I would be remiss if I didn't say...

...Happy Thanksgiving, especially to all those who could not be at home this year.

(Courtesy of Greyhawk)

Donate to Soldiers' Angels Valour IT!

Soldiers' Angels is a great charity organization which sends care packages to troops stationed abroad, as well as special packages to those wounded in the major hospitals in Iraq, Afghanistan and Landstuhl, Germany.

From now until Veteran's Day (11 November), Soldier's Angels will be holding the Valour IT project, a sort of friendly competition among the various milbloggers to raise money for this organization. The milbloggers are organized into teams falling along service lines (with Greyhawk supporting the US Air Force and Karaka Pend supporting the US Navy). All money goes to the same pot, so there really is no preferential treatment--just some friendly inter-service competition.

In order to raise money for this cause, I have noted that sex sells. In response, I will be accosting the young ladies tonight and soliciting them for money for this organization. With pics. Yeah, suck it, USNI Blog! (Just kidding, I love you guys)

You can donate to the US Army's cause at Soldier's Angels here.

Indulge in Star Wars geekery AND support the troops at the same time!

Found this today on the official Star Wars blog. Hurry up, because 90% of these limited-edition challenge coins have been sold:

The Pennsylvania Star Wars Collecting Society is currently hosting acharity fundraiser for Operation Ward 57, a medical center which houses some of the most seriously injured service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. The PSWCS has created a limited editionStar Wars medallion to help raise funds for Operation Ward 57, and has already sold through nearly 90% of the 1000-piece run. Here’s the description of the medallions from the PSWCS site:

These medallions were inspired by the concept of “challenge coins” which are popular among military personnel. Given Operation Ward 57’s efforts for wounded service members, PSWCS felt it to be a distinctly appropriate collectible to offer to support the charity.

This will be a 1.75-inch diameter medallion with colored enamel on both faces.

Head on over to www.pswcs.com to pick up some of the last remaining medallions available, which cost just $10 each.

Army Doctor Raises $1000 for Breast Cancer Research During 5K Run in Iraq

On Saturday morning, 12 September 2009, thousands of runners lined up in New York City for the Susan G. Komen "Race for the Cure", a 5-kilometer run designed to raise money for breast cancer prevention, awareness and treatment.

As the race kicked off in New York's Central Park at 9 AM Eastern Standard Time, Captain Erica Feola, a US Army flight surgeon for the 6th Squadron-6th Air Cavalry Regiment, began the race as well. Except Captain Feola was seven time zones ahead of the rest of the runners, running the 5-kilometer race within the confines of Forward Operating Base Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq.

A number of Captain Feola's friends and family volunteered to sponsor her; in fact, she raised over $500 through an application on her Facebook page. Additionally, Captain Feola amassed another $500 worth of donations after I posted an article on Small Wars Journal last month, for a total of just over $1000 (edit: as I have later found out, only a portion of that additional $500 came from SWJ).

This is yet another example of how the new media shapes nearly every facet of our daily lives.

Captain Feola and a few other Army officers braved a sandstorm and temperatures over 105° F (41° C) in order to participate in the race. They were clad in standard Army physical fitness uniforms, albeit with pink reflector belts in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month (click picture to enlarge and note Capt. Feola's belt on the left).

Thanks to all in the SWJ community who helped to make this possible!

Care package from Switzerland

Today I got a care package I was eagerly anticipating. Claudia-Tatjana Strebel, a Swiss journalist, philanthropist and author (and granddaughter of a former US Army General) volunteered to send a care package over here, consisting of Swiss chocolate. Yes, we're talking about the same Switzerland that is the home to the Nestle Chocolate. Of course, I couldn't say no

The package arrived today. I was actually a little worried--since it's starting to get somewhat warm outside, I was afraid that it might melt. But fortunately, I received the package today, and the chocolate was intact and unharmed. I have to admit it--I've been to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and the Swiss chocolate has Hershey's beat hands-down. I feel like I can go ahead and eat it without feeling guilty, as I stayed away from all of the Cadbury eggs and Peeps this Easter.

So not only do I say thanks to Claudia, but to anyone who speaks German, I'd like to point you over to her book, available on Amazon.de. The book is about the World Trade Center Building 7 on 9-11, and it's a fiction book which apparently makes fun of a lot of the ridiculous conspiracy theories that arose after 9-11.

Bonus: Post offices must be the same all over the world. The Swiss post office uses lettering and graphics that look just like the US Postal Service, except instead of a stylized eagle, there's a stylized Swiss cross.

No, I didn't die

Looks like I haven't posted in forever (a few days).

After the outpouring of support from organizations like Adopt a US Soldier (their efforts have extended to a number of elementary schools, who have been sending care packages), I felt like I should be sending something in return.  So I did this--Every time I fly, I take along two flags so that I can send them back to the US for those who send us care packages.  We put them in a little wooden case, along with a picture and a certificate and say that "this flag was flown on a UH-60 helicopter in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom".  

One of the first flags is definitely going to the VP of Adopt a US Soldier, Lauren Janning, who has been responsible for literally dozens of care packages.  I'm not kidding, I'm soon going to have about ten boxes of sheets and blankets for Soldiers within a week or so.  It's a small token of appreciation for someone who did so much for us.   

Mail Bag

All right, I got two separate packages in just recently.

The first is from Lauren at Adopt A US Soldier. My first meeting with Lauren is an interesting story. It begins like most of my stories--on the Internet. At the time, I was in college and posting on what is now the largest (and certainly most mischievous) college message board in the US. Lauren was what you might call an "internet troll", often making fun of people. But she was so rip-roaringly hilarious (and anonymous) that I had to meet her in person.

As it turns out, she had just turned 22 and was celebrating her birthday at a local bar near our college. It was quite a remarkable party, as it seems that half the people on the website came out and literally packed the bar to see who had been making fun of them for so long.

Lauren now volunteers at Adopt A US Soldier, and just sent a care package. Let's see what she sent:

Also in this box were several packs of chocolate bars (which got snatched up by a lot of people).

This is an example of a good care package for a few reasons:

1. Toothpaste and floss are always good, but the Gold Bond medicated powder is a must, especially when the hot season rolls around. It's not only good for preventing blisters and athlete's foot, but also a few other moisture-related issues men get in the warm months. Sadly enough, it seems that the local PX is almost always sold out of Gold Bond and other foot care products, but will always have plenty of Crock Pots for sale. I have no idea who buys a Crock Pot in Iraq, especially because no one can cook in the housing units, but they sell Crock Pots.
2. Flavored drink mix (sugar free). This is also a must when the summer months come around, as we drink lots of water, and having a powdered drink mix makes the water a little more palatable, plus it provides some electrolytes.

It seems that Lauren, always the one for a good joke, decided to put in a little humor for the people at US Customs with the packing list:

"Package Contains: Snacks, Lipstick, Nail Polish, Duct Tape"

Also arriving in the mail was a care package from Sarah in Syracuse (hey, that almost rhymes). Let's take a look:


Aha! Looks like Sarah remembered my penchant for healthy snacks and added some jerkey snacks, cliff bars and fruit snacks--these I horded for myself. She also added in a pair of decent flip-flops, as my $.99 flip-flops performed like, well, $.99 flip-flops, adding the note "Do you know how hard it was to find flip-flops in Syracuse, NY in November?!"

This package was just as good as Lauren's, but there was one thing that put it ahead of Lauren's package. That was this:




All in all, I reveled in everyone's jealousy over the Darth Vader figurine. Or at least I humored myself and pretended to revel in everyone's jealousy. Don't judge me.

Mail Bag

Got another package today from a former high school classmate named Lauren, who works at Boeing. Yes, as often as I extend good-natured ribbing at Boeing's products (namely the CH-47 Chinook and the AH-64 Apache), I have to admit that they do produce great military aircraft.

With that said, Lauren got me a 2009 Boeing product calendar, complete with some sweet pictures of the Apache, Chinook and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. Plus a little sticker that I've seen all over Chinook-land that says "If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going". In appreciation of this gift, I went ahead and posted it near my computer. My colleagues will never forgive me. Well, I take it back, my colleagues really never forgave me in the first place for a lot of other stuff completely unrelated to me having a Boeing sticker near my computer. (The Sackets Harbor Brewing Company in Sackets Harbor, NY features prominently in many of these stories)



For her gracious donation of a Boeing catalog, I am sending Lauren a framed picture of a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk. Thanks!

Today I got my first package (plus a letter) from a supporter of Adopt a US Soldier, Haley from Birmingham, Alabama.  Let’s see what she sent:

There were also two 32-ouce Gatorades in here as well, which got promptly snatched up by a few other Soldiers.  All in all, quite the care package.  Thanks!

With Christmas coming up, I am going to need to take a picture of all of us in front of one of our aircraft or something to send out as a Christmas “Thank You” package.  

The Sesame Foundation: Helping Military Children

 Today's link of the day is from the Washington Post and concerns the Sesame Foundation (run by the same people who bring you Sesame Street).

Helping Children of War

In April, in response to the staggering number of military families with young children facing deployments of a Mom or Dad, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind "Sesame Street," launched Phase 2 of an initiative specifically designed to support military families with children between ages 2 and 5 experiencing deployments, multiple deployments or when a parent returns home changed due to a combat-related injury.

When we think of the causalities, challenges and sacrifices of war, we rarely think of the smallest members of our military families who forfeit something irreplaceable when a parent is deployed: having Mom or Dad at home. For a small child, Mom and Dad are the world, and having that world "disappear" is both upsetting and confusing...A 2008 Rand Corp. survey found as many as 700,000 children under age 5 have a parent in the military. And an estimated 300,000 U.S. troops are experiencing major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 suffered some sort of brain injury. This radically alters the reality a family endures once the deployed spouse returns, making the homecoming almost as difficult as the deployment.

This is why Sesame Workshop used its characters and powerful real stories of active service personnel to produce our bilingual "Talk, Listen, Connect" kit. Thus far, we've given away more than 600,000 kits with an increasing number of families of members of our Armed Forces looking for tools and resources to address their family's needs. TLC helps families identify and bridge the communication gap that arises from a small child's inability to express his or her emotions and a parent's uncertainty in addressing the complexity of the situation Who better than their friend Elmo, whom they identify with, to let them know it's OK to feel the way they feel?

As an extension of TLC, Sesame Workshop in partnership with the USO created "The Sesame Street Experience for Military Families": a free, 60-minute experience featuring a live Muppet performance and giveaways that traveled across the U.S. from July to November 2008, performing at 43 military installations from California to Florida. You have to witness the faces of the kids' parents and the emotional expressions of gratitude I received to know we were fulfilling our "mission."

Adopt a US Soldier

During college, I met a person named Lauren Janning, who does volunteer work for an organization called Adopt a US Soldier.  I signed up at their website, and within a few hours, I received about three or four e-mails from people wanting to adopt a Soldier (I hope they realize I’m a commander and have a lot of Soldiers under me that want stuff.  I should probably reply with that information).  Lauren even got the employees of US Bank to adopt my company, which is quite welcome now that Christmas time is coming around.  (And luckily for her, she’s one of the few bank employees I know that isn’t getting bought out by another bank this year).