Dear Pam,



Thank your for your note. I am very impressed with this organization. I have always been interested in helping soldiers. My grandfather was killed in WWII and four generations later the ripples of this event still touch our family.



During the first Gulf, I wrote letters to soldiers from a list that was passed around my friends in NYC. We later found out that we passed the list around too much and some soldiers were getting so much mail that they were getting in trouble. We had no idea what we were doing or how to organize our efforts. We just had about 125 names and a copy machine.



In 1992, I volunteered at the VET center in Times Square where I worked for a year and decided to go to social work school. I continued to work at the Times Square VET Center and the Harlem VET Center as a social work student. I worked with Vietnam and Korean era Vets and helped organize a conference on PTSD and we also took Vets to visit the Wall in DC. I was born in 1967 and at the time had not yet been to Vietnam (I did go in 1995), yet I never found a vet who was not grateful or who dismissed my value as too young to know or care. Even in Harlem where I was out of place as a blond, CT girl wearing cowboy boots, I was treated with such respect and gratitude for my efforts. The guys were great and I hope I was able to touch their lives in a partial way that they touched mine. Still to this day, I can always find the veteran at any party and I hope when my kids are older to go back to working with vets.



I have thought about going up to volunteer at the New Haven VA. But I have three young kids, one with special needs; and my husband really wants me to focus on the kids at this time as my full time job, and I agree.



While I have been wishing that this war was over and the troops were all home safe, I have wanted to do something directly to help the troops. Two days ago my kids and I decided to search the internet to see if we could e-mail a soldier and wish him/her a Merry Christmas or send a package. This is how I found your site.



So yesterday, I sent off two boxes today to my soldier, and two more to platoon I was assigned from another site. I wanted to share with you what an amazing experience it was…



I was packing them up on the sidewalk in front of the local hardware store. Some boy scouts that were selling wreaths helped me unpack my car filled with supplies from COSTCO and then they stayed to help me divide up my purchases between the four boxes.



I ran into the hardware store to get some Christmas decorations to throw into the boxes which were not yet full. The clerk in the hardware store asked what we were doing on the sidewalk, and then he gave me a Nerf football to put in each box. The other clerk had served 12 years in the Army in Germany and shared how much Christmas packages had meant to him when he was stationed on the border on Christmas Eve.



The passing shoppers all had some kind word to say as we all worked to finish before the 12:30 close of the post office. The hardware staff came out to watch the kids finish the boxes.



The post office workers helped out with the tape I needed and were so happy to be helping get the supplies and Christmas gifts to the troops. I just made the 12:30 close of the post office to get the package out on time.



In the hour I spent on the sidewalk, I talked to so many people and saw such a beautiful side of human kind and the Christmas spirit.



I am so grateful to be apart of this experience! Thank you for this opportunity. I have sent an e-mail around to my friends with the info about joining your site as an angel. The internet is such a powerful tool to do good in this world when used in this way. Thanks for all that you do.



Sincerely,



Price Snedaker

Norwalk, CT





Soldiers' Angels

A US Marine PFC Zakarias Davidson comforts Jackie, a puppy adopted by the MST 3 team as their mascot, at the forward operating base St. Michael in the central Iraqi city of Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.(AFP/Odd Andersen)

Yahoo! News - Mideast Photos - AFP

A US Marine gunner (L) prepares his weapon next to a Humvee decorated with a doll and Christmas figure at the forward operating base St. Michael in the central Iraqi city of Mahmudiyah.(AFP/Odd Andersen)

Yahoo! News - Mideast Photos - AFP

Iraq War News
Insurgent attacks kill 21 in north Iraq: "BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Gunmen ambushed a bus full of Iraqis working for the U.S. military, killing 17 civilians and wounding 13 in Tikrit on Sunday, while a car bomb and a gun attack killed four members of the Iraqi security forces elsewhere in northern Iraq."

In Modesto Bee: Iraq



U.S. general speaks out on new abuse probe in

A visitor to your Web site has filled out the form located at:
http://www.brandonblog.com/Submissions.html

Multiple Line Textbox 1 I AM WRITING IN RE-GARDS TO A INCIDENT THAT HAPPENED ON 20 OCT 2004 IN SAMMARA IRAQ. I AM IN B CO 1/26 INF BASED OUT OF SCHWEINFURT GERMANY.MY PLT WAS CONDUCTING PATROL OPERATIONS IN OUR SECTOR OF THE CITY WHEN WE GOT A CALL THAT ARE A CO WAS JUST HIT MY A SUICIDE CAR BOMBER.WE WERE THEN MOBOLIZED TO THEIR SCENE TO SECURE AND PROVIDE ASSISTANCE WITH THE WOUNDED. IT WAS AT THIS TIME ONE OF OUR NCO'S BY THE NAME OF SGT, CHRISTOPHER RICH WAS DISMIUNTING OUT OF THE BFV. HE NOTICED A RAPIDLIY SPEEDING CAR APPROACHING AND FIRED A WARNING SHOT. AT THIS TIMEE THE CAR DID NOT STOP BUT CONTINUED ON ITS PATH TOWARDS HIM AND HIS SQUAD. WITHOUT ANY DELAY SGT RICH PLACED HIMSELF IN BETWEEN THE CAR AND THE REST OF SQUAD AND FIRED SEVERAL MORE SHOTS, ONE FATALLY STRINKING THE DRIVER. HOWEVER THE CAR EXPLODED WITHIN FEET OF SGT RICH SENDING METAL AND A HUGE FIRE BALL AT HIM. HE WAS KNOCKED TO THE GROUND AND SUSTAINED SEVERE INJURIES TO THE FACE AND SCHRAPNEL IN THE BODY. HIS MOST SERIOUS ONE WAS THE LOSS OF 85%HEARING IN ONE OF HIS EAR'S. HIS ACTIONS ON THAT DAY SAVED THE LIVES OF HIS SQUAD AND SEVERAL OTHERS HE IS TRULY A HERO AND SHOULD BE RECONIZED AS ONE


---- TJ AND U KNOW WHO THIS IS









Iraq War Today