As some of you may know, I am deployed to Kosovo right now with the Army Reserves. I am working in the hospital on Camp Bondsteel. I have gathered a small list of soldiers here with us who are receiving little to no mail at all since they've been here. With it being the holidays I thought it would be nice if they were able to get a little card or something from someone back in the states. I will post their names and where they are from and if you'd like to send a card, something drawn by your kid, a little package of candy or something -- doesnt have to be anything serious -- just some sign to show that someone cares. Nothing is more exciting when you get the mail call roster in your outlook account and see that it shows you have mail.

SSG Manuel Perezcerros -Optometry, (Arizona)
SSG Arnulfo Gonzales - Preventative Med, (Lampasas, TX)
SGT Otis Long - Dental, (New Orleans, LA)
SPC Dennis Craig - OR (Kentucky/Tennessee)
SPC Michael Werner - Ground Ambulance (North Dakota)
SGT Aurielle Lewis - S-4 (New Orleans, LA) - female
SGT Brian Streib - S-6 (Florida)


SGT Cliff Ridder - Med Supply (Kentucky-Louisville)
MSG Louis Suchon - S-6 (Wisconsin)
SSG Marshel Riley - S-1 (New Orleans)
SPC Patsy Span - S-1 (Georgia) - female



if i come up with anymore I will add them

Adding these soldiers because they are probably local for a lot of you folks

CPT Jose Servin - EMT (Houston)
SGT Christina Hamilton - EMT (Katy) - female
SPC Hope Turner - LAB (Grapeland) - female
SPC Mario Castilleja - Vetrinary (San Antoino)

Address:
Name (name only, no rank please)
TF Med Falcon (______)/KFOR12
APO AE 09340

**put the hospital section i have listed next to their name on this post inside the parentheses**


***please allow me to be an anonymous contributor if you decide to send something, just tell them you heard they were deployed and wanted to show your thanks or something of that nature.***



***added SGT Ridder bc it'll be a tough holiday for his family back home

***added MSG Suchon because he is having issues back home as well

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WAR EAGLE!
GIG 'EM!
****************************





[This message has been edited by wareagle044 (edited 12/16/2009 9:16a).]

[This message has been edited by wareagle044 (edited 12/21/2009 8:35a).]

[This message has been edited by wareagle044 (edited 12/22/2009 2:32a).]

This one got me this morning.

If I have my kids put together some small packages to mail, can you give me any pointers on things they would like and/or things that can be shipped?

Any idea how long it takes for mail to get their from here?

agfootball, pretty much anything is fair game as long as it isnt alcohol, drugs, tobacco, or coffee. I'll try and tell a little about each person. Candy, puzzle books, magazines, used/cheap dvds, things of that nature. Pictures from little kids tend to be a big hit as well. I have gotten a few from my g/f's moms class and another friends 4th grade class. They are all hanging in everyones rooms or in their office at work.

SPC Craig = 20 years old...helps support his little brother who is 19 and his little sister who is i dont know how old...he likes football (UT VOLS)plays xbox and guitar non-stop and wants to be a surgeon someday

SGT Long = has i think 2 young kids. about all i know about him is that he is from NOLA and loves the Saints

SSG Perezcerros - older guy, likes to run and learn new things, very motivated, is practicing to learn the albanian language, has a 18 year old daughter, raises livestock in arizona

SSG Gonzales - i dont know much about him other than he is a latin lover --- always talking about women. he is from texas.


SGT Ridder - big Louisville basketball/football fan. played semipro football, has a wife and a 1 year old daughter, enjoys beach volleyball

MSG Suchon - likes hunting and working in his shop. has guns all over his house - has a new mustang convertible waiting for him in his garage at home. just found out that his daughter is pregnant

SGT Lewis - i really dont know much about her other than she has a son.

SGT Streib - our resident computer guru. can do just about anything with any type of electronic equipment- he doesnt give out a ton of info about himself.

CPT Servin - nurse in Houston, TX LSU Tiger fan, interested in photography

SGT Hamilton - dont know much about her, just found out she was from Katy a few days ago.

SPC Turner - t.u. fan...loves being from the state of texas

SPC Castilleja - big t.u. fan, however, expressed interest in attending Texas A&M for vetrinary school when he gets home. single father and enjoys playing games on his wii

SSG Marshel Riley - added him bc he has been working extremely hard and i noticed he was looking very stressed today. he's helped me a lot this week. he's a huge NO Saints, Hornets, and and LSU fan. He sings and plays keyboard for his church back home. he's giving a lot to the soldiers here and i know he'd be extremely greatful to get letters of appreciation from the states.


****************************

WAR EAGLE!
GIG 'EM!
****************************



[This message has been edited by wareagle044 (edited 12/16/2009 9:18a).]

Get some more names! I have a group of military support families that will get involved.

https://www.hooahmail.us/

Anyone here can use HOOAH MAIL:

quote:

---

"Family and friends of deployed Army Personnel in Afghanistan can NOW send a HooahMail letter to be downloaded, printed, and ready for delivery, usually within 24 hours.
THE SERVICE IS FREE, PRIVATE and SECURE."

---

The APO nearest the Soldier will download your letter, print it on cardstock with color, slip it into an envelope and deliver to the Soldier. This way the Soldier, Airman, Sailor, Marine, etc. gets the tangible letter to hold onto, and the delivery time is only 24 hours. The Soldier does not need the internet to get this.

i'll start working on this today

I didn't know that you couldn't send coffee..interesting.

Thanks for sharing those names with us, wareagle.

Can anyone provide us with some names/units in Afghanistan? I would love to use HooahMail and send some notes to the guys and gals. Thanks!

Excellent idea.

*********************************************************************************************************************
"Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women."

Need more names.

I have 120 Cub Scouts who will be writing holiday letters to troops next week.

try and add more names when i goto work tomorrow. anyone else deployed who wants to use this thread to post an address for someone they're with feel free.

****************************

WAR EAGLE!
GIG 'EM!
****************************

I know BBlauser had a thread to send mail to guys in Iraq. I believe he is accepting the packages and passing them out.

Thanks for your service.

Why no on the coffee? Is it just for Kosovo?

I have a friend who's daughter in law is in Afghanistan, and they are requesting coffee (and toilet paper), and it was alwasy on Brad's list of wanted things.

ttt

ttt!

my almost 6 yo and my 4 yo are all over this, especially after watching "stinky pants obama" last night on TV.

The Wildcats will be sending some mail this Saturday.

Do homeade cookies have a snowballs chance in hell of making it?

quote:

---

magazines

---

serious question: would any of them appreciate an old copy of Playboy?

quote:

---

Do homeade cookies have a snowballs chance in hell of making it?

---

from what I've heard and read, if you put the cookies in a ziplock bag and put a piece of bread in the bag, I think that helps the cookies stay a little more moist and not get as hard. But I really don't know. That's what we did when we sent care packages.

I'm all for citizens showing support for our military personnel, especially those serving in war zones.
I have noticed appeals from church and other groups for many basic items, such as chewing gum, razor blades and other "favorites." (Perhaps you've seen some lists.) That's fine, but I have this question:

Why is it necessary for citizen groups to provide such items when the fedgov (taxpayers) should be providing troops' needs and wants for basics, incidentals and some niceties? (Little wants to us at home may be little needs to troops in the field.) Is there a pol who can give a straight answwer as to why our troops have to rely on citizens for cookies, gum, razor blades, socks and other "favorites." Again, this is not a criticism of those who provide~just seeking an answer as to why the fedgov is not providing these things through the distribution system thatis in place.

Maybe our self-proclaimed "Champion of the military," neo-deficit hawk congressman from District 17 can explain.

This thread brings back memories of Viet Nam. For one thing, we were at the end of the supply chain, and got very few incidentals. I never saw a Coke or a Budweiser, only Carling Black Label,and diet soft drinks. Cookies, snacks, etc were unheard of.

Also, it was always nice to get something personal. I had a fellow Lt. from New York and he got me on a mailing list from a support group there and I loved getting items from them.

My Mom would bake me small cakes in a metal coffee can, put the lid on it and mail it. She also put cookies in coffee cans.

Thanks WarEagle for your consideration of your fellow warriors.

"ROGER - OUT"

Strbrst777 - the supply system provides lots of things but the priority of supply does not usually allow for niceties. While they come in, they are usually in short supply, high demand. Soldiers can usually buy these things from the Exchange (store) like they have in almost every war but again, supply and demand limit them. Having been deployed - it all tastes better if sent from someone rather than the govt.

Wareagle,

Are calling cards still a big demand item for troops overseas? Easy to slip one of those into a nice Christmas card.

Hook 'Em Horns

Hellraiser97

--

"Ya'll can go to Hell, I'm-a-goin' to TEXAS" -- Davy Crockett

hellraiser, with us here in kosovo...most of us have internet in our barracks with magic jack or skype, so calling cards are usually not necessary here, a lot of us actually have telephones plugged into our computer. I cant speak for the guys in Afghanistan or Iraq, however.

****************************

WAR EAGLE!
GIG 'EM!
****************************

I put my daughter who is an Aggie and an elem. principal on this. The soldiers agr going to get lots of mail.

Lets get this done, Ags!

Put a bug in my wife's ear about using this type of deal as a service project for her elementary-age after school group.

good to hear from you, wareagle. whenever we were rumored to play auburn in the Indy Bowl, i started wondering where you had been.

thanks for your service

OR,

i've peeked in and out throughout the past few months but havent been "in the know" well enough to comment on anything. Now that we're done with training and focusing on our mission here -- we have a little more time for me to catch up. I was glad AU and A&M arent meeting this season because I dont go on my R&R til the 29th and would miss the game entirely. I will be in the stands for that matchup, hopefully, in Dallas some day or even better the BCS title.

****************************

WAR EAGLE!
GIG 'EM!
****************************

wareagle.

very admirable...thanks...i will send some mail and gifts to our heroes...hodges97

I was deployed in Afghanistan earlier this year and cookies and snacks can make it no problem and the comment about the piece of bread does work. Packages usually make it in about a week, maybe a little bit more. For the soldiers at the out lying locations it may take a little bit longer, but for the holiday season I would ship things ASAP. Movement for mail in A-stan is by air almost exclusively and there is a HUGE rush during the holidays.

Some ideas for items:
Calling cards don't hurt if the soldier doesn't need them they usually get to one who does.

We drink a LOT of bottled water, and I always enjoyed getting the individual flavor packets.

This time of year hot chocolate packets are very nice. It can get cold.

Peanut Butter and cheese crackers make for good snacks too.

I have a friend that just got to Iraq for her first tour. She is a Utah Ute. If we could send her a little Aggie Spirit for the holidays that would be Awesome. She is Jewish, so while she would probably appreciate the thought with a Christmas card, a Happy Holidays one might be best.

Evans, Rachel
HHC, 210 BSB
FOB Hammer
APO, AE 09308

Also, a great website is www.anysoldier.com.

Thanks for all of the support that the Aggie Family gives to all Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines whether Aggie or not. It is something that as a Former Student am very proud be a member.

Sorry for the long post, but thought I should pass along some hopefully useful info since there are so many people looking to contribute.

[This message has been edited by ETexArmyAg (edited 12/4/2009 7:26a).]

ETexArmyAg, that post was NOT long, and was very informative. I, too, am quite proud of the support these kinds of requests receive from the A&M family.

I'm equally proud of those on this board who keep us apprised of needs that are easily met with a simple posting. Any info you have is most welcome in here.

I'll send something appropriate to Rachel. I assume, but should probably ask, if she observes Hanukkah.

Wareagle, Excellent idea to get this thread started. Forgot to put that in my previous post.

Decade, I can't positively say yes, but I believe that she does. We went through OBC together and never spent the holidays together. Thanks for the support.

Another site is
https://www.armyfrg.org/
This organization is a direct support to Army Units, and can help you connect with soldiers deployed or here in the states.

The USO, VFW, and American Legion are also excellent organizations to provide support through and to.

All eight are getting one card from me on very distinctive, but very classy A&M Corps stationery.


If anyone else needs a card, please post it here OP. Also, it's very helpful to include a line or two on what their interests are.