Posted on 01/21/2006 3:06:06 PM PST by patriciaruth
Welcome to the 2006 thread of the Merry Band of Patriots!
Our grassroots, volunteer group of troop supporters has been sending care packages to servicemen and women in war zones since the summer of 2001 when we began by sending VHS movies and Snickers candy bars to the 101st Airborne and then later the 10th Mountain at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.
This last year we sent a couple hundred care packages to troops at Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Tal Afar in Iraq, at Bagram in Afghanistan, at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and to our wounded at Landstuhl Regional Hospital in Germany.
Our specialty in the past has been movies, books, snacks, holiday decorations and some appliances like DVD players and Playstations, and we have sent hundreds of movies to various bases.
This last year we had 6 main projects in addition to the usual care packages:
1. We sent over 80 state-of-the-art Petzl headlamps to our adopted company of Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Mosul and 35 to an MI unit at Kirkuk. This was probably the most appreciated item we've ever sent, thanks to a project that got off the ground due to the work of Spanaway Lori, HannaUSA , and Oatka and 3/4th of which was funded by my optometrist.
2. There was the Personal Care items "Emergency" Airlift to Bagram air base in June and July. (mathluv, nina0113, Coop, JustAmy, airborne, iceskater, Tunehead54, jtill participated.)
3. The 4th of July Party Decorations and Snacks blowout for all our adopted units. (pictures at posts 357, 358, 368 of our 2005 thread)
4. Operation Popcorn in August and September for the Engineers at Baghdad (iceskater, mathluv, SENClander, Coop, Abigail Adams, Ros42, Ican'tbelieve it, jtill and ebay's mshoponline sent over 600 bags of microwave popcorn, while omegatoo's were lost in the shuffle of her evacuating New Orleans prior to the Katrina flooding)
5. The End of Summer Luau for psyops at Baghdad in September and October (MJY1288 mailed off the party things we bought at eBay and Amazon with contributions from fanfan, kattracks, jtill, Just mythoughts, Ros42, Pig Rigger, MJY1288 and Kitty Mittens. Pictures at post 809 of the 2005 thread)
6. Halloween candy and movies for the Troops (kattracks, SENClander, Ican'tbelieveit, Abigail Adams mailed boxes in addition to the ones I sent with donations)
7. The Amazing Christmas and New Years Deluge, when it rained packages at all our adopted bases, especially at Tal Afar.
Special mentions go to Teams captains: mathluv (Engineers Baghdad), Ros42 (psyops Baghdad), CAluvdubya (Tal Afar), Abigail Adams (Stryker at Mosul), VeniVidiVici (MI at Kirkuk), nina0113 (Bagram, Afghanistan). Fairy Godmother Dept. (kattracks), Christmas Trees and Christmas Cards R Us (daybreakcoming), Shipping Dept (MJY1288), DVD Recording Dept (MJY1288), Webhosting and Photoshopping Dept (New Perspective), Daddy Warbucks Dept (my optometrist).
Among the many care packages sent by our troop supporters are these projects.
Boxes of school supplies for Iraqi children were sent by mathluv, Ican'tbelieveit, and my mother to Operation Crayon in Kirkuk.
Some members (CAluvdubya, angelsonmyside, 4integrity, ebay's susiemck) helped fill requests for Western Movies from an MI unit at Kirkuk (now home, movies still there) and Clint Eastwood and Adam Sandler movies from Fox Battery at Kirkuk (now home, movies still there).
bjcintennesse made many dozens of cooling neck scarves and sent them to pysops and Engineers at Baghdad.
DAVEY CROCKETT mailed boxesful of car magazines to a couple units.
A copy of the hardback book about the first year of the Revolutionary War (1776 by David McCullough) was sent to most of our units by DrDeb, iceskater, SwatTeam, and Just a Cowgirl.
Ros42 and mscht adopted a unit at Camp Ramadi for Christmas. (picture at 1195 of the 2005 thread).
CheneyChick and daybreakcoming saw to it that some care packages went to a remnant of our troops still in Kosovo.
Daybreakcoming's sister helped the staffers of the Louisiana legislature send about 8 boxes with around 32 bags of Christmas candy to Tal Afar.
Our many generous donors of checks, cash, money orders, Paypal, shopping cards, phone cards, etc are listed in the Accounting posts in our 2005 thread which can be linked from the post below.
We were surprised and emotional when we received back from our adopted units some of the items pictured below, and a big thank you to jkphoto for taking the pictures and webhosting them.
Mailed out 1 box to Bagram today.
Value ($45) Postage ($41)
1-18 oz. bag Salted Stick Pretzels
1 pkg of 8 mini boxes Sunmaid Raisins
4-Bumble Bee Chicken Salad w/crackers
4 boxes Slim Jims
5 pack of Juicy Fruit Gum
5 pack of Big Red Gum
8 oz. bag of Boston Baked Beans
1-8oz. pkg. Raisin & Nut Trail Mix
2-8oz. pkgs Honey Roasted Peanuts
1-10oz. pkg. of Sunflower Seed Kernels (roasted & salted)
1-12oz. box Snack Crackers
3 pkgs. of Tom's peanut butter & cheddar cheese crackers
2 boxes of LD Oatmeal Creme Pies
1 pkg. Assorted Creme Wafers
12 "Cup of Noodles" soups
8-Walgreens Brand of "Airborne"...called "Walborne"
2-2007 Patriotic Calendars
Card
Lookee here Patti...
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/09/09/news/top_stories/22_14_349_8_06.txt
This is a story from our paper this morning that talks with a soman whose son is in the 172nd Stryker Brigade, and the dolls that some are sending to Iraq, and why.
Thought you might be interested.
S.Cub Bear
Always glad to see what's going on.
I heard that story about the little girl in front of the tank a couple years ago.
We sent a bunch of toys, including some 99cent store dolls (half with brown skin) and trucks, to Kirkuk a couple years ago as part of Operation Crayon. The last couple of years we've just sent school supplies there.
But we are in touch with a Chaplain who knows a group of orphan kids in Kirkuk (parents killed by suicide bombers) if anyone is interested in sending something. I'm going to organize that in October.
Wowser!
That looks like a very scrumptous box of goodies!
And a very large box....
Oh, there's nothing so great as a microwave in winter in Afghanistan!
I'll be curious how mailing that turns out.
So, have you met your daughter-in-law to be yet?
Mailed movies directly by Amazon, 3 packages to 3 wounded warriors.
box 1:
Independence Day (Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum)
Men in Black I and II (Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones)
Box 2:
Hitch (Will Smith)
The Gods Must Be Crazy I and II
Flight 93
Box 3:
Tombstone (Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott)
Galaxy Quest (Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver)
There’s Something About Mary (Carmen Diaz, Ben Stiller)
Now that the 9/11 is passing, our next "organized" packages for the troops will be candy for Hallowe'en. You can buy the sales now, but don't mail till October 15, so the chocolate won't melt.
Anyone can send "unorganized" packages to them in the meantime. The Stryker companies are requesting drink mix powder to flavor their water. Bagram, Afghanistan is requesting snacks for the soldiers at the fire bases, including cups of soup, and movies. I'll post the movies we've sent there this last year in the next post.
Mailed September 11, 2006, to A company of Stryker at Baghdad, 2 boxes
Box 1, insured $78.91, postage $10.40 paid by my optometrist
1 Boxed set TV series: Lost, season 2
36 individual packs 15 Wet Ones (donated by my optometrist)
1 card with sentiment of appreciation for service
Box 2, value $38.00, postage $8.10 paid for by my optometrist
38 individual packs 15 Wet Ones (donated by my optometrist)
Mailed September 11, 2006, to HHC of Stryker at Baghdad
1 box, value $56.08, postage $8.10 paid for by my optometrist
34 indiv packs 15 Wet Ones
3 magazines:
Economist
Stuff
FHM
1 book: Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Mailed September 11, 2006, to Camp Ramadi
1 box, insured $69.90, postage $10.40 paid for by my optometrist
1 boxed set TV series: Lost, season 2
1 box 24 Payday candy bars (2 lb 12.4 oz total)
1 box 15 oz Chips Ahoy cookies, soft baked chunky
1 pack 16 oz strawberry Twislers
4 TicTacs
5 indiv packs Wet Ones (donated by my optometrist)
3 travel Kleenex packs
1 Floss mint waxed 55 yds
1 can Mandarin oranges
2 packs 12 Trident white chicklets
1 card with sentiment of appreciation for service to country
Mailed September 11, 2006, to Bagram, Afghanistan,
1 box, insured $69.22, postage $10.40 paid by my optometrist
3 DVD movies/standup comedy routines
They call me “Tater Salad” (Ron White)*
Blue Collar Comedy Tour, One for the Road*
Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin)*
7 cans of Mandarin oranges
2 jars 18 oz Skippy extra chunky peanut butter
2 mint waxed floss 55 yards
8 individual packs 15 Wet Ones (donated by my optometrist)
5 packs 12 Trident white chicklets
2 magazines, 1 newsletter
People magazine, Steve Irwin cover
Weekly Standard “Human Rights”
Billy Graham letter
1 birthday card for a soldier
*donated by SwatTeam
MASTERLIST for Bagram since new psyops unit arrived
DVD’s sent in the last few months:
3 boxed sets TV series:
Scrubs, Season 1
Scrubs, Season 2
Scrubs, Season 3
2 DVD movies:
DC 9/11 – Time of Crisis (Timothy Bottoms, Penny Johnson)
Flight 93 (A&E/Fox movie for television)
They call me “Tater Salad” (Ron White)*
Blue Collar Comedy Tour, One for the Road*
Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda, Lee Marvin)*
The Cisco Kid, 10 episodes (Duncan Renaldo, Leo Carrillo)
Baa Baa Black Sheep, volume 1, 12 episodes (Robert Conrad, John Larroquette)
Tombstone (Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer)
Dodgeball (Vince Vaughn)
Pushing Tin with John Cusack and Billy Bob Thornton**
12 Monkeys with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt **
The Patriot with Mel Gibson **
Lockup with Stallone**
Out To Sea with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau **
Q&A with Armand Assante and Nick Nolte**
Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid **
Striking Distance with Bruce Willis and Sarah Jessica Parker**
*sent by SwatTeam
**sent by daybreakcoming
Sent to previous psyops unit for Christmas last year:
Star Wars III, Revenge of the Sith
Batman Begins (Michael Caine, Liam Neeson)
S.W.A.T. (Colin Ferrel, Samuel L. Jackson)
The Mummy (Brendan Fraser)
The Fast and the Furious (vin Diesel)
Elf (Bob Newhart, Will Ferrell)
The Warriors (original DVD issue)
Sin City (comic book recreation, several stories, one with Bruce Willis)
It’s a Wonderful Life*
Christmas Vacation*
*sent by Nina0113
Sent for Halloween, 2005
The Others (Nicole Kiddman)—a ghost story
Kiss the Girls (Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd)—a horror thriller
Sons of Katie Elder (John Wayne, Dean Martin)
Tombstone (Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott)
The Cowboys (John Wayne)
The Man from Snowy River (Tom Burlinson)
6 Dial hand sanitizer
6 Colgate Shaving Cream
4 Johnson's Talcum Powder
7 bars soap (Dove, Irish Spring, Zest, Dial)
4 tubes Curel lotion
6 deoderant (Speed Stick, Lady Speed Stick)
7 tubes toothpaste (Colgate, Aquafresh)
2 pkgs disposable razors (18)
4 pkgs Trident Gum (5 per)
Great stuff! Thanks so much, kat, for being our Fairy Godmother.
Special Kudos for SENClander who sent the air pumps for them to inflate the soccer balls!
Here's an email from A company of Stryker at Baghdad that just came. Anyone want to get the first couple of seasons of Smallville for A company?
EMAIL from BAGHDAD!
..you are the greatest. We just received the air pumps today. That will help us in developing the new areas that we go into. I am glad that your computer is not infected. The guys really enjoyed the pillows and the mini series [Lost, seasons 1 and 2] as well. If you can send Smallville that will be nice. Thanks again for all that you do.
bttt
Yes, thanks to Patty for organizing all of this!
I ordered Smallville from Amazon, seasons 1-4, to be sent to Kattrack's home. I volunteered her for mailing them out to Company A of Stryker at Baghdad. They should be there Friday.
I also ordered the just released 5th season, but it is going to Texas so I can watch a couple episodes I missed while visiting my Mom. I'll mail it out later next week probably.
Thanks especially to MJY1288 and jtill for contributions that made this possible.
How about some applause for Pig Rigger, too? He just sent a Paypal contribution.
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