Show Gratitude to Our Troops: Support Reach Out and Read's Military Initiative

Thanks to Penny Sansevieri's www.amarketingexpert.com ezine, I learned about Reach Out and Read's military initiative.

To support the program you can donate a book or sponsor a child -- one of the 90,000 children on 44 U.S. military bases served by the program:

"In addition to promoting school readiness, Reach Out and Read also helps build routines and strengthens bonds, which are especially important for military families who are tested by separation and deployment."

Go here now to say thanks to our troops by supporting this program.
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

“Stand Up for Heroes” Benefit Aids Wounded Veterans

Tad Friend in the November 22nd issue of The New Yorker wrote a short piece entitled “Hero Worship” about the benefit “Stand Up for Heroes” for Bob Woodruff's foundation to aid wounded veterans.

As Friend reminds the reader, “Woodruff, an ABC News correspondent, was himself badly wounded in Iraq in 2006.”

This short piece is both heartbreaking and uplifting -- and I recommend you read it now.
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

Watch Live on November 19 "The Human Stories" of the U.S. Army

Here is an email I received about a live event featuring "The Human Stories" of the U.S. Army:

When some people hear the word “military”, they automatically think of guns, tanks, and planes – the awe-inspiring technology that makes America’s military a superior force above all others. What is often overlooked, however, is the common thread that unites our talks and remains America’s strongest military asset: its people.

I am writing you on behalf of the U.S. Army's Online & Social Media Division to tell you about an event that you may be interested in that features some of our people.

Tomorrow, Nov. 19, the Department of Defense is hosting a TEDxPentagon series and we'd love to have you watch the speeches LIVE as they are delivered at http://www.livestream.com/TEDxPentagon. The sessions start at 10 a.m.

“The Human Stories” series includes Mrs. Sarah Hertig’s perspective as an Army spouse whose husband was injured in Iraq. She will shed light about why she’d gladly see her daughter marry to also become an Army wife.

In addition to Mrs. Hertig, U.S. Army Accessions Commander Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley’s will provide insight about why “Technology Without People is Just (Really Cool) Stuff”. His TEDxPentagon talk will focus on the modern military service member and the future of recruiting.

Also scheduled to participate in TEDxPentagon is Commanding General of the U.S. Africa Command, Gen. William “Kip” Ward. His Legacy Lecture on “The Footprints We Leave” will include personal accounts on a lifetime of military service, cultural growth, and personal development.

Read more about the event now!
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

For Veterans Day: A Celebration of Social Media Tools to Help Vets

The Mashable.com post today by Lisa Waananen on "How Social Media Is Making Veteran Service Organizations Better" is a compelling piece on veterans as well as on how social media can be used to reach out to targeted audiences. (Lisa is @liswaananen on Twitter.)

As the co-founder of a social media marketing company and a supporter of our troops (#sot on Twitter), I loved this "mashing" of my two main Twitter interests as seen in my tweets. (I'm @ZimblerMiller on Twitter.)

In fact, at the request of Ken Jones (@akvet on Twitter) I have been tweeting about the FREE ebook he wrote while recovering from his own combat-induced PTSD. (Download this FREE ebook now at http://t.co/NC5mPmR )

And I got this terrific DM (private tweet) from Ken:

As of 0900 PST Thurs -- 2,084 people have read our two PTSD ebooks. What a great start!

The Mashable post talks about World War II vets who are now on social media sites. And in honor of my own father -- Albert Zimbler, who served during WWII, I'd like to share the link to his website www.AlZimComedy.com as well as his photo (above) taken during WWII.

Read the entire Mashable post now.
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

Volunteer Finds Homes for Fallen Heroes Posters

Here is the email I received from Bobbi Baker, who has granted permission to share this here:

I simply must tell you how uplifting my experience with Operation Gratitude has been.

As you know, I have recently become involved with sending letters to our courageous young men and women in uniform.

I'm positive that the appreciation they will get from receiving letters of thanks will not compare to the feeling of giving that I get from writing those letters.

However one may feel about the wars in which we are now engaged, support of our troops is, in my opinion, our American duty. They put their lives in danger daily to ensure our safety and security and deserve no less than our never-ending gratitude.

Michael Reagan, the renowned artist who graciously provides portraits of fallen heroes to family members, provided six posters which are collages of the portraits he created from photos sent by the families.

Should someone want further information on the artist or the fantastic portraits he creates, the link is www.fallenheroesproject.org/

For the past several weeks it has been my pleasure to find "homes" for these posters.

You'll be pleased to know that West Point requested two of them and our local Southern California Army Reserve unit asked me for one that they intended to frame immediately and hang in a place of honor.

I visited the John Kennedy Memorial Armory (was not aware that Operation Gratitude had a presence in this facility) and spoke with the recruiter. He absolutely fell in love with the posters -- looked over so carefully the three I had left -- he simply could not make a decision.

Finally, he rather shyly asked if he could hang two in the main building and the third in his office. He selected the one with the poem for his office and said he would go out that very day to purchase frames.

I just could not say no to him, so all six posters now have permanent homes where they will be given the respect so well deserved.

God bless our troops,
Bobbi Baker

Blog note: Michael Reagan has a foundation to help with the costs for this project. (He has created 2,200 portraits to date.) Consider donating whatever you can to this compelling project -- www.fallenheroesproject.org/

And you can download copies of the posters directly from the site at http://www.fallenheroesproject.org/posters/

Here is a quote from this page of the site:

The posters are a compilation of the digital images of the individual fallen hero portraits completed by Michael Reagan for the Gold Star families. The portraits contain Fallen Heroes from the United States up to poster number six; posters seven and upward include Fallen Heroes from the United Kingdom and Canada.

___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

USA Together Needs Help With Requests From Wounded Warriors

Below is the text of an email I received:

Friends of USA Together,

We would like to give you an update on USA Together (www.usatogether.org) and ask for your help on something. This is the first time we have sent you email, other than the normal notifications of new requests, as we appreciate the amount of information we all receive each day.

USA Together really started meeting requests [of wounded warriors] in early 2009. Since then, due to the generosity of subscribers and donors like yourself, over 430 individual requests for assistance have been met. They range from help with bills to baby items to help modifying a home to ease access for a wounded service member.

You made that happen and the difference you made in the lives of those families is reflected in the thoughts they have shared with us and with many of you individually in private messages of thanks.

Veterans Day is coming up in just a few weeks, on November 11th. We currently have more open requests on our site than we have ever had in our history — and yet it is still just a few dozen items.

We are asking for your help in telling others about USA Together and encouraging them to help meet the need of one service member between now and Veterans Day.

We know the economy is challenging all of us these days. We believe that in spite of it, the respect we all share for those who have been injured or died because they stood up for our country will cause us to act as citizens -- in the best sense -- and reach out to help. This is what Americans do.

Thank you again for your help in the past and please feel free to contact us directly with your thoughts and suggestions.

The USA Together Team
Info@USAtogether.org
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.

Interview About Novel MRS. LIEUTENANT

Louise Wise at her site Wise Words interviewed me about my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT. Below is one part of the interview -- and after this part is the link to the entire interview:

Do you have a favorite scene in the book? Can we have a snippet?

Some of my favorite scenes would give away important plot points revealed later in the book. Instead I’d like to share the opening because it represents the beginning of the military life journey:

President Nixon announces he is sending U.S. troops into Cambodia ... April 30, 1970

“It has been said that when a man acquires a commission, the government has gained not one, but two – the officer and his wife.” Mrs. Lieutenant booklet

SHARON – I – May 4, 1970

They drive around the western edge of Lake Michigan, past the industrial suburbs of Chicago, down into the flat farmland of Indiana, their tiny convertible a bright yellow bug boring through the cornfields.

Sharon Gold moves her cramped right foot, and the Farberware coffeepot bangs against her shin. Then the brown paper grocery bag with its open boxes of cereal and crackers shifts across her seatbelted lap. For the 10th time in the last two hours she glances around the densely packed interior of the Fiat Spider, a car that seemed truly wonderful when Robert bought it last summer, before they had to rely on it as a moving van.

It certainly can't be said that they have all their earthly possessions with them. When you have a car as small as a Fiat, you take only the barest necessities: Suitcases with summer clothes and bedding tied atop the luggage rack. A few pots and pans and shoes in the minuscule trunk. In the well behind the two seats are stashed a tiny black and white television, already several years old when her parents passed it on to them, and the Singer sewing machine presented in the hope that she might someday learn domestic skills.

Their wedding gifts, their books and her stereo and albums, and the rest of their clothes remain at her parents' home, moved there from Robert's one-room apartment on Sheridan Drive they shared after their wedding.

The branch transfer to military intelligence from infantry has come through! Robert's orders are to report to Ft. Knox, Kentucky, for nine weeks of Armor Officers Basic to fulfill the requirement of a combat arms course before military intelligence training. "Why combat arms training?" she asked him when he received his new orders. "Surely you'll have a desk job. That's the whole point of getting the branch transfer." Robert didn’t answer.

Read the entire interview now.
___

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of the novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and her social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing works with clients to use social media to attract more business. Read her social media marketing blog.