Whether we stay the course or chart a new one, it's no picnic in the Middle East. If you'd like to support our servicemen & women in harm's way, you can go to:

http://www.anysoldier.com/ There's a LOT of info on the site, so let me offer some shortcuts.

If you want to help someone in a particular branch of the service you can follow the links to AnyMarine, AnyAirman, AnySailor, etc., otherwise go to "Where to Send". You'll see on the left, names arranged by most recent requests. Click on the names, and they'll let you know what they'd like. The most popular items are just notes of support, cards, postcards, etc. If you want to invest more, DVD's, candy and old Beanie Babies to give to the local kids -- I sent tennis balls because they're light. Some want reading material or beauty supplies (mostly the female soldiers). The soldier I "adopted" in a DFac "near the sand" in Afghanistan likes dried spices because he's always using up all the garlic. If you send something that weighs more than 16 oz., you'll need to fill out the form at the post office. You can download it from the site, to save time. The form just asks for name, address, what it is, value, weight...

They also have links to groups that, for a fee, will put together a care package for you, which is a real time-saver.


That's pretty much it. Do follow instructions, No porn, no pork, nothing flammable or likely to melt above 100 degrees. Be sure anything that could conceivably break is inside 2 ziploc bags.

One final word of warning. The site is addictive. Read this bit from Marine, Tyler Weiser and you'll understand what I'm talking about:

10 Nov 2005:
i just wanna start out saying thank you for even starting this. over 50% of my marines are under the age of 21 and are going to be serving a year in iraq. for some people it was hard leaving someone at home but for other's like myself it wasnt bad because i dont have a girl to worry about in the states. the whole reason i am doing this is because alot of our guys are constantly going outside the wire in combat and it is good knowing that people care. i am almost 21, single and cant wait to get home. our unit is from camp lejeune n.c. all of us our in the intel field. we are all constantly going out to support the battalions below us. this is my first time doing this so i feel a little weird asking for things. i just really want somoene to write too. but if you wanna send something little bags of candy is always good. when we go out, if there is some children we give them some candy because for majority of them dont get to have candy. that all about winning the hearts and minds of the war. thank you again and feel free to write.
lcpl tyler weiser