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.
I get such a thrill when we receive an e-mail from the troops thanking us for supporting them. The troops being taken care of is all I care about.
They, above all, know for a fact that freedom isn't free.
I received the Smallville DVDs from Amazon today. I'll be mailing them to Stryker A Co. tomorrow.
Yippee!!
5 pkgs. gum (Doublemint, Srearmint, Big Red & Extra Bubble Gum (5 per)
2 pkgs. Clorets Mints (3 per)
3 pkgs. Trident Assorted (5 per)
1 pkg. Chiclets Fruit Flavored Gum (6 per)
3 pkgs. Mentos Mints
Insured and delivery confirmation requested.
Bagram
2 cartons Capri Fruit Juice Pouches - Lemonade, Orange (10 per)
2 pkgs. Mr. Salty Pretzels & Cheese (6 per)
1 pkg. Oreo Cookies & Creme (6 per)
1 pkg. assorted snacks - popcorn, pretzels (6 bags)
1 bag Pretzels (1 1/4 lbs.)
1 bag Crackerjacks (w/ prize :o) )
1 tin Pringles Cheesums
2 boxes Slim Jims (5 per)
6 mini bags Act 11 popcorn
1 bag Fruit Twists
1 bag Giant Gels Candy
3 pkgs Mentos Mints
A Co.
10 pkgs. Beef Jerky
10 pkgs. Bumble Bee Tuna and Crackers
2 pkgs. Kraft Handi Snacks Pudding (24 cups per)
2 pkgs. Kraft Breadsticks & Cheese (6 per)
1 pkg. Ritz Crackers & Cheese (6 per)
3 pkgs. Oreo Cookies & Creme (6 per)
3 pkgs. gum (5 per)
1 book - Bourne Legacy, Robert Ludlow
C Co.
10 bags Beef Jerky
10 pkgs. Bumble Bee Tuna & Crackers
2 pkgs. Kraft Handi Snacks Pudding
3 pkgs. Ritz Crackers & Cheese
1 pkg. Kraft Breadsticks & Cheese
2 pkgs. Oreo Cookies & Creme
3 pkgs. gum
You're a dynamo! The troops in Ramadi and Baghdad and Afghanistan are blessed!
EMAIL from RAMADI:
Hello Patty!
I got the box of goodies and movies today. Thank you very much!. I watched Flight 93 already right when I opened the box. I was on the edge of my seat and I swear I could feel my heart racing like I was there.
The dried fruit are AWESOME! That is a very good bag. It had a nice selection. Keep those in mind. So how are things? ****
The wedding plans are going real smooth. My last hurdle is to finish paying for the flowers and the food. I wille lots of pictures taken and a couple family ones of my kids and [fiancee's ] kids together and with us in a family portrait.
Things here ahve been quiet. With Ramadan starting soon we expect activity to pick up. They know we will be giving them more room to do things since it is their holy month. But we expect radicalist to try to exploit the situation. I wish I was going to be here with my guys during the heightened activities but oh well. I guess 1 RPG close call is sufficeint.
Hot to run for now. Thank you very much for everything Patty and take care.
Chris
Patty,
Today I sent off two flat rate boxes to Stryker C Co. Each box had:
5 tuna lunches-to-go
1 box (60 ea) Crystal Lite on-the-go drink mix
1 pkg (4 ea) diced peaches
8 pkg assorted cookies and crackers
1 letter of thanks
That's not much but it filled the boxes. Wish I could send a box to all the troops!
All of us working together get enough sent off that our adopted units know they are loved and supported. In no way can we cover all the troops there, but we are not the only ones doing this. Lots of people around the country are working through family and friends or other groups to send packages to the troops.
Our part of all this effort is important, as we can see from the emails and letters we get back. It is mostly them seeing that they are remembered and appreciated that is the best gift we can send them. Unless, of course, there are snacks, as snacks are always loved by young men.
Your packages will bring a lot of cheer. Thank you so much for being a part of our group and sending goodies to our adopted troops.
Yeah, SENClander!!
Today I mailed 2 packages to Mosul. The first contained 3 magazines (Golf Digest, Sporting News), 2 sets of pumpkin decorations and 4 Christian CD's. The second contained:
(4) 8 qt. Kool-Aid Mixes; 1 pair of UVex sunglasses; 1 Tikki Plus headlamp; 24 #2 pencils; 2 Fall-colored plastic tablecloths.
Those were wonderful packages, betsy! Were they sent to our contact in Mosul?
I've been preoccupied here in Texas where my elderly mother has needed a lot of attention lately.
I'm so pleased someone is keeping the troop support fires burning while I am hip deep in learning how to prepare special meals for a serious health condition.
Bless you, betsyross60!
Yes, they were sent to the contact name you gave me--the one in Mosul. I still have not had personal contact, but expect that will happen soon.
Hey...I'm in Texas too, a little southwest of Fort Worth. Take care of that fellow Texan!
Box 1
6 pkgs. disposable razors (8 per)
2 boxes Curad Spray on Bandage
7 bottles Dial Hand Sanitizer
5 tubes Curel Lotion
12 bars Dial Soap
4 Crest Toothpaste (3 small, 1 large)
1 pkg toothbrushes w/caps ( 5 per)
Box 2
16 bars Zest Soap
15 pkgs Wet Ones (15 per)
11 Charmin To Go (55 sheets per)
Box 3
5 pkgs Chocloate Splash Drinks (3 per)
1 pkg Apple Sauce Cups (6 per)
2 boxes Wyler's Drink Mix -Lemonade (18 per)
Thanks, Kat, for keeping up the troop support for Bagram!
I'll be home in a week, but looks like I'll be spending October getting our place ready to move my mother in to live with us. I am so grateful that we have some strong troop supporters sending packages fairly independently, as I'm probably going to have less time and space to spend on this as I shift to caring for Mother.
My care package room is going to be her bedroom. I'll still be doing what I can, not sure how much that will be.
bookmark
Patty has asked me to remind you of our Halloween Candy drive for the troops.
Candy will have to be mailed by Oct. 15th to get there in time, and I guess, since the weather is cooling down a bit, we can start sending CHOCOLATE again.
Thanks,
kat
Please count me in and send me the details. Thanks
I've been stock piling items to send since I can't get a lot of things all at once. This past week we got some Halloween Oreos, with orange filling. Unfortunately by the time we got to the store they were almost sold out and had a limit of 2 per customer. Bummer. But we should have a nice little cache by the first week of Oct. and I will post the contents when I send them.
I'll be able to send a few boxes. :)
I'm stockpiling candy & decorations for Bagram - planning to ship Oct. 6th. I've been asked for any Halloween costume-type stuff as well. I put out the word at work but haven't gotten much response. I'm sending a dozen masks (thanks Walmart!) and some of our old costumes (our next-door neighbor has a themed party every year, so we have a boxfull) but I'm sure they could use more.
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