Free Republic

Although the Defense Department provides a travel entitlement for service members and their families in serious medical emergencies, the Fisher House Foundation is hoping to help those service members and families not covered under the rule. Through a program the foundation joined in December called Operation Hero Miles, the Fisher House hopes to give away hundreds of free airline tickets to help reunite service members hospitalized due to their service in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, and their family members. The Fisher House Foundation is best known for its network of 32 comfort homes that provide a place to...

WASHINGTION -- Alice Rodgers, a single mother, paid more than $1,000 for round-trip tickets from Tipton, Iowa, so she and her daughter, Lindsey, could visit her son, who is recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here from wounds he suffered in an ambush in Iraq. However, when Rodgers returns for her next visit, the trip will be far less expensive -- it will cost her nothing. During a press briefing today at the front gate of the hospital, Maryland Rep. C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger handed 680 free airline tickets to David Coker, executive director and vice president of operations at...

It's too late to send a Christmas package to loved ones or other American troops deployed abroad and have them receive it before Christmas, but it's not too late to send them season's greetings and show your support. The Defense Department urges the public not to send mail, care packages or donations to service members deployed to a forward area unless you are a family member, loved one or personal friend. People are encouraged to show support by logging on to the following Web sites to send greeting cards, virtual "thank you" cards and calling card donations: www.defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html; www.usocares.org/home.htm; or...