Posted on 01/21/2006 3:06:06 PM PST by patriciaruth
So are these packages the collection of July 4th party supplies we sent a while back?
Great! Thanks! I'm putting them on the masterlist.
Yes, all the 4th of July packages sent to Iraq have been confirmed as received.
We had separate confirmations from the other locations in Iraq if you scroll back in the thread you'll see them.
I haven't heard about the packages that nina0113 sent to Bagram. Any news, nina?
It definitely includes the ones you and Enterprise sent to Stryker near Tal Afar arrived, as I sent them a detailed list of everything that went yesterday, and just got the confirmation back .
Our contact for Stryker near the Syrian border has always written very short notes, and I haven't sent him a detailed list, but he seemed to indicate that things were arriving fine. I may try to edit the list of things that went to them (it is a very long list) and see if I can get confirmation. We sent the most boxes to them because they had the worst hardship duty out in the sand.
Yes - they got there before I got around to sending an email telling her to expect them. I emailed last week because I was worried about it & the contact person responded that they had arrived days before & that everything was a big hit. I need to redact that email the way you do & post it. I haven't been on FreeRepublic much the last couple of weeks because I was finishing up a project.
So I'm piling up nonperishables for next time. Doing the math, I think I could even send Little Debbies & have them get there within code.
In my last letter to our contact I had mentioned the cool packs we sent to Stryker and asked if he thought they could use some too. He says it sounds interesting and if I have any leftover to send them, so I'll be sending them sometime this week.
He also mentions that it's still very unsettled there, as we all know from the reports that have been coming in.
He once again thanks us for our time and support and says, "We truly appreciate all you do".
Our contact at Ramadi didn't know this soldier who was in another unit, but has been present at the same location where this fallen hero died.
The Department of Defense announced June 28 -- "Sgt. Terry M. Lisk, 26, of Fox Lake, Ill., died on June 26 of injuries sustained in Ar Ramadi, Iraq when his unit received indirect fire from enemy forces during combat operations. Lisk was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Friedberg, Germany."
ACCOUNTING FOR 2nd quarter (April, May, June of 2006)
This accounting is only for goods and monies that I received personally and that I personally used to buy goods to put in the care packages and pay for the postage.
It is not an accounting of the considerable value of care packages sent by other members of our group (kattracks, nina0113, Coop, JustAmy, Enterprise, Jim Robinson, DrDeb, Just A Nobody, Dinah Lord, JoyjoyfromNJ, JaneAustin, omegatoo, Abigail Adams, fanfan, DAVY CROCKETT, SwatTeam, daybreakcoming, SENClander, my optometrist, mathluv, bjcintennessee, etc.) with half a dozen holding packages waiting for a new unit to arrive.
MONETARY DONATIONS: (via checks and Paypal): $895.00 - $8.54 paypal fees
Net Total $886.46
donations from norton, Just mythoughts, mass55th, Mo1, daisyscarlett, jtill, JaneAustin, fanfan, PigRigger, Kitty Mittens, jtill, Tunehead54, and AlC. [If you don’t appear on this list, and sent a donation, please contact me to correct this accounting.]
Goods donated, value $146 (just starting to put in boxes and mail out, 96 travel tubes of Colgate toothpaste and 74 toothbrushes by local dentist, valued at 75 cents per tube toothpaste and 1.00 per toothbrush.
DISBURSEMENTS:
Camp Ramadi: $781.81, postage $93.60
COP Rawah: $668.20, postage $148.45
FOB Heider: $126.37, postage $40.50
Irbil: $172.47, postage $59.00
FOB Marez: $513.27, postage $64.50
Ft Talafar: $82.53, postage $29.40
north of Baghdad: $46.13, postage $8.10
GOODS: $2390.99
Postage: $443.55
GRAND TOTAL: $2814.54
Plus: Miscellaneous expenses for postage to mail gifts and DVDs from Afghanistan to donors and to buy strapping tape, package sealing tape and zipper lock baggies.
I will be posting pictures this week hopefully of the gifts sent to us from Bagram by the last unit there. Whoever got the red lace table runner/veil, please remind me.
EMAILs from RAMADI!
[Yesterday]
Hello Patty,
We are doing fine here. We got mortared the other day and hit [somewhere] outside the wall which rocked our equipment. Sure scared the people around there, lol.
Stargate [SG-1,season 3], Smallville [seasons 3 and 4] and Scrubs [season 2] sound excellent. I thought you had moved on to helping the people on the Syrian border so I have been letting tend to them instead of bothering you.
Nobody knows about the other shows you were talking about including myself and I am the oldest (32). Sorry. [referring to The Cisco Kid and Baa Baa Black Sheep, which I will now send to Bagram.]
We are doing well though. I have found a company that is willing to pick up the internet bill monthly since the military will not. They stick us out here with no internet and a spotty military phone system that works part of the time because we are tied in with the Marines. Each branch has its own communication system but ironically they work hand in hand together well. ... We encounter a lot of problems trying to get outside of the military network.
Anyways, my team members have intenet ...
Take care and thank you very much for all that you do!
Respectfully yours,
[After I warned him about using internet for financial transation as a lot of hacking is going on in Iraq...]
[today]
LOL, its funny you should mention someone stealing my credit card number over the internet cuz that is what has happened. I noticed a charge on my bank account for ... from MFI/myfamily/anc on the 6th. I called my bank and told them that was a fraud charge. They said that the same company had tried on the 5th twice for [a higher amount]. and once on the 6th for the same amount before getting lucky with the .... They said they have to let the charge go through but for me to get in contact with the company and demand my money back. If they didnt, they would take it back.
[fiancee] got a hold of the company and they knew nothing about it and are supposedly investigating it on their end too. In the mean time, she called back to the bank to tell them to kill that card number and reissue me a new one. Hell I just found out from her that someone tried to charge ... today!!! WOW!
Well, I have to get going. Take care and thank you very much
YIKES! I am so sorry! I had little to no computer access while I was away and things have been hectic since my return. Below, please find the contents of the 3 boxes I sent to Camp Ramadi 6-12-06.
Box 1:
1 - Nabisco asst. 12 pak cookies
1 - Keebler asst. 12 pak cookies
1 - bag reg. Tootsie Pops
1 - bag mini Tootsie Pops
2 - cans Pringles
1 - box Ritz crackers
1 - box Chkn in a Biskit crackers
3 - hand sanitizers
3 - non-alchohol oral rinse
2 - 10/pk Crystal Light on the Go
4 - Ice breaker mints
1 - Toothpaste
Card
Box 2:
6 - 4/pk fruit cups
5 - Vac pak Tuna
3 - cans asst. dips
2 - paks RWB Napkins
Card
Box 3:
3 - 10/pk Crystal Light on the Go
1 - 8 pak Nekot S'mores cookie/crackers
1 - 8 pak snak crackers
2 - 8 pak peanuts
1 - 8 pak Trail Mix
1 - 10 pak sandwich cream cookies
Card
A belated WELCOME HOME! So good to hear you are back, safe and sound, with your family. Thank you very much for your service to our country. I will never forget!
(Sorry for the length: it's from a Navy magazine but the link didn't work. I had to copy the cached material from google.)
Congress recently created a new tool to help guard against identity theft: the active duty alert. Active Duty Alert The active duty alert is a statement that is placed in the credit file of an active duty military consumer so that anyone checking the file for the purpose of establishing or extending credit is informed that the person is on active duty and the identity of the person requesting credit must be verified before the request can be granted. The active duty alert is part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA), which amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Congress designed this alert as a protection for those deployed in locations or situations in which they are unlikely to be able to apply for credit or monitor their financial accounts. (For more information about FACTA and FRCA, go to http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=108_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ159.108 and http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf, respectively.)
Under FACTA, if you qualify as an active duty military consumer, you can place an active duty alert in the credit file maintained on you by nationwide consumer reporting agencies. You may also designate a personal representative to place or remove the alert for you. The alert lasts for 12 months, but if you receive an extended deployment, you may place another active duty alert after the first one expires. You may cancel the alert at any time by contacting one of three credit reporting agencies (CRAs): Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. (See the text box below for contact information for the CRAs.)
Credit Reporting Agency (CRA) Contact Information Equifax P.O. Box 740256 Atlanta, GA 30374 http://www.equifax.com 1-800-525-6285
Experian P.O. Box 2002 Allen, TX 75013 http://www.experian.com 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion P.O. Box 1000 Chester, PA 19022 http://www.transunion.com 1-800-680-7289
To place an active duty alert, you or your personal representative may contact one of the three CRAs, and tell them you want the alert placed in your file. You or your representative will be asked to provide certain personal information as proof of your identity, such as your Social Security Number, name, current address (and most recent previous address if you have been at your current address for less than six months) and other personal information. Be sure to keep this information current for the duration of the alert.
Once you have requested an active duty alert from one of the CRAs, that agency must: (1) Place an alert in your file indicating you are an active duty military member; (2) Remove you from marketing lists for prescreened credit card offers for two years (unless you ask to be placed back on the list before then); and (3) Alert the other two credit reporting agencies through the Fraud Exchange System. You do not need to contact all three agencies; the CRA that you contact will contact the other two. You will receive confirmation when an alert is added to your credit file.
Once the alert is placed in your credit file, the consumer reporting agencies will notify any business that is asked to establish new credit or extend credit to you about the alert. The business must then take reasonable steps to verify that you are the person seeking credit and not an identity thief.
If you provide a telephone number for verification purposes as part of your active duty alert, the business must try to contact you using that number or take reasonable steps to verify your identity before authorizing any new credit plan or credit extension. The alert may cause some delays if you are trying to obtain credit, but it will also make it more difficult for an identity thief to fraudulently obtain credit in your name.
Credit Protection for All Consumers Under FACTA, consumers, including non-active duty personnel, can fight identity theft using two other tools: free credit reports and fraud alerts. You can now receive one free credit report from each of the three CRAs each year. Regularly requesting and monitoring your credit report is a good way to control identity theft.
To obtain your free reports, contact the credit reporting agencies or go to http://www.annualcreditreport.com for further instructions. Note that free credit reports will be available by region through a nationwide phased rollout starting Dec. 1, 2004, on the West Coast and ending Sept. 1, 2005 on the East Coast. Check the credit report Web site above to determine when people in your state become eligible to receive reports.
If you think you have been a victim of identity theft, you can place a fraud alert in your credit file by contacting any one of the three CRAs. The alert will last for 90 days and requires any creditor to contact you directly before opening any new accounts or changing existing accounts in your name. For further information regarding identity theft, including other steps you can take to minimize the risk of identity theft, visit the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Web site at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/.
Okay, thanks for putting this information together!
I emailed it to him, giving you the credit for researching it.
:-)
Hey, Joy! You done good! Here's the reply from Camp Ramadi:
"Just to give you information back, Experian is the only one that would work. Equifax wanted me to call a 1-888 number (hello I can't, I'm in Iraq) and Transunion only wanted to sell me packages to do and see things. Experian let me place a Fraud Alert which is good for 90 days and an Active Duty Alert good for 1 year.
Thank you very much for the information.."
Thanks for the list! I put the contents on the Masterlist. :-)
Thanks for getting the info to him so quickly! According to the info, as long as one of the credit reporting agencies places the Active Duty Alert, that agency is required by the law to advise the other 2. He says Experian put the ADA so they're required to let the other 2 know also.
Capt. Derrick Draper, from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, maintains radio contact with an Apache attack helicopter during a mission near Tal Afar, Iraq. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey)
U.S. Army Pfc. Christopher Ricker holds the flashlight for Sgt. 1st Class Albert Sleek as they prepare to fire 60 mm illumination flares from the roof of an Iraqi police station in Mosul, Iraq. Ricker and Sleek are from 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team based out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska. (DoD photo by Tech. Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock, U.S. Air Force.) (Released)
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