Something awesome (and totally non-BDSM, so feel free to NOT read this) arrived this morning in my email. I wanted to share part of it with you guys.  The Americans in particular, though I’m sure those in other countries have programs similar to the one I’ll talk about.

(I had to cut out two paragraphs and a couple words of this email for my privacy and the Marine’s privacy.)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED

Hi Chloe,

I’m Will and I just wanted to extend my gratitude for the package that I received in the mail from you last night. I don’t know how you knew about my obsession with Blue Diamond Almonds but you hit it on the nose! Haha. Thank you really; I wish you could see how excited my Marines get when mail call sounds and they receive a package. It’s a little like Christmas morning for them. The books were a great idea also. A lot of us have taken up reading. For example, I’ve never read a book on my own before coming here and in the past two months I’ve read 6 books. I know that’s not all that impressive but considering my goal was to read one before leaving Iraq, I’d say I found a new hobby.

{cut}

Anyways, thank you and your boyfriend for the package. Take care of yourself Chloe.

God Bless,

Semper Fidelis,

SSgt ——-, Will D.

What prompted that epically cool email from Iraq, from a perfect stranger, on Memorial Day? (And seriously that frickin’ MADE my Memorial Day!)

Well, sometimes, I bitch and moan and sulk. I feel all butt-hurt over stupid crap in my life. Basically, I think I’m having a bad day. But then I tell myself to think again.

Because I don’t know about you guys, but “I could be brutally killed” is not on my daily list of Very Real Concerns. But for our deployed men and women in the armed services, it is.

Quick aside… It is truly unimportant to me what your political views are, and I don’t care if you do or don’t support wars in general or the wars we’re in now. That’s your prerogative, and I respect that. 

But this blog is written by a strict Support the Troops kinda girl.  I might not support the war, but you can be damn sure I support our troops. 

At last check, the number of US troop casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan is 4,962. That’s almost five thousand men and women from the United States who have given their lives in the name of serving their country in these Operations.

And it’s not just risk of death they are dealing with… At best, they are dealing with missing their families,  hometowns, and friends.  A lot of them are missing important moments in the lives of their children.  And a disheartening number of them are being cheated on by their partners.

There are men and women serving overseas right this minute who don’t get any mail from home, are living in tents, can’t afford to call their loved ones, only eat one or two hot meals a day, are in constant mortal danger and DON’T COMPLAIN.

Anyway… There’s this website called AnySoldier. There you can connect directly to men and women in the U.S. armed services who are deployed in war zones across the globe. They are verified as legitimate military contacts by the website (which has received endorsements from everyone from President Bush to Dane Cook, and some supporters of AnySoldier have been honored in the US Senate) and then the servicemen or women post specific needs/concerns/requests for the group of men or women they are representing.

ALL of them just want to know that they are not forgotten, that their countrymen back home support them. The things they want most are letters. They honestly just want to hear about your day, even though you’re a stranger. One guy got home from a deployment and said he was eternally grateful for a total stranger who wrote to him weekly about her daughter’s wedding preparations  Yep.  THAT does it for them.  THAT keeps them going.  THAT is all they’re asking for.

(I ramble in my letters (be shocked, I dare you) so that’s why that email thanks my boyfriend for the package even though he had nothing to do with putting it together.  I had explained to the Marine that he “had my boyfriend to thank” for the box because when I went on the AnySoldier site, I picked a group of Marines to support in honor of Antonio being a former Marine.  Semper Fi!  Woo!)

If you can (and I know you’re all online right now!), head over to the site and check it out. If you’ve got questions, most can be answered by cruising around the site for a bit. If you want to ask me, feel free.

Btw, I only paid shipping on that box.  Everything else, I got from my own home.  I raided my basement for extra snacks that we probably weren’t going to eat.  I raided my bookshelf and DVD shelf for stuff I was not getting enjoyment out of.  I sat down, thought good thoughts for these men and women, and wrote a  letter. 

Maybe you thought swine flu was going to be omg!instantdeath and you stocked up on too many granola bars last time you went shopping… Maybe you have had a few cans of tuna sitting in your cupboard for a couple months and it’s just not getting eaten… Maybe you don’t actually NEED that bag of candy your hormones told you to purchase… Maybe you’re super crafty and you like to make greeting cards or post cards (the troops need blank ones, to write to their loved ones back home!) Maybe you’re even willing to go to the dollar store and shell out a few bucks…

If so, go on the site and take a look at what our troops are requesting. You can run a search too, if you have something specific sitting at home, or something you know you can get cheap, and see if any soldiers that need it. They are SO grateful for anything you can send and the beauty of it is you can send exactly what each unit needs or wants. And if you include an email/home address, you might just get a penpal out of the deal.

The USPS even has flatrate boxes specifically for APO/FPO addresses. And I think they’re CUTE!  Normal large flatrate boxes are $13.95 to send, but if you are mailing to a military address, they knock off $2. If you use online Click and Ship, it’s forty-five cents cheaper than that. If you truly can’t afford $11.50, I do understand.  Times are tough, financially, for a lot of us.

BUT…

Like I said, they mostly want support.  Letters.  So if you’re at all inclined to help, but money is an issue, I DARE you to tell me you can’t afford 44¢. Seriously, try it – I’ll poke you in the eye.   

Write a letter, send it to a contact you pick on the AnySoldier site, and the contact will ensure that it gets to someone in his unit who does not receive a lot (or any!) mail from home.

Seeing their name on mail call is THE highlight of deployment for these guys. THAT is what they enlist, train, and fight for – us. It is a huge morale boost to be reminded of home and to be reminded that we care about them, one and all. Like Will said, it’s like Christmas morning for these guys to get mail.  They are THAT happy!

Anyway…  Sending a package is what prompted that email this morning. 

Why did I do it? Because, like I said, I support the troops.

But a lot of people say that.  (And a recent scientific study, conducted in my car this morning, tells me that roughly nine thousand percent of people support the troops via little magnetic bumper stickers.) I know some of you might support the troops too.  And that’s awesome.

But I urge you to look closely at “support.”  It looks like a word, doesn’t it?  Well, it’s lying to you.  Support is not a word, it’s an action.