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.

[ofMagog]

Tuesday May 14, 2002 at 0002
All hands present and accounted for except LadyX.
Wondermous day exploring north end of North Island, NZ.
Temperance lecture this evening by Scuttlebutt poorly attended.
Come on, crew, he works so hard on this.

[MeekOneGOP]

Good Morning Meek! I fell asleep early tonight and then woke up and decided to have some tea and read the thread. These letters from the servicemen are so wonderful! Gee! My name change even got a vote!!! :) It is so good to hear that Bunny's vision has brought something special to the guys who are away from home protecting our freedom!

Mornin'! Yeah, I saw that note from the serviceman commenting about changing your name! LOL!
And I'll add my "Amen!" regarding Snow Bunny's vision on the USO thread concept. (And I think somewhere along the line I probably have linked political articles here. Oops! :O( That won't happen anymore, tho. I'll keep it to non-political when I do that from now on).
Ya'll have a GREAT day!

[MistyCA]

No, I don't think I have posted that before. She is fine but it took awhile to absorb what had actually happened. It was that morning that she called me from one of the adjacent buildings to let us know she was ok.....shocking in itself since I didn't even realize that she might have been endangered! Apparently the trains stopped under the buildings. I guess they were trying to decide what should be done. My sister-in-law said there was one girl near her who was so afraid (because they would not open the doors and let anyone out) that she began banging and clawing at the door and actually left scratch marks on it. They decided against letting people out there and the train proceeded to the next stop which was the one my sister-in-law wanted anyhow. After they exited the train they learned what was going on. She said that she could see the devastation from her apartment and it seems so strange now to look out and no longer see the towers. No one in the train actually knew what was happening while they were under the twin towers, but the sense was that something was very wrong. My sister-in-law felt fear that she might not get to see her son again.

Of course, she was so fortunate compared with those people who were actually trapped and killed or injured. But she said there was an overwhelming sense of fellowship and comraderie in NY after the events of 9-11. I guess that is part of the good that comes from bad.

[MistyCA]

Thank you for that post. I am pleased to make your acquaintance and hope to see you here often! My brother loves Japan and traveled there many times in connection with his love of Samurai Swords. Thank you for your service! :)

[MistyCA]

Where on earth is LadyX! I fear that she has been abducted by one of the natives! I am sorry to have missed the lecture but my instincts told me that I needed to search far and wide for our dear LadyX!

[MistyCA]

Gosh, Meek! Does that mean I can't hate Hitlery while I am here???? Or do I just have to refrain from saying so? Oh please Bunny, surely we don't go that far in refraining from politics! :) Hmmmmm. Maybe she meant internal politics?

[Jen]

Oh thank God she is OK. I have hit 'refresh' prob 100 times while waiting for your reply. What a relief; I was afraid I had stuck my itty bitty foot in my great big mouth... Wow, what an ordeal for those people on that train. Thanks for sharing that story. I didn't realize the WTC attacks hit so close to home for you.

[MistyCA]

I have to go back to bed! It's kinda nuts to be up at this time of day! :)

[Jen]

SPOOKIE! Where are you? Take a break from unpacking and come have a cup of coffee with us.

Anybody heard from SpookBrat? She's been MIA for 10 days now.

[Iowa Granny]

Welcome to the Canteen! Sometimes I feel that we are talking to ourselves. (There's nothing wrong with talking to yourself,,, you can even answer yourself,,,, but when talking to yourself, and after answering yourself,, if you respond "Huh"?,,,, then you know you're in trouble)

Thank you for verifying again that our troops read these pages of patriotism and encouragement.

Thank you for your service to our great nation.

[wattsmag2]

Good morning SB.

[Iowa Granny]

On, I just love reading those emails from our troops! Thanks to you, SB, and thanks to the troops for forwarding the messages to us.

[Joe Brower]

Mmmmmm... donuts...

[ofMagog]

Check all the bars.
She may be passing out Scuttlebutt's temperance tracts...

[GATOR NAVY]

Thank you both for your efforts on the Canteen.

[SassyMom]

Good Morning! Have I told y'all how much I love Mail Call Mondays! The letters today touched my heart and I would like to tell Mark A., Stephen A., Charlie, James K.L., and Tim B. thank you. Thank you soooo much for what you are doing to keep us free. I'm glad that you come to the Canteen and can find a touch of home here. I appreciate you and what you are doing. God Bless You All!

[MeekOneGOP]

Gosh, Meek! Does that mean I can't hate Hitlery while I am here???? Or do I just have to refrain from saying so?

LOL! My comment was in reference to a note on a recent thread about the USO and non-political. So it was my interpretation from that, that I decided it was probably the best thing for me to refrain from posting links on the USO thread to any politically oriented threads on FR. I don't think anyone had "mind control" in mind regarding that, LOL! I think we can still despise the despicable!

[Jen]

Pssssssssst, Sassy, somebody has a crush on yoooooooooooooooou! hehehehe

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Tonk. Very well stated.

[MeekOneGOP]

G'night, princess!