USO Canteen FReeper Style....Monday Mail Call....May 13,2002

FRiends of the USO Canteen FReeper Style and Snow Bunny

[Snow Bunny]

Our troops need our support and encouragement. They are away from home, some for the first time, and usually lonely or discouraged. It is important for us to reach out and help them in the same way we would want someone to reach out to our loved ones if and when they are in the same position.

They answered their call and we are answering theirs offering them the USO Canteen FReeper Style each day and thanking them for serving.

This is IN Coming Mail from some of those serving now.

We at the USO Canteen FReeper Style, a running thread at Free Republic, are proud to support our Military. The mail comes in from contacting some of our Military Bases, Marine Corps Leagues , and friends and family of those serving now. Also from responses at the wonderful P.O.Box that 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub has made so easily available to each of us here at Free Republic.

They are writing to those that frequent the FReeper USO Canteen to thank you for your support.

I work with damage-control and small-boats on a guided missile destroyer,I just want to thank you at the Canteen for your support. Thank you for being there for all of us. Sometimes you feel like you are all alone out here, then I get online and get to read the Canteen.
My girl broke up with me right before I left. I guess that could be the story for a lot of us .
My mom is all I have back home and she can’t afford a computer . She writes to me when she can and it is good to hear from her.
A buddy back at the base told me about an email he got from a creature with a heart, named Snow Bunny. It had the web address for Free Republic and told how the founder had been a Navy man and how everyone respected him. That he was a heck of a guy and had this place at Free Republic called the Canteen.
One lonely day I checked it out and sat here with , darn it anyway, tears rolling down my face.
I never saw anything like it in my life. OH I have surfed the web in school before I enlisted, but this is a whole new ballgame. The Canteen is my home now away from home.
All of you make a difference and your support means more then you may know. One of the things that makes it more real to me then just a place on the web are several things I’d like to share with you.
You know you all can be serious and then on a dime laugh and have fun and I like that. I like the way the day gears down just like life at home does. When you have done your business in the day and sit around with friends in the evening and cut up.
None of us here could be intense all day and the way the Canteen moves into night is why it feels so much like home too.
Thanks for being there .

Mark A.

Command Master Chief , right before 9-11 my wife and I had just gotten settled in our new home. I have 3 kids and a beautiful wife. Then I was transferred to Norfolk and then shipped out.
I missed Christmas but I know being here has helped preserve our freedom for the future. Only have a minute this time to write Snow Bunny. I know that other stuff I asked you not to pass on helped me to be able to share when I needed it most.
This time I do want you to pass something on to someone.
Whoever has a fan here and please tell whoever that for me. I wasn’t sure if whoever was a man or woman at first, but then I watched the reactions and the tenderness and could tell. So thanks for what you bring in your basket when you visit the Canteen.
I read every thread all the way through and it is powerful stuff. Thanks Snow Bunny for caring so much about us and making a place I can see others that care too.

Stephen A.

Air Force Sgt

Hey Snow Bunny, I am Charlie, just Charlie OK !!!!
Thanks for the Canteen from my heart .
I guess you can call me a lurker but that sure sounds weird. I can’t enter in but I can tell you I have read every day of the Canteen since March.I can’t get to it every day, so I go back and see what I missed when I do have the time.
Some of the ones I like are the one you call HiJinx, 4TheFlag,and you call this one Tonkin. Tell that Tonkin guy the Air Force knows how to spell. LOL , Victoria Delsoul and a mystomachisturning. You have to change that name beautiful girl, with your bubbly personality , AFVetGal one of our own, and this one gets me every time, Deadhead. That one reminds me of a rock group, but I have a crush on Deadhead and SassyMom.
Snow Bunny thanks for making it so I could write to you. Someday maybe I can tell you more about me. But you have been supper about it with a friend of mine and he said Bunny is AOK.

Hang in there and we will too.
Our friend,
Charlie

Navy Hospital Corpsman 1st Class

It is because of you all and your support and caring about us, that I am strengthened and makes me proud to serve our country. Please tell SAMWolf , my brother could use his talents. I saw where he was the head scrounger at the Canteen. I think my kid brother is headed in that direction when he gets in the Army. Bad boy turned “Bad Boy” in many ways and a heart as big as a ship.
Whoever whoever is, could you tell this whoever being that I have saved and sent a lot of things from whoever to my nephew and his wife. They have the time to pass it on to the rest of the family. Tell whoever thanks for the fun stories and jokes.
Snow Bunny, thanks for doing this for me. I never met anyone like you, not sure how I could thank you enough and Billie. So please know that you are making a difference out here and if your ears are burning it is because we are talking about you in awesome ways. God just gave some people bigger hearts and you Snow Bunny and Billie are two girls that got them.
God bless you all at the Canteen and thank you Free Republic for being all to so many of us.
James K.L.

Air Force 1st Lt

Mr. Jim Robinson and ladies and gentlemen of the Canteen. Thank you for your magnificent support and dedication, day in day out for all of us. You make a difference in my life. I printed out a copy of the logo for Free Republic with the Eagle and all and have it inside on my plane. Just so you know it is right next to a very sexy blonde. I didn’t think you would mind. Apple pie and moms and sexy blondes are all American.
I just wanted you to know your efforts are noticed and not just by me.
Your support means we have Americans that care about us and that goes a long way believe me.

Tim B.

[Snow Bunny]

LOL...hahhhaaa...Hi Mr.M

[MistyCA]

Oh yucky! A squirrel sucker?

[SpookBrat]

It was really the creepiest thing that ever happened to me. To dream all night like that, awful things about my dad being killed, then to wake up the next morning and find out it was true. I don't think I dreamt the future, just maybe felt him leave the earth. Who knows. I don't believe in all that hocus pocus stuff, but SOMETHING happened in my brain that night. It was awful.

Yuk, sorry about that. I'm getting tired and I'm talking about stuff I don't want to talk about. LOL I gotta go to bed I think.

SWEET DREAMS OF COURSE!!!!! Don't let the bed bugs bite.

[SAMWolf]

Good Night SpookBrat, good to see you back.

[SpookBrat]

Good night everyone. I swear I'll come back tomorrow. I've missed you all so much. I didn't realize how much. I've been trying hard to kick my habit, and now I have changed my mind. I'm falling off the wagon on purpose. LOL I love you all with all my heart.

Prayers for our military. Sleep tight. You'll be home sooner than you think. God bless! Hugs and kisses.

[Jen]

I love the Blue Bomber too. And that's its real name. It's a spud chucker from spudtech.com, and it's the big evil brother of the Yellow Monster. Mine is designed to also launch frozen soda pop cans (so I can help Bunny keep the Canteen under control when certain Boyz -- or wolves -- start being Bad...)

Here's some of the specs on it:

"BLUE BOMBER" has a unique switchback design which allows for a very long barrel while still keeping it a manageable length. It features a 2" x 4' rifled barrel with a 1.5:1 ratio combustion chamber. It has dual pistol grips offset 30 deg. from center to allow for an ergonomic feel when wielding it. The BBQ igniter for the dual ignition is mounted to the side of the rear grip. And the really cool innovation is the on-board propane injection system. The tank can be easily changed by removing the rear worm gear clamp and swapping to a fresh tank, and then re-installing the clamp. (notice the cut in the tank mounting collar. When tension is applied, the tank is held tightly in place.) Its overall length is around 56 inches. The single 180 deg part is a 2" drain trap.

[SpookBrat]

Good night to you too my friend. Love for your family being sent!

[Jen]

I'm dead serious about getting one. Just think about the funny pix I'll be able to take and post. hahaha

[SAMWolf]

I thinkI have you outgunned.

The Atomic Cannon, at 280 mm, was the largest nuclear capable mobile artillery piece manufactured by the United States. On May 25, 1953, a 280 mm cannon fired an atomic projectile a distance of 7 miles at the Nevada Test Site. Twenty 280 mm cannons were manufactured. None were used in battle.

[Jen]

Not yet. But I'm running on about 3 hours of sleep last night and had a busy day being 'auntie' to an 8-y/o (who does not take a nap, BTW). So, it might not be long before I fall asleep at the keyboard like 4 did! hahaha

[MistyCA]

Oh Spook...that nightmare does not sound funny at all! Sometimes things in life happen that are so strange! That's one that I hope you can make some peace with. :( My husband has some really bad ones sometimes that I know are like Vietnam flashbacks. A couple of times I have seemed to see something happen before it happened. It is spooky for sure!

[Snow Bunny]

OH Flaaaaaggg Man,,heh heh.....

giggle

[Jen]

Nite! Love ya! Sleep well.

[4TheFlag]

I'm here Lady!

[The Thin Man]

LOL. Well, you're probably right - I shouldn't have mentioned who's paying for the flowers. T Man's been too nice to me lately, so he's probably ready to return to his stingy, mean ole self. Can I borrow the card for one last fling, though? I found the cutest shoes at Neiman's today.

Billie, I can accept mean, but stingy? When you went on that last shopping spree with my card I showed my generosity by encouraging you all to spend as much as you want without uttering a single protest. At least that's how I recall it.

Tonk, what compelled you to bring this up? Looks like you're trying to get me in trouble. LOL!

[MistyCA]

It would be sooo fun! There are some rare senses of humor in here for sure! I can only imagine what it would be like to actually have us congregated in one location! Watch out where ever we are!

[MistyCA]

I like the jokes! lolol!

[4TheFlag]

Oh Jen, you have me ROTFLMAO with that description, I can hardly see to type...WAY FUNNY!!! GOOD ONE!

[GATOR NAVY]

Thanks. Glad to be here.

[MistyCA]

Alright, SAM!