“101 Ways to Support Our Troops”

Hi Sandy,
I visited your website and truly enjoyed everything you’ve posted. It is evident that with you having the experience of a child being deployed, you have a heart for helping others through those hard times. That is wonderful! Unfortunately, the military doesn’t do a very good job of educating us family members and we are forced to learn the hard way — through experiencing it.

I am the wife of an Army SSG, who is currently deployed to Iraq for 15 months (only 10 more to go! *sigh*). Sometimes you start to wonder if you’ll even survive to see that day come. With that being the highlight of my biggest dreams, it is the only hope I have, so yes, I try to keep my head up and know that the day will be here before I know it. We have 3 children (16, 12 and 5), so I never find myself bored, with nothing to do! It’s go, go, go all of the time, which can be a real blessing!

Part of the reason for my e-mail is to ask you to consider adding a link on your website, that leads readers to a free, downloadable E-book entitled “101 Ways to Support Our Troops“. I have downloaded it myself and feel that it is on the mark with creative ideas for people to take on. I also feel that it would benefit those out there who want to do something, but just don’t know WHAT they can do to make a difference. I too, thought that it had lots of great ideas that many people probably have never thought of. It certainly clears up any misconceptions on what it takes for people to show their support. It doesn’t take much….sometimes, it’s just showing that you care and as you said, acknowledging the sacrifices that are being made for the freedoms we all enjoy. With it containing 101 ways, they are sure to find something they can do!

Sometimes it’s hard for people to put themselves in your place, especially when they’ve never had a loved one go to war, so I believe the more they know from those who have actually been there, it’s all the better. Your book is also a wonderful example of that. I am going to share your website and book with everyone in my FRG, as well as other parents/family members of soldiers I am in contact with. We have a MyFamily website for our members and share lots of helpful information with eachother, which really helps. Some of these parents are so very worried and grab on to any piece of news or information they can get their hands on. Us wives, seem to “be in the loop” a little more than the parents of single soldiers.

Thanks for listening and God bless you for all you’re doing! You are truly making a difference!

Sincerely,

Dana M. Wonsowski

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Dr. Laura’s Promotional Giveaway

Listen in to Dr. Laura on Monday, October 15, 2007 as she is giving away copies of Mom’s Field Guide to the first 50 who respond to her announcement.

Dr. Laura knows what its like to have a son in harm’s way, her son is in the Middle East. She know how tough it is, but she also know she has to be strong for her son. She commented to Bill O’Reilly, “…when you’re the warrior’s wife or the warrior’s mom, as I am, because my son’s deployed in combat in the Middle East, you can bitch and whine and moan to each other — but never to the warrior, because that distracts them. It demoralizes them, and that puts them more in harm’s way.”

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20 Practical Ways You Can Support the Troops in Iraq and Elsewhere

20 Practical Ways You Can Support the Troops in Iraq and Elsewhere
by Sandy Doell

There are things we can all do to support the troops:

1. Since you can no longer send mail addressed to “Any Soldier” (the post office won’t accept it), you can instead:

Network among your friends and family. Ask if anyone knows a soldier who is deployed. Write a letter expressing your thanks to that person. Ask if there’s anything he needs and offer to help out.

If you do have a soldier in your circle of acquaintance, ask if he or she knows of another soldier in his outfit who doesn’t get mail. Ask for permission to send that person packages and letters.

Contact church groups and community organizations to see if anyone in your area has organized a project for supporting the deployed soldiers.

If you live near a military base, go talk to a chaplain to find out what you can do to support soldiers on the base who are far from home. Maybe you could even invite a lonely soldier to dinner.

2. You can show your support through some great online organizations:

Fisherhouse.org
Heromiles, org
Adoptasoldier.org
Booksforsoldiers.com
Supportasoldier.org
Defendamerica.mil
Americasupportsyou.com

3. Find a soldier’s family in your community and find out what they need. It might be as simple as cutting wood for the fireplace or providing some transportation or babysitting, or it might be help with tax forms.

4. Just pay attention to the news. Know what’s happening in the war. Visit icasualties.org/oif. It’s easy to concentrate on the politics behind the war and forget the guy out there patrolling a dangerous street. It’s easier still to ignore the whole thing and care only about soap operas and football games, but our children are living and dying in a hostile place, and we owe it to them to at least pay attention.

5. When you do find a soldier to send packages to, be aware of their needs. They need and want things like:

Eye drops
Throat lozenges
Skin moisturizer
Nose drops
Wraparound sunglasses
They also need:
Gold Bond foot powder
Loofah sponges
Nail clippers
Lotions and creams especially made for foot care (peppermint-scented is good)
Foot soaks

6. The soldiers are far from home but still need some entertainment. Some good items that are appreciated and help alleviate the boredom are:

Board games
Gameboys
Books
CDs and DVDs
Crossword puzzle books, sudoku, word search

7. And to supplement their menu, you can send some food items such as:

Salsa
Tuna salad kits
Aerosol cheese
Cookies, cupcakes, and candy (avoid chocolate during the hotter months)
Gatorade, Kool-Aid, powdered drink mixes—they need to drink a lot of water and this helps

8. Many soldiers tell stories of strangers coming up to them in airports, shaking their hands, offering to buy them a drink, a meal, or even pressing money into their hands. Here’s another suggestion:

Next time you are standing in line at the post office and you see someone juggling a box and a customs form, about to send that box to a war zone—offer to pay the postage for them. Postage is a big expense when someone is deployed, and the more help families can get paying for it, the more packages they can send.

9. Go to letssaythanks.com and just fill out the form and hit Send. A soldier will receive a personalized greeting from you with your name and hometown on it.

10. Get creative. Use your talent. Write letters, burn CDs, make DVDs. Take pictures. Soldiers especially love hearing from children. Make sending packages to soldiers a family project. Your children will learn something about caring for those who care for them.

11. And, sure, put those bumper stickers on your car, tie ribbons around trees, fly the flag.

12. Pray.

More tips just for families:

13. Letters from home are the item most requested by soldiers, so write often.

14. Allow plenty of time for packages to arrive for holidays. Normal shipping time to the Middle East is about two weeks for a priority box.

15. Family members should invest in a detailed map of the Middle East. When you hear news reports, you’ll be able to identify the exact location of activity.

16. Keep a list of discussion topics near the phone. When your loved one calls at 4 a.m., you won’t waste time collecting your thoughts.

17. You can live on “Iraqi time” with the click of a computer mouse. Go to worldtimeserver.com and know for sure what time it is in Anbar Province. Go to weather.cnn.com to know what the weather is like.

18. Make sure you have as much communication technology as you can afford—computers, Blackberrys, cell phones, call waiting, call forwarding, web cams, instant messaging. Use as much as you can figure out. The more often you communicate, the better you will both feel.

19. The Red Cross will help you make arrangements for your soldier to come home for certain emergencies, such as a death in the family.

20. Most important thing you can do for yourself: Find a support group of other people with deployed loved ones. If you can’t find a support group, start one.

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About the Author
Sandy Doell is the mother of a soldier who was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and from this experience she wrote Mom’s Field Guide: What You Need to Know to Make It Through Your Loved One’s Military Deployment. You can find information about the book at http://www.momsfieldguide.com. Sandy also has a website called While Our Children Serve (http://www.whileourchildrenserve.com) which offers information and support to military families and others who wish to support our troops.
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Copyright © 2007 Sandy Doell
Notice: Article may be reproduced in it’s entirely as long as the author resource box is kept intact.

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