Tuberoller
Divorced an Orpheus to keep his wife.
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2001
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I'm sure that all of you know by now that my Wife and I are both MARINE CORPS vets and that we are both very active in Troop support activities.Over the past few weeks I have recieved many letters(and a few emails) from MARINES serving in Iraq and Afganistan mentioning that the Stateside support from the civilian population has pretty much dried up.
I don't know if I can offer accurate descriptions of serving combat duty but if you can just imagine being deprived of most of your basic pleasures without consideration of being in constant threat of death then you can get somewhat of an idea of the things Soldiers endure.I remember just wishing I had a stinkin' packet of ketchup or salt when eating an MRE,I remember wanting to read a newspaper from Chicago or a car mag or even a Playboy magazine.I would have killed someone for a pair of AA batteries for my casette player or a pair of underwear that were clean and fit right.When I ran out of stamps and envelopes I thought I might go insane from boredom and loneliness.I knew that if I packed one more stupid sandbag I would just die of "repetative insanity" as we called it.When I finally got a moleskin for my boots I could have kissed someone,I felt so much better.That one little thing sent in a "care package" from a caring citizen made a huge difference in my life.Someone sent me a waistplate(belt buckle) from a Boy Scout troop and I never took it off,it was my connection to the people at home, besides my family, and it made me believe that folks cared about what I was doing.
Last night we prepared 250 packages to be sent to MARINES from the Chicago area stationed in the Gulf.None of the stuff we sent is expensive,mostly newspapers,shoe inserts(moleskins),envelopes,stamps,ketchup packs,batteries,magazines,nail clippers,baby wipes(you could never imagine how many "thank you's" we get for sending these)pens,and a few other useful items.Total cost of all the items including shipping was less than $5,000 and this is donated by members of our unofficial "Chicago Leathernecks" support group and people from our church.
If you have a member of your family serving right now,even if they are not in combat duty,please let them know that you are here and care about them.If you don't have a family member serving find someone who does and ask to send something,even if it's just a letter to let them know you support them.You don't have to support war or any politician or political view to support your troops.All the news the troops ever hear is bad news,hearing some good news from home is always welcomed.I'm asking you as a friend,MARINE and citizen to do this one thing to support troops.Even if done only once it does make a difference.I know I have asked you guys to do this before but it is now much more important to our troops as they suffer from poor morale and the feelings that nobody cares as they see daily reports of fellow soldiers being killed.Do your part.
I don't know if I can offer accurate descriptions of serving combat duty but if you can just imagine being deprived of most of your basic pleasures without consideration of being in constant threat of death then you can get somewhat of an idea of the things Soldiers endure.I remember just wishing I had a stinkin' packet of ketchup or salt when eating an MRE,I remember wanting to read a newspaper from Chicago or a car mag or even a Playboy magazine.I would have killed someone for a pair of AA batteries for my casette player or a pair of underwear that were clean and fit right.When I ran out of stamps and envelopes I thought I might go insane from boredom and loneliness.I knew that if I packed one more stupid sandbag I would just die of "repetative insanity" as we called it.When I finally got a moleskin for my boots I could have kissed someone,I felt so much better.That one little thing sent in a "care package" from a caring citizen made a huge difference in my life.Someone sent me a waistplate(belt buckle) from a Boy Scout troop and I never took it off,it was my connection to the people at home, besides my family, and it made me believe that folks cared about what I was doing.
Last night we prepared 250 packages to be sent to MARINES from the Chicago area stationed in the Gulf.None of the stuff we sent is expensive,mostly newspapers,shoe inserts(moleskins),envelopes,stamps,ketchup packs,batteries,magazines,nail clippers,baby wipes(you could never imagine how many "thank you's" we get for sending these)pens,and a few other useful items.Total cost of all the items including shipping was less than $5,000 and this is donated by members of our unofficial "Chicago Leathernecks" support group and people from our church.
If you have a member of your family serving right now,even if they are not in combat duty,please let them know that you are here and care about them.If you don't have a family member serving find someone who does and ask to send something,even if it's just a letter to let them know you support them.You don't have to support war or any politician or political view to support your troops.All the news the troops ever hear is bad news,hearing some good news from home is always welcomed.I'm asking you as a friend,MARINE and citizen to do this one thing to support troops.Even if done only once it does make a difference.I know I have asked you guys to do this before but it is now much more important to our troops as they suffer from poor morale and the feelings that nobody cares as they see daily reports of fellow soldiers being killed.Do your part.
