Send Some Holiday Joy to Our Troops! And After the Holidays Send Them Some More

I just joined Military Writers Society of America, through which I "met" Andrew Lubin. He is the author of the award-winning book “Charlie Battery; A Marine Artillery Unit in Iraq”, and as an embedded journalist has spent 12 of the last 30 months in Iraq, Afghanistan, GTMO, and Beirut writing on our Marines and soldiers. You can learn more about him from his website.

Here's a guest post he wrote for this blog and I hope, if you're able, you act on his request:

I’ve recently returned from my third four-five week embed in Afghanistan. This is a different battlefield than Iraq; other than the posh Bagram living conditions (multiple chow halls, massage parlors, and jewelry shops), this is still a war zone.

Out in the mountains on the Afghan-Pak border it’s pretty rustic living, and when I was south of Kandahar in June, it was 140’F and too hot to eat our MRE’s.

Packages from the home front are a big deal.

The Marines and soldiers can use what you send, and it’s nice for them to know they’re not forgotten. Here’s what you need to do:
Buy a U.S. Post Office “Priority Mail” APO/FPO flat rate box ($ 10.95 regardless of weight) and fill it with:

Ramens, beef jerky, powdered Gatorade sports drinks, paperbacks, racing car or rifle magazines, powdered hot chocolate, potato chips, Triscuits or other flavored crackers, pretzels, Little Debbie cakes, lip balm, disposable razors, playing cards…and add a note with your address or email and you’ll most likely get a reply.

Or fill a shoebox. When my son was deployed, I’d mail a shoebox of stuff every Saturday. It cost maybe $ 5.00 to fill it and whatever to ship it.
Your packages won’t get there by Christmas, but frankly time and holidays lose all meaning in a war-zone. They’ll be as happy to receive your box in January as in December.

Oh yeah, and mail the packages to:

Capt Lindsay Mathwick
Q MHG MT
Unit 42540
FPO AP 96426-2540

Sgt Castro Frances
XVIII Airborne Corps
42001 MNC-1-C3 COIC
APO AE 09342-2001

Sgt Justin Mason
MWSS-373 (AGS-ARFF)
UIC 41116
FPO AP-1116

LCDR M. Tomlinson, USN
1st Bn, 2nd Marines
UIC 73040
FPO AP 09509-3040

Get your friends, office workers, and church to roger-up and support our troops. Maybe the war doesn’t make the news like it did in 2003, but America’s still got 200,000+ Marines and soldiers fighting overseas who deserve your support.

HoHoHo and all … and Semper Fi

World War II Records Now Available Online

In John Timmer's December 10th bog post "Browsing the past: National Archives' WWII records digitized," he describes the collaboration between the U.S. National Archives and the historical document website Footnote.com that has now resulted in a large amount of World War II documents being digitized and available online.

Read Timmer's blog post and then check out Footnote.com.

Xerox Spearheads Project to Thank the Troops

Thanks to Kim Beasley on Twitter I learned about this effort spearheaded by Xerox to say thanks to the troops. To "send" a free postcard by email go to Let's Say Thanks.

There are three easy steps: You select a design; enter a personal message, name and hometown; and hit "send." That's all it takes to say thanks.

Here's Xerox's explanation for this project:

The mission of Let's Say Thanks is to provide a way for individuals across the country to recognize U.S. troops stationed overseas. By submitting a message through this site you have the opportunity to send a free personalized postcard greeting to deployed servicemen and women.

The postcards, depicting patriotic scenes and hometown images, were selected from a pool of entries from children across the country.

All you have to do is click on your favorite design and either select the message that best expresses your sentiment or draft a personal note. The postcards are then printed on the Xerox iGen3® Digital Production Press and mailed in care packages by military support organization Give2TheTroops®.

Xerox is committed to helping people across the nation express their gratitude to our troops overseas. The launch of this program is aimed at reminding them how much Americans appreciate their service.

Saying thanks is only a click away. Do this now!

Military Writers Society of America Is an Association of Over 800 Writers/Artists

Thanks to author Carolyn Howard-Johnson (HowToDoItFrugally.com) I've just been introduced to the Military Writers Society of America. Here's the mission statement:

We are an association of more than eight-hundred authors, poets, and artists, drawn together by the common bond of military service. Most of our members are active duty military, retirees, or military veterans. A few are lifelong civilians who have chosen to honor our military through their writings or their art. Our only core principle is a love of the men and women who defend this nation, and a deeply personal understanding of their sacrifice and dedication.

Our skills are varied. Some of us are world class writers, with many successful books. Others write only for the eyes of their friends and families. But each of us has a tale to tell. Each of us is a part of the fabric of Freedom. These are our stories.

Besides checking out the information on the website, also check out the group's blog run by MWSA web master Joyce Faulkner.

Send Holiday Cards for Military Personnel, Wounded Soldiers , Veterans and Their Families

In response to R. Scott Frothingham's post on LinkedIn about sending holiday greeting cards for wounded soldiers, Ruth E. Thaler-Carter posted a response saying she had found on Snopes.com a different address and a different deadline for accepting these cards.

Here's the Snopes.com information, which includes detailed instructions for what to do and also notes that these greeting cards are for military personnel, veterans, and their families besides wounded soldiers:

Send holiday greetings now.

Send Holiday Cards to Wounded Soldiers at Walter Reed and Other Military Hospitals

Nancy Brown, my co-host on our BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life, forwarded a LinkedIn comment that had been forwarded to her:

R. Scott Frothingham posted information on how holiday cards can be sent to wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and other military hospitals thanks to the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes working with the Department of Defense.

Frothingham explained:

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. Postal Service stopped accepting letters, postcards, or packages that are not addressed to a specific person at a military medical facility. Department of Defense regulations require military hospitals to reject any mail that is addressed to “A Recovering American Soldier,” “Any Wounded Soldier,” or “Any Service Member.”

Read the rest of Frothingham's holiday cards post to learn how this year holiday cards can be sent to wounded soldiers. And then please send cards yourself per Frothingham's instructions.

Light Shed on Nixon Government Struggle with Vietnam War Public Unrest

A news item in the December 3rd Wall Street Journal carried the headline “Nixon Memo Highlights Dilemma Over Vietnam.”

On December 2nd the National Archives opened nearly 200 hours of White House tape recordings along with 90,000 pages of documents. The news item stated:

A newly declassified memo to Nixon from his secretary of defense at the time reflects just how much the administration felt and discussed public pressure – even as it weighed U.S geo-political strategy – in anguished internal debate over war policy.

The Journal’s Washington Wire online blog included this information:

The tapes cover nearly 1,400 conversations that took place between November and December 1972, including conversations about the elections that year, revamping the executive branch and the decision to bomb Hanoi and Haiphong in North Vietnam.

For those of you who haven’t read my novel MRS.LIEUTENANT, you may not know that each chapter starts with a news item in the spring of 1970 when Vietnam War protests were major news and President Nixon repeatedly defended U.S. fighting in Southeast Asia. So I was surprised today to read this news item about “anguished internal debate.”

If you’re a history buff, you can get the recordings online at the Nixon Library.