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.

[patriciaruth]

Wow! SENClander’s Halloween boxes for Baghdad are fabulous.

Amy, take a peek at the post above.

[patriciaruth]

Email from an NPTT unit at Camp Liberty at Baghdad. [I inquired if the Petzl Tactikka Plus headlamps had arrived, which Enterprise, jtill and manna helped finance.]

Patty,

Yes, thank you very much! They came in handy the very next night, so they are very much appreciated. I don’t think there’s a problem with the batteries—the ones in the package work fine, and we have a good supply of lithium ones already for replacement. [The package comes now with simple coppertop batteries, not lithium as in the past.]

Thank you all for your time and efforts. It really makes a difference in our lives here, and we freely share everything we receive with the other two transition teams co-located with us. The movies will be great—thank you. Whatever you include is most gratefully appreciated! [Have Planet Earth TV series, Season 6 of Smallville, and Gettysburg going in the box with some Halloween candy this week.]

Tom

*****
I would like to send out some more headlamps to the other NPTT unit we are in contact with, but I will need another $100 in donations to swing it. If several people want to help out with pledges for this coming month, let me know. :-)

[MEG33]

Terrific, you have freepmail.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.

..MEL’s -PASSION- sparked by -WE WERE SOLDIERS-

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1085111/posts

http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/

http://www.Freerepublic.com/~anita1/

.

[Enterprise]

Thanks! It is personally and deeply gratifying to know that our guys received something that was BOTH wanted and needed! As before, I will pledge my help with the next order. Just tell me how much.

[jtill]

You know you can count on the usual check from me right around 11/1.

[PGalt]

Thanks for the ping, Patty. FR’s finest support America’s finest! GRRRREAT thread! BTTT!

[patriciaruth]

That’s why I didn’t have to ask for more, j, because I had already counted your pledge in. :-)

[maine-iac7]

For Thanksgiving, I’m sending the DVD “Desperate Crossing” and incredible adventure film done by the History Channel last year - the most accurate and complete story I have ever seen done on the Mayfower Pilgrims.

It has a 5 star rating on Amazon - with rave reviews, For Ex: “ this docu-drama is as engulfing and riveting as any full-length period movie I have seen. The lives and times of these early European settlers are authentically portrayed by use of English Shakespearian actors, and the quality shows. Never have I seen any other film put flesh on the bones of the pilgrims to the extent this one does. A social history extravaganza!
The clothing, lighting, effects (especially while on the Mayflower), and, at times, even some of the speech patterns are reflected fairly accurately. I did not see the typical revisionist history so often reflected in many of today’s historical depictions. They were very religious folk bent on keeping their practices, even if they had to cross the ocean to do it, and this movie shows that in no uncertain terms. “

The scenery, the drama, - it’s a rip roaring adventure film with a storyline that just happens to be true,,,to see a video clip see here:

http://www.history.com/marquee.do?marquee_id=52222

[JustAmy]

Jim and I sent 4 boxes to Bagram on the 15th ....

Box #1
2 Boxes Planters 1.6oz Peanut Bars (24/box)
2.5lb bag of individual packs Brach’s candy corn
.5lb bag individual bars Hershey’s variety

Box #2
1 Box Yogos Bits (42 .8oz packs)
2 Boxes pumpkin Peeps
12 Bags BBQ cornnuts (.8oz each)

Box #3
1 Box Planters 1.6oz Peanut Bars (24)
12 Bags BBQ cornnuts (.8oz each)
36 Granola Bars (12 Roasted Almond, 12 Oats ‘N Honey, 12 Sweet ‘N Salty Peanut)

Box 4
2 Boxes Halloween Jelly Pops (12 1oz pops/box)
1 Bag treat size Payday candy bars
48 individual treat size candy bars (Heath bars, Milk Duds, Whoppers and M&Ms)

As you can see I used much of the individual size candy for filler.

Tomorrow 4 more boxes will get mailed .....

Box #1
1 Box Spiced Cider Mix (48 individual pouches)
2 packs Halloween napkins (16 ct each)
96 Fun Size candy (36 M&M and 60 Hersheys variety)

Box 2
1 Box Spiced Cider Mix (48 individual pouches)
2 packs Halloween napkins (16 ct each)
2 packs Halloween table decoration sprinkles
3 boxes Cranberry Apple drink mix (10 individual pks/box)
66 Hershey’s Snack size variety

Box #3
1 Box Spiced Cider Mix (48 individual pouches)
1 pack Halloween napkins (16 ct)
2 boxes Cranberry Apple drink mix (10 individual pks/box)
24 bags cornnuts (.8oz Ranch flavored)
1 pack Halloween table decoration sprinkles

Box #4
24 bags cornnuts (.8oz BBQ flavored)
2 pack Halloween table decoration sprinkles
66 Hershey’s Snack size variety
1 Bag Tootsie Roll midgees (400 count)

Thanks SENClander for the apple cider info; I found them at Sam’s Club.

[patriciaruth]

Amy, that is fantastic!!

You did an incredible job, and it warms my heart that they will get such a bonanza.

Me, I have to get a root canal...

But my dentist has retired and I don’t know where to go.

Do you know of a good endodentist? If so, please FReepmail me.

[patriciaruth]

That is a fantastic find, maine-iac, and I am going to get it also.

Where are you sending yours?

[maine-iac7]

Afghanistan - Korengal Valley - where the Taliban are fighting the fiercest = especially now as they have had a big split with Al Q - and are pouring down out of Pakistan.

My grandson is there. - Airborne Task Force - they call is "The Valley of Fire" because of the daily fire fights... 45 minutes from the nearest running water - 45 minutes of narrow twisting, IED'd road.

They depend on drops for water and food - and on getting the new anti-IED equipment to get there - that can only be brought in from Turkey.

Did I mention that I loathe Pelosi and her seditious gang?

The platoon is there for 15 months! the MRE's are getting pretty monotonous - not to mention often not enough. They love to get things like power bars with peanut butter, tuna fish (I send both cans and vacuum packs), dried fruits, licorice and lemon drops, toothpaste - and WIPES (no showers, running water! and I put everything in zip lock baggies as it's not just the sand but the finer sand-dust that gets into everything... - gum (with ONLY sugar for sweetener, no HFCS - High Fructose Corn Syrup ,,poison! and Aspartame, etc in hot weather can turn to formaldehyde inside the bode) - but gum helps keep their ears from popping (like on an airplane) when the almost nightly mortars come in.

It's starting to get cold, so I'm sending wool socks and knitting a wool helmet liner (the issue ones are not wool, not that warm. It gets brutal cold there in the mountains in winter, and they are mostly out in it, and even 'inside' no central heat or anything else we would call comfortable.

They thoroughly believe in their mission and are equally thoroughly disgusted with the traitorous RATS back here.

I included candy corn in last weeks boxes - for Halloween.

Going to find some canned turkey and Boston Market Turkey gravy and dry stuffing for the next boxes...(no ham products! verbotton to go there)These need to go out this week to get there in time. etc etc

Oh Oh - getting that devilish "temporarily unavailable" thingy again - hope this doesn't double post...

[maine-iac7]

..

just an FYI for any who many not know, but you can get FREE "Flat Rate" boxes from the post office and no matter how heavy they are, you only pay $8.95 for postage. I've sent some that otherwise would have cost me 3-4 times that.

They have two sizes - one is square. I find that packs best.

[maine-iac7]

..

just an FYI for any who many not know, but you can get FREE "Flat Rate" boxes from the post office and no matter how heavy they are, you only pay $8.95 for postage. I've sent some that otherwise would have cost me 3-4 times that.

They have two sizes - one is square. I find that packs best.

[maine-iac7]

BUMP

[JustAmy]

Thanks, Maine-iac7. I used the “Flat Rate” boxes. I prefer the square one. I did use one of the flat ones this time.

If you would like to freepmail an address to me, I will send your son a couple of boxes for Christmas.

Also, look for freepmail soon.

[maine-iac7]

BUMP

???Can a new current thread be posted = to help get Thanksgiving and Christmas boxes on the way??/

Thanksgiving boxes need to go this week -

[maine-iac7]

[JustAmy]

*grin*

Working together, we can let our troops know how much we appreciate them.