Thanks to the Troops: Pre-Thanksgiving CD Release of For the Troops II

Starting November 25th, the Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) will be providing free downloads of the second CD "For the Troops" featuring Grammy Award winners/nominees at www.aafes.com. And TriWest HealthCare Alliance will distribute 200,000 hard copies at locations such as military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan and USO centers.

Here's more information from www.cdforthetroops.com:

"I’ve heard from service members who, before going on missions or upon returning, listen to songs for inspiration, motivation, reflection or simply to be distracted from a reality few of us could ever imagine,” said John Ondrasik, who writes and sings under the pseudonym band name Five for Fighting and spearheaded the CD’s development. “I hope that my song and the other hits from artists who generously contributed to this project stir those same emotions in our service members. We greatly appreciate the sacrifices the military has made for our country.”

The complete track listing of “For the Troops II” is:

3 Doors Down – When I’m Gone
Daughtry – Home
Five for Fighting – Freedom Never Cries
Good Charlotte – I Don’t Want to Be in Love (Dance Floor Anthem)
Gretchen Wilson – California Girls
Isaac Hayes – Theme From Shaft
Joe Perry – Shakin’ My Cage
Josh Groban – Machine
Jude – I Think It’s Time (Everything’s Alright)
Keith Urban – Everybody
Maroon 5 – Won’t Go Home Without You
Ray Orbison – In Dreams
Alan Jackson – Where I Come From
Trace Adkins – Fightin’ Words

AAFES asks that people help spread the word about the availability of this new CD. Let's do this.

Honor a Veteran: Veterans Day is November 11

There are only a few more days before Veterans Day. I want to encourage everyone who hasn't yet honored a veteran by posting a photo, video or description at http://snipurl.com/mrslieutenant to do so now.

And I want to share with you the terrific blog post by Lauren Vargas at the new AAFES blog (see my post about this new blog at http://snipurl.com/aafesblog).

Lauren's post today is about the Facebook Honor a Veteran event -- http://www.salutetoyourservice.com/archives/34. Hope you'll read this blog post!

Army and Air Force Exchange Service Launching Blog to Celebrate the Military Family

In my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT, a telling incident occurs on the steps of the Ft. Knox PX (Post Exchange):

Sharon locates the PX, another one of the wooden frame buildings. At the top of the entrance steps a young black enlisted man in starched fatigues and shiny combat boots walks out of the door, sees them, and holds the door open. Sharon smiles at him as they pass.

They enter the PX and Kim turns to Sharon. "Did you see that? He was looking at us!"

"He was what?"

"Looking at us!" Kim hisses.

"He was just holding the door for us, being polite."

Kim's eyes flash her anger.

"Was the man black who shot the clerk?" Sharon asks.

"He was white. This has nothing to do with that." Kim strides off.

Sharon catches up with Kim in the towel department. Yves Saint Laurent towels in black and brown stripes and in blue and black stripes occupy a table. "These are terrific prices," Sharon says to Kim by way of making up. "The person who ordered these probably doesn't even know that Yves Saint Laurent is a famous designer."

For those of you who have never been in or allied with the U.S Army or the U.S. Air Force, the administration of the PX system is done by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service -- AAFES or called the BX/PX or Exchange. (In the sequel to MRS. LIEUTENANT, Sharon and Robert are stationed in Munich, where the headquarters of the European exchange service is in 1970.)

This coming Monday, November 3rd, AAFES is launching the blog Salute to Your Service. According to blog editor Lauren Vargas, “The AAFES: Salute to Your Service blog is not a "corporate" blog, but a blog where AAFES will be celebrating the military family.”

This is a terrific addition to online military family “conversations.” Go to www.salutetoyourservice.com for an early look at this terrific new blog.

Technorati Tags:
Mrs. Lieutenant, Lauren Vargas, AAFES, Salute to Your Service

Milblog Conference Report Thanks to Email Our Military Blog

Thanks to the Twitter presence of Trish Forant of www.emailourmilitary.com (on Twitter as @mailourmilitary), I have a front-row seat on updates of military news.

Trish also blogs at www.emailourmilitary.blogspot.com, and today her blog features a guest post from Lauren Vargas about the Milblog Conference track of Blog World Expo 2008 just held in Las Vegas. Lauren is a community relations manager at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) as well as a blogger.

The overall topic of milblogs is an interesting one. To learn what the conference discussed on this topic, use the following link to Lauren’s guest post:
http://snipurl.com/milblogconference

Technorati Tags:
Mrs. Lieutenant, Twitter, Trish Forant, Lauren Vargas, AAFES, www.emailourmilitary.com, Milblog Conference, Blog World Expo 2008