
So cool when one serendipitously gets a note back that a care package has arrived.
It's hit and miss in the thank you department. Cherish yours.
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