CARE PACKAGES for our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2006

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.

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.

We invite you to reminisce on our 2005 thread which is linked below.

There are photos from the troops throughout, the last ones are at posts 1249, 1230, 1231, 1195.

Recent Emails and notes from the troops are at posts 1269, 1250, 1232, 1210, 1200.

A very long list of Christmas and New Years care packages sent directly by members of our Merry Band of Patriots is at post 1237.

Accounting for what I received in donations and the value of care packages I sent out in November and December 2005 is posted at 1226 along with list of the donors.

Accounting for Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr 2005 is at 236 along with list of the donors.

Accounting for May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct is at 937 along with list of the donors.

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone!

Link to Care Packages for our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, 2005

Mailed January 18, 2006 to Bagram air base in Afghanistan,
1 box, insured $129.54, postage $11.45.
Xbox game: Forza Motorsport
2 DVD movies:
The Warriors (original DVD issue)
Sin City (comic book recreation, several stories, two with Bruce Willis)
Book: War of Eagles (Tom Clancy’s Op Center series)*
Zipper lock bag with 6 body lotion and oil samples
2 bags candy:
Hershey’s minis 41.25 oz (milk chocolate, dark chocolate, milk choc almond)
Mixture (Butterfingers, Nestle’s Crunch, Baby Ruths, Nestle’s Milk Chocolate)
7 DVD recordings by MJY1288:
Speech on Iraq December 7
War on Terror Speech 12-12-05 (Philadelphia)
White House Christmas Tour with Laura Bush
Rush Limbaugh MP3 files for December, 2005, 2 disc set
Address to the Nation, 12-18-05
President Bush, 1-6-06
Magazine: NRA’s Outlook
Newsletter from Billy Graham Evangelical Association

Mailed January 18, 2006, to Coop to take to Walter Reed Hospital for wounded.
1 box, insured $88.00, postage $10.40
1 blue pullover V-neck sweater XL
1 Land’s End dark green T-shirt, all cotton, shrink and stain resistant, XXL
VHS movies:
The Sacketts, 2 VHS set (Tom Selleck, Sam Elliott)
You Know My Name (Sam Elliott)
Book: Wild Card (Tom Clancy’s Power Plays series)*
1 freebie travel clock

*from jtill

Ping to our new thread for 2006.

Photos have been posted above.

Contents of recent care packages sent also posted above. Care packages sent earlier this month by kattracks and myself will be reposted below.

Our latest project is sending bags of bite size or fun size candy bars for Valentines Day to our adopted units at Mosul, Kirkuk, Baghdad and Tal Afar and Bagram. Let me know if you want to send a box out before the end of this month.

There is turnover in a couple units which will be reported further when the current unit gets home.

We will have a new project soon involving a company which will be at an outpost on the Syrian border with few amenities and no PX. They will be contacting us with requests in a week or two or so.

Suggest everyone bookmark this thread in case you lose track of it, or you can remember to go to my profile page and check in Links to find the thread.

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off the ping list.

I was awed by what we all did this last year. The first post on this thread gives link to our 2005 thread and has the post numbers for the list of care packages sent directly to our adopted units in November and December and the Accounting posts for the year.

Thanks again to all past, present and future troop supporters!

Posting again to complete the 2006 record.

Kattracks mailed 1/4 and 1/5/06 2 boxes to Tal Afar:
Box 1
2 decks playing cards
4 books:
Home and Away (baseball)
Wired (about John Belushi)
Live from New York (about Saturday Nite Live)
People (The Century Collection)
Snacks:
2 pkg Oreo cookies
5 pkgs Bumble Bee Chicken Salad with crackers
10 pkgs Bumble Bee Tuna
5 boxes Nestle’s Hot Chocolate mix envelops
2 pkgs Mary Jane taffy
10 pkgs Junior Mints
6 pkgs gum
2 pkgs Tootsie Roll bites
1 box 12 Fudge Brownies

Box 2
4 DVD movies:
Ghost (Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopie Goldberg)
The Firm (Tom Cruise)
Footloose (Kevin Bacon)
Fatal Attraction (Michael Douglas, Glenn Close)
4 books:
Prince of Ayodhya
Leadership (Rudy Giuliani)
On Top of the World (about 9/11 and Cantor Fitzgerald)
Miracle of St. Anna (a WW11 Novel)
Snacks:
4 boxes Nestle's Hot chocolate mix
1 pkg. 12 Fudge Brownies
2 pkgs. Double Bubbble bubble gum
2 pkgs. Tootsie Pops
1 bag assorted candy
5 air fresheners

kattracks sent 1/10/06 2 boxes to Mosul
Box 1
2 boxes Little Debbie Swiss Cake rolls (10 per box)
2 boxes Little Debbie Marshmallow pies (6 per box)
2 boxes Little Debbie Peanut Butter wafers (12 per box)
1 box Little Debbie Banana Marshmallow pies (6 per box)
1 pkg. Little Debbie Choc. Sugar wafers
2 pkgs. Chips Ahoy cookies
2 pkgs Oreo cookies
2 bags Beef Jerky
1 bag Dubble Bubble gum
4 pkgs. gum (5 packs per pkg.)
2 decls playing cards.

Box 2
6 boxes Swiss Miss Hot Choc mix (10 per box)
2 boxes Creme filled cookies, choc. strawberry, banana (10 pkgs. per box)
2 pkgs. Tootsie Roll snack bars (10 per pkg.)
2 pkgs 100 Grand bars (10 per pkg.)
2 Pringles chips (Original, Cheesums)
1 pkg. Chips Ahoy cookies,
1 plastic tub Caramal Corn
1 pkg. Mary Jane taffy (approx, 30 pieces)
1 bag assorted candy
1 box sandwich bags.

1/21/06, kattracks sent 2 boxes to Tal Afar containing
2 boxes Little Debbie Star Crunch Bars (8 per box)
2 boxes Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies (9 per box)
1 box LD Raisin Creme Pies (8 per box)
1 box LD Choc. Chip Creme pies (8 per box)
1 pkg. LD Strawberry Sugar Wafers
1 box LD Swiss cake rolls (10 per box)
1 pkg. LD peanut Butter Wafers
2 pkgs 100 Grand bars (10 per pkg.)
2 boxes Nabisco Fig Newtons
5 boxes Slim Jims (5 per box)
3 pkgs Keebler Snack Crackers (6 per pkg. - toast & peanut butter, cheddar)
2 pkgs Creme Cookies (10 per pkg. - choc. vanilla, strawberry, banana)
1 pkg Keebler Fudge Stripes
1 pkg Tootsie Pops
2 pkgs Chips Ahoy
1 pkg. Oreo Double Stuff cookies
4 boxes Post Raisin Bran cereal bars (5 bars per box)
3 Pringles chips (Cheezums, original, Bar B Q)
2 tins Creme Wafer Rolls (vanilla, cappuccino)
2 bags Tootsie Rolls,
3 pkgs gum (5 per pkg.)
5 boxes Nestle's Hot choc. mix (8 per box)
2 boxes Celestial Seasonings Tea (peppermint, strawberry)
4 Renuzit air fresheners
3 DVD movies:
D-Day
Gaudalcanal
Windtalkers (Nicolas Cage)
2 pkgs plastic sandwich bags.

patriciaruth mailed 5 boxes January 5, 2006, to our adopted company of Stryker Brigade at Mosul.
Box 1, value $6.32, postage $7.70
6 boxes 10 envelopes of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate mix
LA Times (Jan 3 Sports, Bowl Games special, California; Jan 4 Sports, Calendar)

Box 2, value $6.32, postage $7.70
6 boxes 10 envelopes of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate mix
LA Times (Jan 3 Front Page, Business, California)

Box 3, value $5.35, postage $7.70
5 boxes 10 envelopes of Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate mix
LA Times (Jan 3 Calendar, Jan 4 Front Page, Business, Rose Bowl special)

Box 4, value $43.23, postage $7.70
Canister Archer Farms macadamia nut caramel crunch popcorn, 20 oz.
Bag 9.7 oz Dove 35 bite size chocolates (milk choc, dark choc, choc caramel)
3 pkgs 2 ½ oz Swizzler strawberry Twists
16 boxes Crystal Lite On the Go 10 envelops of lemonade mix for 1 bottle water

Box 5, insured 71.64, postage $9.90
10 boxes Crystal Lite On the Go 10 envelops lemonade mix
1 lb ground Dean & Deluca Arabian Mocha and Indonesian Java coffee
box of 60 Hedley Ceylon tea bags (English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Orange Spice, Peach Apricot, Green Tea, Lemon)
2 bottles 100 caplets 500mg acetaminophen
DVD movies:
The Wrangler (Jeff Fahey)
The Saint (Val Kilmer)
2 DVD recordings by MJY1288:
White House Christmas Tour with Laura and George
Speech by President Bush, December 7
LA Times, Dec 30 Business (about Medicare)

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