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.
BAGRAM air base, AFGHANISTAN packages:
Nina0113 has individual gift bags for 100 soldiers which she expected to ship Sat after T-day to Bagram.
Nina0113 got an EMAIL from BAGRAM about the Halloween boxes:
here are partial contents:
"I [contact at Bagram] received about 11 boxes in total from the "band". The soldiers were SOOO excited while I was opening the boxes and pulling out all of the costumes. We had a BUNCH of fun with it! We also wore them on Halloween and had a small Halloween party this past weekend. Thank you so much for sending everything. We decorated that offices and some of our rooms and had a total blast dressing up with all the costumes. It really meant a lot to our soldiers morale.
I hope to be able to get some of the pictures of the troops off to you soon.
CAMP RAMADI packages:
daybreakcoming ordered two 7 ft prelit multicolored lights Christmas trees and had them shipped to MJY1288 who mailed one to Camp Ramadi recently.
She and her sister were going to send ornaments, need an update.
fanfan mailed November 22, 2006, to Camp Ramadi
1 9oz. bag Beef Jerky
6 Tuna/Cracker snacks
4 small boxes Belgian Chocolate
12 pkgs. Juicy Fruit Gum
1 Pkg. Red Licorice (30 pc)
20 Fruit snacks
18 Packs of Peanuts (6 salted, 6 honey, 6 BBQ)
2 Boxes Christmas Ritz Crackers
30 Crystal Light (Indiv. size)
12 bags Popcorn
1 box Apple Cider mix
1 box Au Caramel cakes (special request)
25 Pkgs. Hot Chocolate (Indiv. size)
1 Pkg. Christmas Napkins
2 small Christmas Garlands.
SwatTeam mailed November 22, 2006, to Camp Ramadi
3 1/2 doz scented votive candles
1 doz packages of incense
1 box of buttered popcorn
jtill mailed November 9, 2006, to Camp Ramadi
52 signed Christmas Cards
1 Bag of Dove mixed minature chocolates
1 Bag of Gold Coin Disc chocolates
1 Bag of Candy Cane Tootsie Pops
1 Box of Caribou Coffee Bars
1 Box of Reeses Snack Barz
1 Box Kudo Variety Pak Bars
Mailed November 1, 2006, to Camp Ramadi
1 box, insured $62.46, postage $10.40
1 TV boxed series:
Scrubs Season 4
2 movies:
Open Range (Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall)
National Treasure (Nicolas Cage)
Holiday Buffalo Snow Drape with glitter (3x5 ft)
Sports’ Illustrated with Trick or Treat cover
3 bags Halloween candy:
Reese’s peanut butter cups
Strawberry Twisler’s 60
1 bag 22.54 oz M&M’s peanut
Misc.
***
TRAINING UNIT at BAGHDAD packages:
SENClander mailed November 21, 2006, to training unit at Baghdad
Big box:
2 bags chex mix
12 bags teddy grahams
60 individual packs hot chocolate mix
1 bag marshmallows
11 Christmas stockings, each filled with candy, nuts, mechanical pencils, ballpoint pens, memo pads, beef jerky, thick socks, handwarmers, and a candy cane.
Flat rate box 1:
1 big bag Christmas Hershey miniatures
1 big bag Christmas M&M's
1 gift travel pack (a WWII vet made these -- they include candy, cookies, snacks, kleenex, toothpaste, and toothbrush)
Flat rate box 2:
1 big bag Christmas Hershey kisses
3 gift travel packs
Flat rate box 3:
1 big bag trail mix
1 Claxton fruitcake -- had to do it :o)
2 gift travel packs
Daybreakcoming sent November 15, 2006, requested movies to new unit at Baghdad:
What About Bob?/Bill Murray, Richard Dreyfuss
Plainsong/Hallmark movie
Lawrence of Arabia
The Untouchables/Kevin Costner
Flight 93
Walk The Line
Payback/Mel Gibson
The Terminal/Tom Hanks
Walking Tall/The Rock
Striking Distance/Bruce Willis
Weekend at Bernies
Himself/Bill Cosby
Mask
Son of Mask
1 paperback: Assassins by Ollie North
Also threw in some candy.
SENCLander sent November 13, 2006, to new training unit at Baghdad:
2 boxes Orville Redenbacher popcorn
1 power strip
1 8' extension cord
3 packs AA lithium batteries
7 packs AAA energizer batteries
3 Sudoku books
3 mechanical pencils (with erasers for above)
5 rolls breathmints
1 bag fun size Milky Ways
She also received word that the 11 Petzl head lamps arrived and were much appreciated.
SENCLander mailed November 8, 2006,
6 tinsel garlands
tree ornaments (garlands, balls, bells, snowflakes, etc.)
ornament hangers
3 CD's of Christmas music
assorted cards the troops can use to send to family and friends
SENClander mailed November 4, 2006 to the new unit at Baghdad:
1 4' Christmas tree
1 flat rate box with:
CSI-Miami, season 4
1 Box of granola bars
1 Bag of maple creme cookies
1 Box of ginger snaps
1 Box of Celestial Seasonings ginger spiced tea
1 Bag of chocolate-caramel Hershey kisses
2 Boxes of apple cider mix
1 Sudoku book
Mailed November 1, 2006, to the training unit at Baghdad
1 box, insured $99.97 (value $107), postage $10.40
3 TV boxed series:
Stargate SG-1, Season 5
CSI, Miami, Season 2
CSI, NY, Season 1
1 DVD movie:
The Last Samurai (Tom Cruise)
2 bags Halloween candy and 7 loose miniatures:
Hershey’s coconut Kisses,
Hershey’s nut lovers miniatures
1 laundry bag
1 CSI Transylvania Halloween card
1 magazine
Mailed October 24, 2006, to the new unit at Baghdad which is training Iraqi soldiers
1 box, insured $135.61, postage $11.45
2 TV series boxed sets:
CSI Miami, season 1
Stargate SG-1, season 4
5 DVD movies:
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Troy (Brad Pitt, Peter O’Toole)
Unbreakable (Bruce Willis)
DC 9/11 – Time of Crisis (Timothy Bottoms, Penny Johnson)
The Fifth Element (Bruce Willis)
11 regular bars Payday
11 fun size bars of Snickers
1 fly trap
1 V.V.O. surge protector
Imprimis: Separation of Church and State
Washington Times Weekly, October 2
The Good Clean Joke Book
SENClander mailed October 24, 2006, to new unit at Baghdad
We Were Soldiers"
"Lethal Weapon 4"
2 packages of mandarin oranges-to-go
2 bags of fun size Nestles Crunch
1 bag of snack size KitKats
2 boxes of Airborne
15 individual packs of assorted crackers
Yaelle is sending 24, Season 3 and will get season 5 after it is released December 12. (no confirmation yet)
Mailed October 20, 2006, to training unit Baghdad
1 box, insured $69.67, postage $10.40
3 RCA Surge protectors
Book: 1776 by David McCullough
DVD movies:
Last of the Mohicans (Daniel Day-Lewis, Russell Means)
Dumb and Dumber (Jim Carey)
Galaxy Quest (Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub)
2 bags Hershey’s almond kisses
6 DVD recordings by MJY1288:
Rush Limbaugh MP3, Jan 06 and Dec 05
President Bush Speeches: Address to Nation 12-18-05, War on Terror 12-14-05, SOTU 2006, Kansas St. U 1-23-06,
Ordered October 19, 2006, from Jon Rockefeller at Petzl America
11 Takkita Plus (L.E.D. 4, flip up red lens, push button, lithium batteries) headlamps to be sent directly, should go out tomorrow.
Mailed October 14, 2006, to small unit training Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad (to brother of our contact at A company of Stryker in Baghdad)
1 box, insured $47.67, postage $9.95 with delivery confirmation
4 DVD movies:
Flight 93
The Man from Snowy River (Tom Burlinson)
Tombstone (Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott)
Quick and the Dead (Sam Elliott, Kate Capshaw)
3 bags Hallowe’en treats
Oreo minis 9 oz. (~18 packs)
M&mM plain 22.53 oz (~36 packs)
Reese’s Peanut Butter cups 21 oz (~28 packs)
***
STRYKER AT MOSUL packages:
Mailing November 27, 2006, to Stryker at Mosul:
1 large box with 36 boxes of 12 regular size peppermint candy canes and 10 bubblewrapped canes for total of 442.
Mailed November 25, 2006, to our new adopted Stryker company (from Ft Lewis, Washington) at Mosul, Iraq, 4 packages
Box 1, value $25, postage $8.10
½ Santa Claus suit (jacket and belt)
9 magazines (4 Sports Illus, 3 Washington Times, 1 Decision, 1 December Reader’s Digest)
1 Indian card calendar
Box 2, value $28.50, postage $8.10
½ Santa Claus suit (pants, hat, boot tops
snow drape to make beard out of
Army Green Book
Box 3, value $38.19, postage $8.10
2 bags 32.5 oz Hershey’s Nugget miniatures
2 bags 2 lbs Jelly Belly jelly beans
1 bag 20 oz Hershey’s milk choc kisses Christmas foil wrapped
4 assorted Russell Stover chocolate Santa Clauses
Box 4, value $38.19, postage $8.10
2 bags 32.5 oz Hershey’s Nugget miniatures
2 bags 2 lbs Jelly Belly jelly beans
1 bag 20 oz Hershey’s milk choc kisses Christmas foil wrapped
4 assorted Russell Stover chocolate Santa Clauses
daybreakcoming ordered two 7 ft prelit multicolored lights Christmas trees and had them shipped to MJY1288 who mailed one to our new Stryker company at Mosul recently.
She and her sister were going to send ornaments, need an update.
Freedom is Eternally Right sent November 21, 2006, to Stryker at Mosul:
100 Christmas cards with a mini candy cane and 2 lace ornaments enclosed in each card. Twenty-eight of the cards were made by my granddaughter's Girl Scout troop.
2 calendars
68 mini candy canes
4 containers of moist wipes
a copy of "A Different Christmas Poem" by Jeff Giles.
Freedom is eternally right sent November 13, 2006, to Mosul:
4 boxes spiced cider
3 boxes (30 count) hot chocolate
5 bags Hershey kisses (2 cherry cordial, 1 ea. candy cane, choc. mint, white choc.) Planter's nuts (3 pack)\9 cookie tins (small and medium sized)
2 boxes peanut brittle
1 canister hard Christmas candies
11 assorted snack packages (brownie trees, tree cakes, marshmallow treats)
jtill mailed November 9, 2006, to Mosul:
52 signed Christmas Cards
1 Bag of Dove mixed minature chocolates
1 Bag of Gold Coin Disc chocolates
1 Bag of Candy Cane Tootsie Pops
1 Box of Caribou Coffee Bars
1 Box of Reeses Snack Barz
1 Box Kudo Variety Pak Bars
LittleBlogSpot will send (but no confirmation yet)
4 packages of garland
4 mini Christmas stockings
1 package of candy canes
2 packages of Moose munch (from Harry & David)
4 packages of chocolate candy (Hershey's, Reese's, York, etc.)
2 packages of beef jerky
4 small flavored coffee packs
Mailed November 1, 2006 to new Stryker at Mosul:
1 box, value $36.13, postage $8.10
3 bags Halloween candy:
1 bag 11.18 oz Snickers
1 bag 11.5 oz Heath bars
1 bag 22.53 oz M&M’s plain
1 Buffalo Snow drape with glitter (3 ft x 5 ft)
6 toothbrushes
pkg of 12 Wet Ones
pkg 24 soap towelettes
SwatTeam is mailing out these requested movies, and is in communication with our contact at Mosul.
Primal Fear (Richard Gere)
The Score (De Niro)
Goodfellows (De Niro)
Ronin (De Niro)
Scareface (Al Pacino)
You Can't Fix Stupid (Ron White)
Lists of what has gone or has been pledged to be sent for Christmas to Bagram, Afghanistan, and Mosul, Ramadi and Baghdad in Iraq has been posted above.
Ramadi and Bagram can use any extra packages that people want to send.
A big Thank You to all who have participated so far!
P.S. and HINT:
Hot cocoa mix is an inexpensive and much appreciated care package item for this time of year
bttt
Thanks for this resource, PatriciaRuth... my daughter has adopted 2 soldiers in the sandbox for a project and has enlisted our church members to help her by donating "stuff" to send to them. I gathered a list of suggested donations from the Care Packages threads and sent it out yesterday... with the note that the first boxes go out 7 December... I hope they get there on time.
I appreciate your time and efforts and again, for the resources here that helped us know what to suggest.
pinging you to our current troop support thread.
Let me know if you want to go on the regular ping list.
Welcome and Cheers!
Thank you!
We are not keen to put APO addresses on the web for anyone to see.
Please ask the moderator to remove your post, and send me the APO's by FReepmail.
Where are these soldiers located?
Think OPERATIONAL SECURITY!!! Please DO NOT post full names/rank and APO addresses; share them only with people you personally know and reputable organizations.
There are requests for more DVD's and some personal care items in this email from Ramadi. I'm going to Amazon after posting and try to get A Christmas Story, The Santa Clause, Ice Age, and Ice Age: The Meltdown, which was just released.
I mailed 442 peppermint candy canes to Mosul today, postage $38.85.
For those of you too busy to get something in the mail by next Monday, I will be happy to accept donations (or pledges) and send more goodies out. Just let me know if you have preference on where or what.
EMAIL from RAMADI:
Welcome back. Let's do this right.....before the asking and giving......How was Thanksgiving? I know you probably want to cut the chase but I insist on some small talk first. Ours was ok, just another day here. The officers serve the food on Thanksgiving and Christmas, even in the field. Well let me rephrase that. They would have if they didn't run out of food. I dunno how but they messed that day up, lol. Ya just gotta laugh.
The temps have cooled way down. The nights get to the low 40's and the day gets to the mid 60's. We keep the room at a modest 80 though. What in the hell will we do when we go back to Germany where the sun never shines.......AHHHHHH!
The guys are doing fine. I want to start counting down the days but i know better. the tell us we should be home by the end of FEB but who knows. If that's the case, then I expect we will be here at the COP for DEC and then maybe head back to the base in JAN.I dunno.
As for what the guys are asking for,,,,,,LOL, same old stuff. Stuff to watch. I had a burnt season of Law and Order that they got hooked on. The Scrubs.....they never saw until you started sending them and then they were hooked. It is hilarious.
But some small things that were asked specifically were Gillette Sensors razor blades and Mach 1 blades, Old Spice Anti Persprint (not deoderant they said), some white socks -both ankle and regular and a weird one
Think OPERATIONAL SECURITY!!! Please DO NOT post full names/rank and APO addresses; share them only with people you personally know and reputable organizations.
Yum, chicken nachos sound good! LOL I'll be going shopping this weekend, so I'll let you know what all I got, then you can let me know where it is best sent. :)
Thank you for removing my post.
bttt
I think I listed the movies already.
To Ramadi:
194 unbreakable tree ornaments
2 packs metal hangers
2 garlands
2 Christmas CD's
4 boxes Christmas cards for their use
6 bags candy
3 Cabella catalogs
1 Ducks Unlimited catalog
3 packs Plastic Christmas cups
3 packs plastic plates
3 packs napkins
10 bottles hand sanitizer
1 bottle cucumber/melon hand soap
Sis also got her stuff sent off and will get a detailed listing for you later.
Also picked up 4 boxes (10 envelopes ea) of hot cocoa with marshmallows yesterday - let me know where to send.
So glad you are back home - best wishes to you, hubby, and Mom.
184 tree ornaments, plus treetop star
5 garlands
tree skirt
32 candy canes
bucket of 100 Bubble Gum
And forgot to add that I also sent Ramadi a star
Patriciaruth, I haven't been participating in your wonderful project for some time since "my" soldier came home. I now have a distant cousin in Kuwait whom I am going to be sending packages to. In the meantme, my mother-in-law has a friend who wants to send a care package. Can you provide me a name and address via Freepmail that I could give to her? She's a dear, sweet lady who I am so glad to find out is on the "right side". Thanks!
.
Freedom is the ANSWER:
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
.
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