Operation AC & Operation Gratitude

[n5qxp]

Folks, please show your support for our men and women in the armed forces by contributing to the following organizations this Thanksgiving.

Thanks,
N5QXP
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Operation AC @ http://www.operationac.com/

Quote from Ms. Frankie Mayo with Operation AC:

“We send soldiers anything they email us and ask for. Our soldiers and marines are humble people and they only ask for what they need like water and food. I have never received a request for a "luxury" item. I do send them snake repellent, insect repellent, sticky traps for the scorpions and flea powder also. It is my hope that we make their existence in Iraq and Afghanistan during their deployment as safe and as easy on them as possible given the job they are there to do. I have found that the 2 pairs of boots they are given for their deployment are just about falling off their feet and they are worn out. Getting new supplies of these types of items is difficult to get to our troops. You will see by the letters our troops mail to Operation AC that the boots are a really big thing for them. Just imagine wearing the same boots in hot sandy conditions following with cold, wet and muddy conditions for nearly a year. Plus you are on your feet about 15 hours a day on average. Anyone who was in the military will tell you - soldiers must take care of their feet. That does not change from Valley Forge with General Washington to now in Iraq.”

Operation AC is a Non-Profit Company - ALL donations are tax deductible! We will mail you a receipt with our federal tax ID number and amount of donation!!!!

Operation Gratitude @ http://opgratitude.com/website/html/

Mission Statement:

Hundreds of thousands of American troops are stationed or deployed indefinitely in remote parts of the world, including the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Africa, the Korean Peninsula and on ships throughout international waters. The physical conditions they must endure are difficult and they may be separated from loved ones for long periods of time. OPERATION GRATITUDE, together with the California Army National Guard, 746th QM BN, Van Nuys, seek to lift troops' morale, and bring a smile to their faces by sending Care Packages to service members overseas. OPERATION GRATITUDES Care Packages contain food, toiletries, necessities, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation, all wrapped with good wishes of love and support.

Through Collection Drives, Letter Writing Campaigns and Donations of requested items or the cost of postage, OPERATION GRATITUDE provides civilians anywhere in America a way to express their respect and appreciation to the men and women of the U.S. military in an active, hands-on manner.

OPERATION GRATITUDE is a non-government 501©(3) non-profit corporation, funded entirely by private donations and staffed exclusively by volunteers. For safety and security, the assembling of packages occurs at the 746th QM BN Armory in Van Nuys, California.

Operation AC (http://www.operationac.com/)Op Gratitude (http://opgratitude.com/website/html/)[B][B]

[KG4ZQZ]

- and don't forget the USO:

http://www.uso.org

73,
CWO3, USCG (ret.)

[kc0kvu]

"Lets Bring 'Em Home", www.lbeh.org, accepts donations of money and frequent flier miles to provide many Junior Enlisted troops a free plane ride home for Christmas. #Last year they received $38K and were able to provide 96 of 115 requested tickets. #100% of donations are applied to airfare, staff are volunteers.

[kc5lmf]

I would say that the very best things that we ever received as deployed soldiers were

1.GIANT ZIP LOCK Bags
2. Baby wet naps to take off the dirt and camo
3. Bottles of rubbing alcohol (to pour into the baby wet naps container to make the naps wetter)

holy cow -- the bags were life savers .. ZipLock donated a crap load to us and we used everyone of them up...kept the dirt out of everything.. kept things from getting wet and was about the most useful thing we have while we are deployed bsides our M-16 .. LOL

Just a word of advice though .. before you give to an organization check to see what their adminstrative overhead is... many groups -- I am in no way infering that the above mentioned groups are part of this at all -- in fact I have never heard of them -- but many other groups collect money for soldiers and keep upwards of 90% of the cash they collect as "administratoive costs"....thats just wrong!!!

I would strongly suggest donating to the USO ... those guys have been great to us.... free coffee... donuts.. shows... places to sleep in airports ... staffed by colunteers so your not paying someones high salary..etc etc...

Stay away from the United Way though -- most of the money you give them goes to pay the CEOs multi million dollar salary a year and his private plane and cars ,e cte ct.. United Way has done little to support us in the field.. check their admiminstrative costs .. its one of thre highest in the country....

[kc7gnm]

I am in the US Army and am deployed right now to SE Asia. I will not say exactly where for security reasons. Most of the stuff mentioned like boots and other things are not needed as we have plenty of boots and uniform items. Most of the things you can donate to the USO are books, videos, CD's and other things of that nature. Most of the other stuff like repellant and other things are supplied to us.

Also like one poster said check these guys out. Some are doing it for a good cause and some are scam artists that are using this war for their own gain. The things you donate may never see the soldiers on the battlefield at all. Also because of the terror threat the any servicemember program was discontinued after 9-11. Please if you must donate to the USO or Red Cross. They are the two legitimate organizations that can get stuff where it is needed.

Like I said I don't trust too many organizations that pop up wanting to help simply because they don't have the clout like the USO or Red Cross.

73 de Greg
KC7GNM

[kb9ibw]

God Bless our troops, and those that serve. Another real good way to show support is by amateur's banding together and using our resources to help our communities spread words of support and appreciation via our Ham Radio gear. Have your Club, or just a group of amateurs become a part of Amateur Radio Military Appreciation Day so that we can do a great public service during Holidays, and at other dates at the request of groups needing our help.
Thia is an excellent way to use amteur radio do help those that are deployed around the world, while at the same time allowing those in our communities a chance to interact with them LIVE. It also helps bring attention to our hobby!
Support ARMAD and visit www.freewebs.com/kb9ibw.
Many groups love this idea and request amateur radio for this service. Get your community involved as well as military units that are in your area. We also can get the ARRL to work with us to spread the word. They know about ARMAD, and would like to help if there is interest from Ham's to make this a great event.
We could really get some attention while spreading words of appreciation and thanks.

Let's Ham It Up For The Troops!

KB9IBW / Emery

[kc5lmf]

KC7GNM --

Agree with you agreeing with me 100% - LOL

When I came back from the first deployment I heard all these stories how people had donated 10's of thousands of dollars to purchase us Airconditioners -- they even did a news story on it -- but somehow the air conditioners never made it anywhere overseas.

Then apparently some major company donated thousands of CD players and CDs, those actually made it to Kuwait I was told but then all the civilian guys in the rear got them and most of them went to the civilians and Kuwaitees working on post that handle the shipments.

And please do not donate anything top any organization that says that they are sending us clothes. The Army provides us with everything we need to work and fight in. I dont think any of us needs any new boots at all, and if we do we go to the supply clerk and he gets them for us. We are at war and thats how we get our clothes during war.

I would probably bet that any clothes that actually did make it overseas went immediatley to the local civilians.

Best thing to do is just give donations to the RED CROSS and USO -- and like I said befire -- if you have to send something send ZIPLOCK bags and Baby Wipes.

I think every soldier in the field appreciates what the folks back here are doing in support -- it just upsets us when we get home and find out that all of these people goodwill and support are being taken advantage of by the very so called "charities".

Some of these charites are no better then the evilness we are facing over there.

USO and International Red Cross #I have seen over there doing great things.

[kc7gnm]

Quote[/b] (kc5lmf @ Nov. 28 2004,13:00)]KC7GNM --

Agree with you agreeing with me 100% - LOL
Well I am glad you agree with me agreeing with you. LOL. Right now I am deployed. Won't say where because of opsec but this is my 3rd time in 4 years. This will also be my last time as I am retiring in April and moving back to 7 land (AZ).

Also the other thing to consider is that most people like to clog up the military mail system this time of year. Please do not do that. Our loved ones have a hard enough time getting packages and stuff to us as it is. The military only has so much airlift capacity and with all those bulk items that we talked about 90% not getting to us, that is wasting the space that our packages from our family can use instead. In fact right now they have told us that if we want something sent from the states before christmas that they should have mailed it already. Most packages now probably won't arrive til after Christmas if mailed out now. This is due to too many packages all at one time. I do agree that baggies and baby wipes are the things to have. Boots and uniforms are not. Clothes are not because when do we actually have the time to wear anything besides our uniforms and that is just more junk we gotta haul around with us when we move locations. I like to travel light so bare minimum for me.

73 de Greg
KC7GNM

[ky5u]

Wherever you guys are, thanks for what you do!

[KE5CYB]

I agree AG4YO! We owe these patriots a debt that can never be re-paid. Happy Holidays and God Bless.

[WS2L]

I agree with AG4YO & KE5CYB,

To all our troops around the world THANK YOU for fighting to keep the little things we take for granted, you are ALL in my families prayers for safety during this time of turmoil.

God Bless & Be Safe

[k5co]

Yeh, me too! I can't say enough good about the guys doing the tough work that is needed to effect change in the middle east. If it does not get done, they will remain problematic, backward killers forever (They have been for a thousand years now.) Bless you guys and let's all try to let our congress know that we expect the best of treatment after their service is done as well as the best equipment NOW. I doubt there is a finer bunch of guys and gals anywhere.

KD5PSH

[kc2kpi]

This informtion was originaly put out on the Navy side of things, but may be similar for other services'. Other than the one Navy specific thing it does apply to all of the services'.

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Guidance provided from CHINFO wrt to sending letters/care packages to ships/Sailors during the holidays...

The support the military has received from the American public has been exceptional. #Here is guidance in dealing with letters and donations to deployed Sailors:

Prohibited/discouraged:
· Letters and packages addressed to "Any Sailor" are prohibited and will not be delivered by the Post Office. #This includes items addressed to "Any Sailor," even if they are sent to specific ships or commands.
· Bulk shipments, such as hundreds of boxes of cookies or books, are discouraged as they hinder the efficiency of the military mail and logistic system.
#· Large gifts or donations offered by corporations without prior approval

Encouraged:
#· Donations to the USO (http://www.usocares.org and http://www.uso.org/pubs/8_18_23.cfm), or organizations linked to the official DoD website. (http://www.defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html) such as Navy Relief, VFW, American Red Cross, etc.
· Emails can be sent to service members from http://www.anyservicemember.navy.mil (http://www.anyservicemember.navy.mil,), the Operation Dear Abby Web site.

Note - #Donors shouldn't feel that just because they haven't personally wrapped a care package that the donation is anonymous, as many organizations provide some method of letting troops know who is supporting them. #"If they donate online," Donna St. John, USO communications director, said, "they can include a message for the troops."
[edited to fix broken links]