Hello Junkies!  Here's the Wednesday, May 7 round-up -- many, many thanks to you all!  NOTE:  CSM Jerry has issued an emergency request for boxer underwear -- both boxer briefs and boxer shorts --  in sizes Med and Large -- (**CSM says color is not an issue**)  In addition, other special needs include Action/Comedy movies ("in short supply") -- phone cards -- and laptops!

Bath and Body Works or similar-type lotions, etc. for female wounded.

NOTE:  This list reflects totals collected as of May 1, with additions since then.  The previous totals are intact in the post above.

Recovering/Wounded Warrior Needs, UPDATED as of Wednesday, 5/7/08 p.m. (8 p.m.) 

Boxer Underwear (Briefs or Shorts **New request added 5/3/08**  

• 5/3/08 -- Susie/ 4pr Med & 4pr L 
• 5/3/08 -- Gran/ 6 pr M & 6 pr L (9 more ea pr on order)
• 5/5/08 -- blix/ 4 pr M & 4 pr L
• 5/5/08 -- Pamela/ 14 pr
• 5/6/08 -- Ann/ 7 pr
• 5/6/08 -- rcinky/  13 pr M, 23 pr L & 3 XL
• 5/6/08 -- Joy/ 4 pr M & 4 pr L
• 5/7/08 -- Marine5/Glen/ 24 pr S, 72 pr M, 72 pr L, 24 pr XL = 192 pr (You ROCK, Marine!) 
• 5/7/08 -- KathrynM/ 2 pr M, 11 pr L, 5 pr XL

 

1.  Bath Towels – as many as 50    As of May 1 -- Total:  57

• 5/5/08 -- Gran/ 1
• 5/6/08 -- Joy/ 4

 2.  Wash Cloths – as many as 50 5/3/08 -- blix/ 7/ea        Total:  79

3.  Body Wash -- full size 50+   As of May 1     Total:  62

 4.  Bar Soap – as many as 40         As of May 1       Total:  103      

5.  Mouth Wash – (personal size) as many as 50 As of May 1      Total:  72

 

6.  Male deodorant – as many as 50  As of May 1     Total:  46 full size & 35 travel

       

7.  Loofa sponges – 40+      As of May 1    Total:  67        

• 5/1/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/7             
• 5/6/08 -- rosepeddles/ 2

       8.  White ankle socks - mens size 10 or so        As of May 1     Total:  185 

• 5/7/08 -- KathrynM -- 6 pr

      9.  Small t-shirts – as many as 50

• 5/1/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/3 S, M & L  
• 5/3/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/4 M                Total:  43

10.  Small, Medium and X Large Gym shorts – as many as 50 each

• 5/1/08 -- cathy51041/ 40 pr (15M; 15L; 10XL) 
• 5/1/08 -- Operation Quiet Comfort/ 86 Cotton Jersey Shorts (10=Small, 42=Medium, 25=Large, 9 XL)  
• 5/3/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/ 2 pr              Total:  165

11.  Finger nail clippers – as many as 50    As of May 1      Total:  122

12.  Tweezers – as many as 50      As of May 1     Total:  50

13.  Q-tips -- 50 personal small use boxes    As of May 1         Total:  68 

• 5/6/08 -- Ann/ 4 pks/50 ct ea 

14. Laundry Soap -- (A lot) (NOTE:  CSM Jerry says – powder preferred over liquid; individual powder packets are better)      As of May 1         Total:  approx 600 indiv boxes

• 5/3/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/ 1 bx (30 washes)
• 5/6/08 -- Joy/ 4 bx Tide (indiv)

 15.  Dryer sheets -- as many as 50 boxes  (NOTE:  CSM Jerry says -- any type of sheet & any size box is fine)

           As of May 1 --        Total:  5 bx

• 5/3/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/ 1 bx 60 ct
• 5/6/08 -- rcinky/ 2 bx/80 ct
• 5/6/08 -- Joy/ 2 bx 120 ct 
• 5/6/08 -- rosepeddles/ 3 bx  
• 5/6/08 -- KathrynM / 2 bx/80 ct                                                

      16.  Mini Drink Mixes (Unlimited) single packs    As of May 1    Total:  800+ pks

• 5/1/08 -- cathy51041 -- 464 pks 
• 5/1/08 -- Operation Quiet Comfort -- Lipton To Go Singles -- "a ton!") 
• 5/3/08 -- blix -- 280/ea Wyler's
• 5/6/08 -- Ann -- 48/ea

 17.  Action / Comedy DVDs  (unlimited   As of May 1 -- Total:  approx 15

• 5/1/08 -- Susie/ 15-20
• 5/5/08 -- blix/1

 18.  Writing tablets (unlimited)  As of May 1, a variety of tablets, Mother's Day cards, all occasion & blank cards, envelopes, notebooks & stationery has been sent.

• 5/1/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth -- 2 pks stationery 
• 5/3/08 -- blix/ 8 notecards
• 5/5/08 -- Ann/ 2 notebooks
• 5/7/08 -- KathrynM/ 2 tablets, 25 #10 env.

19.  Pens (unlimited)   As of May 1, approx 500 pens have been sent  

• 5/7/08 -- KathrynM/  6

 20.  Pencils (unlimited) As of May 1, approx 30 mechanical pencils have been sent

• 5/5/08 -- Gran/ 20 mech & 14 reg pencils w/sharpeners & grips  

 21.  Magazines (unlimited) As of May 1, various magazines sent.

• 5/1/08 -- cathy51041
• 5/1/08 -- Susie 
• 5/3/08 -- blix

 22. Puzzle books (crossword, wordsearch, etc.)  As of May 1, various types sent.

• 5/1/08 -- Pat Hodges Furth/ 1
• 5/1/08 -- Susie
• 5/6/08 -- Ann/ 1

 

Phone cards (unlimited)  As of May 1, 65 phone cards have been sent

 Misc As of May 1, a large assortment of various items have been sent, such as toothpaste/toothbrush, shampoo, lip balm, lotion, playing cards, etc.

• 5/3/08 -- USA Today -- blix
• 5/6/08 -- Box Sippa straws -- Ann
• 5/6/08 -- playing cards -- rosepeddles

 

Get Well Cards (libral40/Cheryl -- 2 4/28/08) (Jenifer_One_N) (STL/Shelley) (Susie) (Ann) (Operation Quiet Comfort -- "hundreds!"  (Ann -- 5/6/08 -- handmade) (NOTE:  CSM Jerry says – These would be very well received by our wounded!) --  KathrynM -- 5/7/08

 

Operation Quiet Comfort (Lori Pate) As of May 1 a total of 48 lap quilts have been sent.

 

Just an update for you super Hero's, (aka "Homeland Hero's").  First let me high light you all as Great people.  Without you God sent supportters, Service members, the Secratary of Defense and many others realize the efforts of those of us Forward Deployed would be faced with so many more significant challenges then we already have.  Some of you I have adopted or maybe you adopted me ?? but your like family, you know who you are, and if you stop writting I will come find you- when time permits that is. I do have a special love for many of you, many of you have no idea that the strength I persoannly hareness is from so many folks I have never met. Thats amazing and the beauty of it. Two things I would like to share.  I mentioned family and Love.  With all families not everyone see's eye to eye and we all have family members with disabilities and dysfunctions, well folks, need I point out our AS.com family is no different then any other - go figure! What the Hell LOL! Its better then crying about it. Secondly, for those of you that misunderstand the words I use, or the language I speak or the feelings I express I will clarify two things. First, i'm the youngest of four boys, my father is retired Army and I have served for 23 plus years in "Combat Divisions, (War Fighting Units)" for 20 of my 23 years. I have humped with the Best of the Best Infantry Men the free World has to offer, I have rode with the Best Tankers the Armor World has to be proud of, I have served and supported the Finest Field Artillery Units in the World, I have seen the joys of countsless Service members getting married, have spent a life time at hospitals with my Soldiers and Famlies that were delivering (Babies being Born, Child Birth), have crashed in a Black Hawk Helicopter, seen more disfiigured bodies then an auto parts store, slept in snow deeper then two story homes, cleaned up communities that had Tornados devistate them from one end of town to the other, have wittnessed countless screams for parents from children when we were loading the planes for deployments and the story goes on. I have fathered, raised, disciplined, mentored and loved more young people then 99% of any American ever has.  With that being mentioned, College Educated and am damn fortunate fo have had the opportunity, and have traveled the world over, and over.  Because of countless factors, i'm a man that can be caring, compassionate, warm and genorous and have the absolute ability to physically and emotionally shred, destroy, enilate another human into literal pieces and walk away and never have another thought about it (Figuratively Speaking). I have not survived this job for 23 plus years by being thin skinned, a push over or touchy feely.  I believe i'm very well rounded because I have been fortunate to know some many amazing people. To me this means many things but includes being tougher then nails when need be, meaner then Hell and the Antichrist himself when called for, but also caring, compassionate, loving, gentle, considerate of others, thoughtful and full of vision and an absolute caretaker of young people, passionate least descibes how I feel about our Soldiers but words evade me.  I have spent almost 50% of my life literally raising or assisting in the raising of someone elses child. 80% of our Service men and woman aren't old enough to wipe their own BUTTS. From death, divorce, deployments, disfigurements and the like I have and will continue to be their for the "Soldiers" i'm fortunate enough to serve.  Bottom line up front: As a Command Sergeant Major, A Leader, A Man and, a proud father I can and have the intellect, emotional and physical ability to be what I need to be, at anytime, in any given situation.

Don't ever "Confuse kindness for Weakness", AUTHOR UNKNOWN

God Bless you all, I will post when time permits, thank you for the warmth, compassion and tenderness each one of you shares with our Forward deployed, recovering Warriors each and every day. 

For those that care to know  - I have alittle over 800 Soldiers under my Command in four different countries and care for over 200 additional recovering Warriors on any given day in those same four countries. For those wanting some excitement "Ruck Up" and Lets get it on!  "Airborne - AirAssault" -  "Death before Dishonor"

 

With humbling thanks, 

Jerry     

aka: CSM Jerry R. Callaghan

Well, Command Sgt Major Callaghan....I'm glad you are on our side!!! Thanks for the many years of service. 

On a side note... I would be on the touchy feely side of that spectrum:) but I married that hell-a mean military boss of mine!   Together we have made a pretty darn good team.  I suppose when the Army got you, they got a great deal.  They got both sides of the spectrum in just one package!  lol  Keep up the great work. 

P.S.  Tell that family back home I said thanks for sharing you with us!  Their pain and sacrifice is not forgotten either!  (More of that damn touchy stuff again!) 

With great respect,

Sherry J

Well, seeing as I'm about 85% touchy feely, CSM's post has me all weepy and emotional. LOL Sometimes I just can't believe that I've serendipitously landed in this place where I have the opportunity to exchange words with the most exceptional people to walk the earth. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 Marilyn, sent you a pm with list of what I sent to CSM Callaghan. Diane

Thanks, Diane!  I see it :-)

I'll be updating shortly -- stay tuned, Junkies

--Marilyn

CSM Callaghan - Any need for paperback books?  I have a small stash of them here - not necessarily real new ones - some Creighton ones (ie: Jurassic Park - keep having to re-buy it, re-read it, give it away, buy it again, etc) any way, Horse Whisperer,) also have an elementary Spanish + workbook, good condition).  If any one's interested would be glad to send them your way.  If you'd like I can PM  you a list of titles before hand if not the local lib sale is coming up soon.

Ann

CSM CALLAGHAN,

Well thanks for the tears! LOL! You have no idea when you write things like that how much the people back home arethinking the same things about all of our guys. I consider my contact close as well, and hope that we get as lucky as others have for contacting you, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all you've done, I'm sure even though you've heard it before it will never be enough thank yous in my eyes!