Supporting our Troops

It’s hat-tip time and in a BIG way. I received the following information for our Family Readiness Group leader. For all of you who like to support the troops, weather family, friends, or otherwise, here are a plenty of organizations who know what “Support the Troops” really means. Please support them or use them as your situation allows.

- Free computers for spouses or parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 – E5.
- Free magazines, up to 3 choices, for deployed service members.
- Free mail/gifts sent to children of deployed soldiers.
- Free phone cards.
- To sign up for sponsoring soldier care packages for theater.
- Commander can sign up for mugs for unit troops.
- Free shoebox care package.
- Free cookies.
- Lowest airfare available.
- Free care packages.
- Free air conditioners/heaters.
- Free air travel for Emergency Leave, and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical facility.
- Airline discounts for R & R.
- Free books, DVD’s, CD’s.
- Daily prayer and scriptures.
- Free care packages (your family member signs up to have sent to you).
- Free care packages.
- Get adopted to receive stuff. We couldn't forget these people!!!
- Free gifts and care packages.
- Free bible, Christian video, and book for spouse/family members of deployed troop.
- Free shipping/packing materials for shipping to troops. This looks like the same priority mail stuff you get for free at the post office. At least they'll deliver to your home.

P.S. After 5 full days of traveling I am finally home; at least what home will be for the next half year plus. We finished our travels with an experience that must be told… eventually.

Travel Time

I am writing this during some of my last few hours at home before beginning a long journey half way around the world. I have still not received word on how much I can discuss about where I will be going or what I will be doing for the next 9 months. I will also be very busy setting up our team house and establishing communications. I do not plan on ignoring this blog site for most of a year but, until I receive further clarification, I will stick to political topics only.

I expect to have broadband internet access in the team house and depending on time available I should be able to actually increase my blog activity. (I know, not very difficult with how negligent I have been while preparing to deploy.)

World Trade Center

I have never cared for Oliver Stone or any of his idealistic movies and I think Nicolas Cage is a self-serving egotistical third rate actor, so, put their work together and it’s something I don’t want to waste my time with; but… when my wife said she wanted to see it I wasn’t going to say no on our last night together before I deploy. I did do my homework and checked out the reviews on Yahoo Movies so I knew it was about two trapped Port Authority officers and not an overall story of the attack but I was still quite skeptical.

My greatest fear is a nondescript government sedan in front of my house and World Trade Center played this emotion like no other since We Were Soldiers. Since the ending is more predictable than Titanic I’ll continue. The movie sent us on an emotional rollercoaster showing the damage to a world, a nation, a city, and a couple of families but left you with the realization that with as bad as this was it was a couple of the extreme few good endings and there were nearly three thousand bad endings.

When I left the theater I was stunned with silence. I left with one reassuring thought, in less than a week I would be in an ideal location to do something to the terrorists who would do this again. No other organization in the world is better suited for finding and eliminating terrorist cells than the U.S. Army Special Forces. I have been trained to find them and World Trade Center shows exactly why I must find them.