CARE PACKAGES for our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2006

patriciaruth ^ | 1-21-06 | patriciaruth

[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.

[SENClander]

I received a letter from one of the troops at Camp Liberty (new unit in Baghdad) and wanted to share part of it:

"I want to express my extreme gratitude to you and ... the Merry Band of Patriots for your awesome gifts you have supplied to our team ...It truly helps me make it through the day sometimes knowing people like you are concerned about us."

Thank you, Patty, for starting the Merry Band. You are truly a angel for the troops.

[Ros42]

Thank you, Patty, for starting the Merry Band. You are truly a angel for the troops.

Amen!

[SENClander]

er-- make that "an" angel.

[jtill]

Received the following e-mail from Ramadi:

Thank you very much for the box of cards and chocolates. It is very, very appreciated and we certainly liked the cards from the younger children. The artwork is beautiful.

Things here are calm and have been for about a month, since the end of Ramadan. Occassionally we get some mortar attacks but for the most part, nothing.

But our days in country are winding down. We were supposed to be home right after the new year but we got extended until mid March so the next unit coming in to replace us can have a full 12 months off between deployments and they can be home for the holidays.

Well I will keep this short and sweet for now. Thank you very much for the support and God Bless You.

Respectfully yours,
****

[Merlinator]

Mailing to Ramadi Dec 2. by Merlinator
Flat rate box
Cherry Twizlers 24 oz
6 snack pack raisins
24 candy canes
12 packs individual size microwave popcorn kettle and butter flavor
peppermint Lifesavers 10.5 oz
2pkgs 10pak gum
2 Smithsonian mags
peanut brittle 8 oz
dark chocolate candies 12oz
2pkgs Nips 5.5 oz coffee and caramel
Christmas card to the troops

[daybreakcoming]

Ramadi is going to be happy with those treats.
You know? I never thought about sending gum and I keep some with me all the time. NOTE to self: Start stocking up on gum for care packages.

[patriciaruth]

Send your cans/tubs of cheese to Ramadi.

Let me know if you need the APO.

[patriciaruth]

I let our man in Ramadi know that you mailed the tree ornaments.

Your hot cocoa should go to Bagram. I'll send you the APO. I've been hunting for some to send them as well.

Meanwhile, enjoy the email I'm going to post next.

Cheers!

[patriciaruth]

Updates from the front:

Our newly adopted Stryker unit at Mosul has now been moved to Baghdad, and managed to pack in with their gear the Christmas tree that daybreakcoming bought and MJY1288 mailed to them and the ornaments/decorations that daybreakcoming's sister sent them.

The Santa suit and Christmas candy and Candy Canes I mailed them will be forwarded to them from Mosul, but whether they get to them in time is dicey.

I have their new APO for anyone who wants to send something to the new Stryker unit now at Baghdad.

Camp Ramadi reports that their Christmas tree arrived to their great delight; but ignorant that the ornaments are coming right behind, they are busy making and finding things to put on their tree.

The emails are in the post that follows.

We could use some extra goodies for BAGRAM air base in Afghanistan. Please contact me for APO if you can manage to send a box of anything (candy, cocoa mix, personal care items, special food treats, etc.)

[patriciaruth]

EMAIL from RAMADI:

Hey didn't you say somone was sending a tree? We got one but we don't know if it is from the same people who were talking about. It is cool and purrrty. We are trying to think up ways to decorate it. We set it up in the command post for EVERYONE to enjoy instead of just us. The return addy says [MJY1288], c/o [daybreakcoming]. The writing was kind of scratched out and I wanted to make sure I had the right name ... Thanks

EMAIL from MOSUL before went to BAGHDAD:
Hey, Ms. Patty,

I just wanted to let you know that my unit is being sent to Baghdad from Mosul in a few days. Our mail here is being shut off and redirected to the new address:

We got the Christmas decorations and I'm tracking down a packing place for 'em! Thanks much for you support!

...
I did receive the tree and another large box that I'm going to pack in our company equipment for shipment to Baghdad. The others are supposed to be forwarded to our new home once they reach Mosul, but I'm sure that will take some time! Either way, we love getting them, so thank you!

I hope your mom is doing well. I'm sorry to hear about the problems she's having. Our prayers are with you both.

[Mom is doing fine and feeling stronger with her special diet and special attention. :-)-pr]

***

[Enterprise]

I would like to send some chocolate mix, some white sox and a couple of CDs to Afghanistan. Freep me the APO when you can.

Thanks

[patriciaruth]

Camp Ramadi contact sent me a couple pictures of the Christmas tree they got from daybreakcoming courtesy of MJY1288's Shipping Department with their temporary decorations. If anyone can post this picture, please FReepmail me your email address and I'll email the photos to you for posting.

Mailed 2 boxes December 2, 2006, to Camp Ramadi:
Box 1, insured $90.40, postage $10.40
1 Santa hat
1 Elf hat
DVD movie: A Christmas Story
Bag of 10 white tube socks medium (fits 6-12 shoe)
2 pkgs 10 Gillette Sensors razor blades
7 Old Spice Red Zone sticks Anti-Perspirant, Fresh scent

Box 2, insured $99.99 (value $125.41), postage $10.40
3 DVD movies:
The Santa Clause (Tim Allen)
Ice Age (Ray Romano)
Ice Age: The Meltdown
Gillette Sensors razor blades (1 box 10, 4 boxes 5)
5 Old Spice Red Zone sticks Anti-Perspirant, fresh scent (3 solid, 2 clear)
6 pr medium white socks (fits 7-12 shoe)
6 pr large white socks (fits 13-15 shoe)

Mailed December 2, 2006, to training unit at Baghdad:
1 box, insured $99.99 (value $103.05), postage $10.40
6 DVD movies, wrapped in Christmas paper and bow:
Star Wars Trilogy boxed set (Episodes IV, V, VI, and bonus disc)
Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Episode II: The Attack of the Clones
Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith
6 prs white socks
1 CD lens cleaner

[patriciaruth]

I've asked our contact at Ramadi to email the pictures of the Christmas tree directly to AnnaZ as I can't seem to get my email program to send the Netscape attachments, either by forwarding his letter with them or dragging and pasting them into a new message.

[fanfan]

E mail from Canadian troops in Afghanistan:

Good day Fanfan,
Just a few words to inform you that I have just received the package that you sent for the troops, and yes it will be in time for Christmas.

I am coordinating with a few people in order to get these goodies distributed to our troops who are outside the main camp and don't have access to these little treats. Thank you very much for your generosity and all the thoughts that accompany these goodies.

As far as your question about DVD, yes we have DVD players in our facility.

Thank you once more for all of your support and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[AnnaZ]

Here they are!


From the email:

P___ asked me to send you pictures of our Christmas tree that we got from S____ and sent by M____. At first we were going to keep it in our room for us to enjoy but we talked about it and decided to talk to the commander and 1SG to see if we could put it in the TOC (tactical operations center). So it is there and the compliments have been numerous as it is pretty and nobody in their wildest dream thought we would ever have a Christmas tree out here. Thank you to S____ for buying it and M____ for sending it. Respectfully yours,
--

[nina0113]

Boxes have gone to Afghanistan! My inventory is messier than usual - I came up short 4 Snickers bars, and ran out of shipping boxes, so we stopped on the way to the post office to buy both. My husband (steve0113) carried the packed boxes in while I wrapped the last four gifts and packed the last boxes on the SIDEWALK in front of the PO. I got a lot of strange looks, but fortunately no one overheard me when I was looking for my tape gun and said "Dammit where the hell's my gun?" Total weight was 259.15 lbs.


There were 10 boxes total, containing 100 wrapped gallon ziploc baggies, and party food, and the stuff you sent me. I thought you were just sending me a tree skirt! And I hadn't actually unpacked the box until I repacked it at the post office. So I don't have an inventory on that at all. There were toothbrushes, a calendar, Christmas stockings and platic toys. Total weight was 259.15 lbs.

Each giftbag had
1 rice krispie treat
1 pack of oreos
1 bag of trail mix
3 slimjims
1 pack peanutbutter cheese crackers
2 bags spiced cider mix
3 bags hot cocoa mix
1 snickers bar
1 Christmas card (my co-workers really came through helping write them!)
smaller ziploc baggie with werther's toffee, hersheys cherry cordial kisses, big red gum, doublemint gum, mini reese cups and hershey miniatures

Party food
2 large cans Danish Butter Cookies
2 tubs mini candy canes (200+ in each)
2 tubs of 180 individually wrapped Twizzlers
4 bags oriental snack mix
4 canisters cocoa
5 boxes spiced cider mix
2 36-pk cases butter-lovers popcorn
3 boxes marshmallow popcorn
3 boxes salsa popcorn
all the extra rice krispie treats, oreos, trail mix etc. that did not come out even from the gift bags

I left one giftbag unwrapped so our contact will know what's in them. I'll email her Monday from work.

[nina0113]

I knew I left something off the list - there was a large bag each of plain & peanut holiday M&Ms in the party food category. I still have a feeling I left something off, but I've been on Nyquil since I got home yesterday & my mind is "elsewhere." Back to bed.

[daisyscarlett]

Those tree photos bring tears to my eyes. Bless you all for making it happen.

[AnnaZ]

They bring some tears, yes, perhaps... but a lot of chuckles as well. Looks like a typical living room here in Texas. LOL.

[daybreakcoming]

Oh thank you so much for posting the pictures Anna and the note. It *is* a beautiful tree, isn't it and I would send a 100 of them with MJY's help in shipping if I could. If it brings them a moment of peace and joy - then that is the best Christmas gift I could ever have. And I know the rest of you feel the same - proud to be a member of the Merry Band of Patriots. Thank you Patty for bringing us together.

And Daisy, I couldn't swallow the cookie I was eating for the lump in my throat.