We support our troops????
 

I have mentioned before that I live in a military town and that my Dad proudly served in the United States Army for 30 years. I have been hearing many rumours of inadquate supplies, lack of body armor overseas in Iraq, soldiers' families forced to go on food stamps, etc. Army recruitment levels are way down (I wonder why? :eyebrow: )

Various retailers around here are fond of putting up big banners reading "We support our troops!" My friend Lisa, whose husband is currently fighting over in Iraq, and I have a standing joke that those banners are a sure sign that any military person who enters the establishment is going to get ripped off by an outfit that knows good and well that the soldier is going to be shipped overseas at any time and will have more things to worry about than getting taken for shoddy merchandise back stateside 3 months ago.

I volunteer for an outfit called "Soldier's Angel's" Each "angel" is given the name of a soldier overseas to write letters to and send little care packages for. My adoptee is a woman with the rank of Spec 4, currently stationed in Iraq. She requests things like personal hygeine wipes (no showers), granola bars and other snack foods (always in extremely short supply). hand or body lotion, a pack of kleenex. And video games to deal with both the boredom and the fear (takes one's mind off stuff for a while).

So today I get this e-mail from the local "angel" co-ordinator (the volunteer group is a national one so if UG or anyone else cares to put their money where their mouth is, pm me and I'll give you the info on how to re up as a volunteer "angel"). I hate the Iraqi War. I think its tragic and stupid. But I am a 1000% behind the young men and women who enlist in the military to serve their country. I am completely enraged that our soldiers must come back from Iraq and be forced to rely on charity as in the following:

Hello
I am -------- here in Colorado Springs and I have been privileged to work with Patti and Soldiers Angels for over a year now. My YoungHeroes.US organization and Soldiers Angels.Org co-sponsored a Concert at Iron Horse Park on Ft Carson last July 3rd to thank the troops there for their service. Patti suggested that I send this email to each of you.

This past week a small group of Soldiers Angels volunteers came to the rescue of a very ill soldiers family here in Colorado Springs. One of the soldiers angels ladies who responded to helping this family is also the wife of a soldier at Ft Carson. She sent an email to me last night that I am copying below for you to read. I talked with her husband and they both agreed for me to send out this appeal to people in Colorado and especially to people in the Colorado Springs area.

"My husband is with the 3rd ACR, and just got back from Iraq a week ago. He is helping to set up and organize a welcome home for the remaining soldiers that are due to return next month on Feb 9, 2006. He needs help with about 450 single soldiers that are coming home that will be returning to empty barracks rooms. We were trying to find some help to get them toiletries, shampoo, food items, etc, for when they get here. If you can help, or know anyone that can, please let me know.
Thanks
Jenna"

Jenna and her husband live in the same apartment complex that I do which is very close to Gate 3 at Ft Carson Army Base. We are asking people to ship to or bring to us as many of these items that you all can. If you know a manager or owner of some stores perhaps you could contact them and they would be willing to donate items as well. All items can be shipped or delivered to:

--------
YoungHeroes.US
---------
Colorado Springs, CO 80906

How do I ship 450 hookers? :mg:

LOL, Bruce! I think they're on their own for the hookers! You're a pip (already told you that)!

So we have BigV and we have Bruce. Anyone else from the Cellar want to show their appreciation for the men and women of the 3rd ACR, arriving home on Feb 9th?

It would probably be more efficient to send them a check and have them pick what they think the soldiers will need from K-mart, Wal-Mart, etc. Do they have a bank account under youngheroes.us?

Also, can items be delivered without at least a PO Box. I'm sure being a military town, the post office knows who they are, but I always assumed you at least had to have a box.

Yes, here you go. I spoke on the phone with the man who who is organizing this welcome for the returning troops, and he gave me permission to post his info. All donations should be made to YoungHeroes.US. If you have any questions you can contact Bob Calvert below:

Bob Calvert
YoungHeroes.US
4245 Pebble Ridge Circle #85
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
www.talkingwithheroes.com
Email Address: bob@youngheroes.us
Phone: 719-359-5235

Also, anyone who cares to respond or donate can make comments in this thread and your words will be passed on to the members of the 3rd ACR returning home to Ft. Carson, Colorado!

PS And, no, I was not paid to hang around here on and off for the past two years by the US Army so I could suddenly pounce with spam for the 3rd ACR. I was actually hoping to spark a discussion about what great sacrifices the members of our military make make for so very little in return. I am both surprised and gratified that so many here wish to welcome home the 3rd ACR!

You can definitely count me in. But if it's not personal items we are sending, I have a problem with sending money to anybody who does not have some sort of oversight. Sadly, a lot of "appeals" that are pitched do not end up passing on most of the donations. Not that I'm suspicious of this group, I'd just rather send the money or whatever to you or your friend so I'd know it would get the best use in the best place :)

What I'd REALLY like to do for my part is send Thalia's CDs and posters to the Hispanic soldiers :D

Go for it Tonchi! If you'll note in his e-mail he asked only for donations of items like shampoo and personal care stuff, etc - NOT cash. Soldier's Angel's which is a national organization and strictly on the level is helping to sponsor his efforts. I'm sure he would be delighted (as would the soldiers!) to receive the Thalia CD's, etc. Call or e-mail him and ask!

Why are you surprised, only UG's camp wants them over there. :lol:

Mari,

While I'd love to help, my 'limited' support budget is going to support my brother's special forces unit that left for Afghanistan 2 weeks ago, and will be away for a year. I do send my thanks for to those who have already been, and my blessings on those who will still have to go.

Dagney

You've left out the letter 'm', dear.

Well, if you check out Guidestar.com, you will find this (free subscription required).

A dishonest person could just as easily steal supplies as money. Rather than guess what is needed and pay shipping for toiletries, I'd rather make a directed donation. They might even have a way to get a discount and make the money stretch further. I will send the money to Bob at the Colorado Springs on Monday with a note as to what it is for, but make sure the check is made out to Young Heroes Project.

I'm not going to say what amount I am going to give, but I am going to challenge Urbane Guerilla to put up. Since he sometimes acts as if he's a thousand times more of a patriot than liberal/moderates like me, he should be able to come up with $1000.

I know that giving money to a cause is not a real measure of patriotism, even though G-d knows enough soldiers die over other peoples money. Still, if it will get some people here to fork over a few dollars from their 'beer and bullets' fund, I figure a little goading might work.

**NOTE** I just spoke with Bob. Young Heroes.us is not a 501c3, but Soldiers Angels is, so I will be sending a check to him made out to Soldiers Angels.

Mari, thanks for the address. I'll send them something.

Rich, mister big mouth, how 'bout you put up that thousand, then? Money where mouth is, and all.

How about it? Is it worth your unloading a thousand bucks to put me in the shade? It'd at least be doing something constructive, and possibly tax deductible? Cool either way.

You support your troops?
http://www.iboww.org/notallwounds1.jpg

Very generous, 10 million dollars. It is not even a fucking Band-Aid. How many billions a week on bombs, napalm, white powder etc, etc?

Supporting your troops? Pfffftttt

One million men and women soldiers have passed through either Iraq or Afghanistan, do the math.

I am probably seen as a meddling outsider. Sue me.

You first. My check (unfortunately not $1000) will be out on Monday. Your $1000 check still has time to beat it.

Well, I noticed that Soldier's Angels takes Paypal, so I just made the donation. I'll follow up with an e-mail and hope that they use it for the 3rd ACR, since I put them in the "SHIPPING" address. If not, it's still worthwhile.

It's not a lot, but if you add in UG's $1000, the Cellar will be well represented.http://www.cellar.org/images/smilies/wink.gif

Thank you so much, Rich, UG, and everyone else who responded! I just spoke with Bob Calvert and he said he has never seen such a response from a single Internet Forum! Go Cellar! I know Bob only slightly as someone who is also interested in the efforts of Soldier's Angels. Rich is right in that Bob does not yet have 401K status for his 3rd ACR project, although he has applied and that application is in the works. I do know that local "Angels" are backing Bob's efforts 100% and a donation to Soldier's Angels which is a national non-profit with 401K status will go to help a very worthy cause.

As I said, I never meant to get involved in a fund raiser here, only to spark a debate. I would say that the consensus is (with the exception of Dov, who is Canadian) that we DO indeed "support our troops!" :love:

I am not even touching on the vet who suffers from PTSD or the wife of a vet who was exposed to depleted uranium who gave birth to a deformed child as the result. I am not focusing on the homicides and the suicides of the Iraqi vet.

My post’s aim is to point out the current 300k homeless vets, beds for 100k and the remaining 200k sleep in the cold, and its hopelessness. That figure will quadruple one the dust settles over the Middle East.

Still these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.

Im not knocking your efforts but they do not even scratch the surface. In spite of this , do not give up please. At the exception of several individuals’ efforts, America does not take care of her Vets.

It is nothing short of sinful that The Veterans Administration is horribly under funded.

Before it is over there will be two million vets who will have served in the Middle East, and nobody knows when its over so two million is a modest estimate. Over half will be mentally ill, and the sickest of them will not seek treatment. Even if the Bush administration had an exit plan, they refuse to recognise the sick vet. I do not know how Bush gets away with it, offering no consistent help to the Vietnam Vet, and repeating the exact same attitude towards the Afghanistan and Iraqi vet.

The American Vet is your most precious icon.

I am amazed Americans do not recognise the heart of the second amendment and storm the White House. How much more abuse can you accept?

Being Canadian I cannot hurt, care, or contribute?? That is half the problem, your arrogant bridge burnings and becoming isolated, to the point that every forum I have ever seen has a thread about building a wall around America. It has become a moral dilemma and blocking yourselves off, will not fix your common lack of basic principles as manifested in the homeless vet. SHAME!

You do not take care of your vets. The numbers do not lie.

A country is judged by how it treats its prisoners and vets. You are zero for two.



Soldiers Making Bracelets

Well, Dov, you first couple of posts seemed to be more about the maniacal homicidal vet, as much as anything. I believe this is called stereotyping. Your most recent post is more along the lines of the discussion I hoped to generate by reposting Mr. Calvert's e-mail. I agree that while individual members of the Cellar have made a gratifying response, that this support does not hold across America, in general.

The local VA is stretched to ridiculous limits. The last time I heard, each VA therapist has a case load of 500 veterans. This ratio is absurd. I question your statistic of fully half the Iraq War veterans having a mental disorder, but the 500 to one case load statistic is very bad news if even 1% of them ultimately need mental health services.

Mr. Calvert expressed his dismay over the difficulty of getting support even here in this military based town. I am actually not very surprised over this because Colorado Springs has become a headquarters town for the religous right - far more so than it is even for the 3rd ACR and Ft. Carson to the south. And religous fundamentalists are notoriously close fisted.

I once had occasion to visit the World Center on Prayer (or some such name - they all begin to sound the same after the first 500 or so outfits move in - I live at the mouth of the many headed beast itself, my friend. You would have nightmares just driving around up in the north part of this town). The WCP place covers literally acres of land, the street in front of it is named after it, it has two giant gleaming office complexex, complete with gyms, bookstores, cafeteria, worship centers (of course!), and a vast parking lot filled with gleaming late model cars. I picked up some of their literature out of curiosity and it was all about fund drives, and how the reader could send their check in the mail, etc. I couldn't figure out the purpose of this megaplex of prayer, however. Were they praying for world peace? Undertaking famine relief in the third world? They didn't seem interested in luring in Jews, BTW - I guess they haven't gotten around to reading Zebe-ya-ma-call-it yet in their brand new leather bound Bibles.

I asked the lady at the front desk what they did in the way of charity? She seemed puzzled by my question. I said, "You know - good works, helping others, helping the poor and the homeless. Or, say what about the vets?" She gave me a blank stare and said, "I'm not aware of anything like that. Are you saved, dear?" I replied, "I"m Buddhist, ma'am. Where would you like these 300 phone books they told me to drop off for you?" She looked at me in mild horror and pointed a disdainful finger back toward the mail room.

I've rambled along here, but the point is that the US does NOT have a draft. The young men and women who enlist in the military come from the lesser advantaged stratums of American Society. Fort Carson and its active duty soldiers remains tucked out of sight and out of mind of most of this "military" town and this world "peacekeeper" nation. We don't speak of such things, dear. Please take all deliveries to the back entrance and stop asking so many questions.

Stats man, and Kos had to stagger though thousands of local papers to find them. Zero support from the man. There are many maniacal homicidal vets, who dont have to be. That is the tragedy and in my view, it is criminal not caring for them. Moral? I am sure you know my view, if the administration is moral or not.

I wasn’t holding the vets responsible. How can I hold a sick individual responsible? Could I blame a cancer victim, in chronic pain for being cranky?

Someone is responsible for the sick vet, one single individual who would rather spend at least a billion dollars a week on bombs than help Americas most precious beings, the vets who fulfilled their duty without question.

We really aren’t that far apart in ideology. I dont expose myself easily on Message Boards, mega personas.

Your post was excellent.

I have two vocations, I am a sculptor and a fund raiser, professional.

Keep plugging man, every little bit helps.

(It actually helps you the most, doing the right thing, not talking, doing.)

Thanks

Hey dov I am a disabled Vet and in pain most of the time. I know quite a few home less and mentaly challanged Vets. We try to help them any way we can. I do not have money to donate but I have time, wich I give freely and without constraint. I know these people and admire they gave their best the VA in Wisconsin takes very good care of us and try's to reach out to everyone in need. Some cannot be reached with normal methods sometimes we need to try other tactics, sometimes it works, and sometimes it dont. But we dont give up! All you can do is find fault, if you cannot help then shut up.
Terry L. Bell USCG

I understand your frustration and anger. If it alleviates you to vent on me I am glad I could help. Its your choice that you accept the situation and feel hopeless. I do not accept it.

Chacon son gout.

All the best to you Terry L. Bell.

Hmm... erratic street French. We need a verb, or a conjunction, but nobody's going to quibble over a circumflex absent from an English keyboard. Yes, I am proud of my French, among my other languages.

Chacun à son goût, ou Chacun a son goût. Alt + 0251 gets you there if you really want it.

cool.

I am dyslexic in three languages. Words spell check is adequate for English

Québécois

Home of poutine.
French fries, cheese curd and brown gravy.
http://lpdp.chez-alice.fr/poutine_im...ne%20avant.jpg

Q: What's the English translation of "Je me souviens"?

A: "I don't tip"

:lol:

Two articles about supporting troops
 

There were to op-ed pieces in the Inquirer today.

Here is a view from the anti-war side.

And here is a view from the pro-war side.

So individuals from both the pro-war and anti-war side say that I or anyone cannot support soldiers without supporting the war? Bullshit.

By that reasoning, anyone sending care packages to Vietnam would have had to automatically support the troops staying there indefinitely.

Ms. Sciolla states that:
No, but recognizing that troops need to come home at some point is necessary, as is recognizing when to walk away. Most of the troops came home from Korea without a 'win'. Technically, we have already 'won' in Iraq, and there will probably not be any clear point in the occupation where we can say "we're finished". Ms. Sciolla apparently has a vision of what victory in Iraq is, which is something even the adminstration cannot articulate. From her comments on a US 'presence', she seems to believe that we will find a country in that region that wants us to remain there in occupation, something even the Iraqi government opposes.

No, I for one can differentiate between giving aid and comfort to soldiers who have volunteered to 'support and defend the Constitution' without buying into any particular mission that they have been given.

It might be when the first Iraqi teenager says the famous words, "Would you like fries with that?"

"Je me souviens" = Lest we forget, word for word, I will remember.

I don’t get the tipping comment but it tastes like some ignorant bigoted remark.

Correct me if I am wrong.

We generally give 15 percent. The range is from nothing (a penny) for lousy service to 100 percent.

Ann Landers, advice columnist, once suggested not zero, but two cents for service worth maybe that much. I've never been that disappointed in a restaurant's service, but if, as, and when...

I heard McDonald's has good sevice,I should try it one day.

Great effort, Mari.... The world needs more people like yourself who will assume responsability as a citizen and do what they can to help, whether it be directly or indirectly instead of pissing and moaning and fault finding. May God bless you.

Sincerely Grateful,

capnhowdy, USMC (VV)

Thanks, capn! :blush:

As a "pacifist," I take violent exception to the following:

One reason I am opposed to the conflict in Iraq is precisely because I DO support our troops. When my career military father did two tours in Vietnam, I wrote him almost every day. I was opposed to that war, too, and I don't think I was a wussy girl because I opposed Johnson's and Nixon's policies while still respecting my father's and every other soldier's courage and service to his country.

Here's a little story that shows some of the other good things Soldier's Angels do. My friend Lisa whose husband is currently in Iraq told me the following story:

Her husband is currently stationed somewhere near Baghdad.. Apparently some Iraqi who was not pleased to be "liberated" lobbed an incendiary devise at one of the barracks which house the soldiers in his outfit. No soldiers were killed, but the barracks caught fire. The Army has no fire fighting equipment over there! (Unbelievable, eh?) They had to call in an Iraqi fire department. Needless to say, the Iraqi's took their sweet time getting there, and when they arrived they "accidently" forgot to bring enough water with them to put out the blaze. The barracks burned to the ground and the soldiers who had been staying there lost everything they had, including even a change of clean uniforms. The Soldier's Angels have been organizing a drive for these men and women, as well, sending stuff like personal care items, (razers and wet wipes are highly prized), along with any kind of snack foods. They are even sending stuff like ipods and video games.

The Army is giving them second hand uniforms from those who washed out of basic training. This last reminds me of stories about the Civil War where Confederate soldiers would go through and remove the boots of the dead Union soldiers because the Confederate Army couldn't provide its men with shoes. No fire fighting equipment? Hand me down uniforms? Civilian fund drives to replace destroyed personal items? We support our troops? (sigh)

The Halliburton contract apparently is using up the entire budget for that sort of "support" :mad:

You mean Halliburten is supposed to provide some service or support? I thought Cheney gives the money to Halliburten and they deposit it in his off shore bank account for him You want Halliburten to provide support services to the troops in addition? Don't you think that's pushing it a little, Tonchi? :headshake

Was it Halliburton who was providing the tainted water to the troups in Iraq as well? No, I never did expect they were doing much of anything except cashing the checks from those sweetheart contracts from the White House. Apparently they are spending a large proportion of the money to provide security for THEMSELVES, however, because we don't hear much about Halliburton employees being kidnapped, killed, or even threatened after that first time.

I have heard at least one too many times, if one does not support the invasion = one does not support the soldiers.

Dr Joseph Goebbels propaganda 101

I have heard it is the American citizens who appose the war which is having a negative effect on the moral of the soldiers.

Wrong wrong wrong, if you have any respect for George Washington.

He said the morale of our nation's troops is based on the way we treat our veterans.

Who is responsible for the care of the care of the vet? Citizens who appose the war orrrrrr…..


Murray's Plan Offered Real Help for Veterans

Halliburton was expecting a huge slice of the pie, Iraqi oil. Did not go as planed, they did not get to steal much. Oil that is, cash they stole well. Tax-free.

Those four “contractors “ who were killed, burnt and hung were Halliburton thugs, mercenaries, Blackwater.

I got a news letter with a thank you note, dated Feb 13th, from Bob Calvert.
"Thank you for helping our soldiers. I took 101 big bags filled last week and I have 14 more this week."
He also sent along a bunch of receipts from "King Sooper" market showing the type of stuff he was buying.
One made me laugh. It had several cans of cat food, no more than 2 of each flavor, the cashier had to back out at the end of the tape. Cats don't care if your saving the world from aliens, supper will be served in a timely fashion. :lol:

Cool, Bruce! I'm glad Bob followed up and sent you copies of the receipts, cat food and all! There was an article in the local paper about the welcome home for the 3rd ACR. If I can find it, I'll post a link!