Forwared from: Ted Arthur <arcturousat_private> Mr. Knowles and allcon, I just wanted to take a second to thank you for bringing this to everyones attention. There have been three very specific times in my military career I have either seen this working beautifully, or in desperate need. In basic training at Great Lakes Ill. many young sailors were adopted by the local community for one night on Xmas eve. This is actually quite staggering when you think of how many sailors are spread between the Recruit training center and the Technical training center across the street. And while I wasn't adopted that Xmas eve (gave it up to my rackmate who was in much greater need of it than myself) I know that this little intervention helped many young men and women going through a very new experience. If there are any subscribers in the Chicago/Great Lakes area, my hat is off to you. I was AMAZED how many of my shipmates got a chance to go home with someone that day. While stationed overseas the local military contingent took care of each other rather well, but at times it could seem almost like society as a whole were unaware of their sons and daughters out there doing the jobs that needed to be done. It's at this point that one realizes that it's not the action that makes a man long for home, but rather the day to day work and monotonous routine that hammers away at his spirit. To this ailment a simple letter, package or call can make a young service members head swim with the pride he feels at working to protect a society that would do this for him. Finally, one can never forget the boys and girls deployed. Granted, it is particularly being a soldier, airman or marine in foreign countries, but none have it as bad service members on ships or forward deployed. No other service is asked to pack everything they have into a tiny locker, say goodbye to their family and go to sea on a rusty bucket for 6 months or more, each year. Not to mention what a navy wife has to suffer through. While deployed in the gulf in early '99 there were two things that made each day worth struggling through: 1) The ensuing port call 5 weeks away and, 2) Letters from home. Nothing parallels the feeling of hearing you have mail waiting for you and nothing hurts more than the last line of whatever letter you have, realizing no number of pages would have been long enough to keep you happy, but for that one moment, it was all perfect. I realize I may wax poetic here and sprinkle drama more than CNN on a slow news day, but I can't stress enough how important this is to your fighting men and women. If you have done this before, thank you. If you've thought about, please try it, you will make such a difference. If you've never done it, just ask the next veteran you see how important this can be to someone away from home (OUTCONUS). Thanks for your time and happy holidays to all. Ted Arthur Naval Security Group Activity Pensacola United States Navy ----- Original Message -----=20 From: William Knowles=20 To: InfoSec News=20 Sent: Monday, December 17, 2001 2:24 AM Subject: [ISN] Adopt A Soldier, or something like that... Sometime ago with the holidays around the corner, some of you were curious on ways to adopt a serviceman or woman serving either here or overseas. From what I understood the Department of Defense stopped forwarding parcels and mail from anonymous parties about the time of the Anthrax attacks to the U.S. Government. I did however keep my ears and eyes open and I think I might have something that you all might be interested in, from the website... http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/ Send a special holiday message to our men and women in the military defending American freedom worldwide. Since 1967, when Sgt. Billy Thompson wrote Abigail Van Buren and mentioned that a wonderful Christmas present to our armed forces would be "just a letter from home," American citizens have been sending holiday wishes to servicemen and women stationed overseas every holiday season. Dubbed "Operation Dear Abby," the program has brought holiday joy to hundreds of thousands of U.S. military personnel deployed away from home. Concerns about mail delivery have prompted the military to suspend this year's letter-writing campaign. However, the United States Department of the Navy's LifeLines2000 Services Network in association with SPAWAR SCC-NCR is providing this private and secure online resource that will allow you to send a Sailor, Marine, Soldier, Airman or Coast Guardsman a holiday greeting. Thank you, & God Bless America! William Knowles wkat_private - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Wed Dec 19 2001 - 12:04:13 PST