From the Homefront

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m from a military family. Last Sunday I got the elementary school age kids together at church and we put together care packages for soldiers in Iraq. This is a fairly painless process. Take a look at www.anysoldier.com. Through that website one soldier will volunteer to be the contact person for their company or area and distribute any packages that come through. They will tell you what they would most want or need. For example, beef jerky, twizzlers, reading material, drink powder to break up the monotony of bottled water, personal hygiene items, maybe an air freshner or something to make the trailers or tents smell better. These aren’t exactly big ticket items. You can also purchase prepackaged materials through the site. One of my readers also recommends solidierlife.com, which has links to other, similar sites.

Next time you finish the current issue of Sports Illustrated or Time, get a mailing envelope or a small box, pick up some beef jerky at the grocery store, and mail it off. The postage is domestic; the military will get it overseas. It might really brighten the day of someone who gets shot at regularly or has to worry if they will step on a bomb the next morning. You may not support the war itself. I don’t think the effort was as well thought out as it should have been and we have put our soldiers at unnecessary risk. Regardless of this, there are troops on the ground and as long as they are there I feel an obligation to provide a little support.

Get your friends together for pizza and beer and have everyone bring 10 things – 10 traveler size shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, microwave popcorn (for those troops who have a microwave), snacks, flavored drink mix, etc. and put together some care packages. See if your boss will let you use the staff room one afternoon for a group effort. The web sites will tell you how to decide what to send, and how to sent it. A group of women might prepare packages for women soldiers. I tucked in a few extra personal care items in some of the kids’ packages and noted they were for female troops.

This is inexpensive for you, might get you some brownie points at work or with your friends, and can make a real different to someone who is far from home.