My 'reply average' has been a pretty consistent 10% for two years now.  The most Unlikely reply came from a civilian contractor who saw one of my letters pinned on a [mechanics] shop bulletin board.  We exchanged a few emails and photos.  Nice man . . . safely home by now . . . hope you're here in the junkiedom, Jerry!

I'd guess by looking at my spreadsheet that I hear from about 1/3 of my new contacts and probably 1/3 of those become "regulars" with whom I communicate back and forth at least a few times per month.  I have a handful that I keep touch with after they are home and through return deployments.   Because I've been doing this for so long and at a relatively high run rate (=1000s of packages sent)....I have a mountain of letters and more flags, certificates, and camel paraphernalia than I can count.  This week, I received my very own authentic Stetson from a Cav soldier.  Holy smokes!     

So keep it up, the good you sow will be returned ten-fold in one way or another....we're just all paying it forward. 

cj/

Last years group of Care packages .

we sent to 15 diffrent individuals and get a reply back from 4 of them ( 30% ). We did not include email addresses though last year.

This year we have heard from 5 out of 29 ( 17% ) contacts already and the boxes where sent out less then 3 weeks ago. We did include our email address this time and have been contacted by 2 individuals this way.

3 letters and 2 emails so far.  We hope to hear from a few others especially the 2 who recieved 7 and 9 boxes. Of course if we don't hear from these individuals hopefully they weill update there AS profiles soon and say they have gotten a few boxes lately.

I got my first response today .  It was a very nice e-mail - he has visited the city where I live and said a lot of nice things about his unit. What's so surprising is I mailed the package 4/28 - just a week to get there!   So far my response rate is 12.5% (not that I'm keeping track ) 

Well, we all know how most men hate to write letters, especially if it involves hand writing as opposed to typing, and Sat. we got a typewritten note from a package that we sent at the end of Jan. and the contact (a male) was apologizing for being late in replying because they had only recently gotten an internet cafe with reliable computer service.  It seems that he was waiting for a chance to type a letter on a computer - not for a computer to send an email.  It may be that some of them also don't have a mail pickup on their post if it is a forward outpost.  Also there are almost always a few "hotspots" where they are involved in direct fire fights as has been going on at Mosul and on the Iranian border very recently, which leaves them "done in".

Gran

We ( school ) received a beautiful card and a letter from a Non AnySoldier contact today. He sent 5 or 6 pictures of him and his unit. He also sent a LSA Anaconda Arm Patch.

But what was amazing is He's a guy and he wrote a whole page letter !! 

In his letter he names  4 or 5 kids by name and thanks them personally for there beautiful letters and drawings

The kids are going to be so excited tomarrow morning when they read his letter over the closed circuit TV.  The Arm Patch, pictures and letter have already been Laminated and will be posted on the Military Bulletin Board tomarrow..

 This is our First letter where the soldier actually names names or mentions a class room.  He also says in the letter he Loved the Fruit Gushers and Drink Mixes we sent.  He says the Drink mixes are highly prized by the soldiers because the water over there really doesn't taste that good..

I'm really impressed with this 20 , soon to be 21 yr old Young man...  My family will definately make sure to send him a couple personal letters. 

Anyone ever send a Soldier a Certificate of Appreciation?  My wife and I thaught maybe  it would be something this young man might cherish while he's in Iraq..

I heard from two contacts over the Memorial Day Weekend - what a pleasant surprise. One e-mailed 2 pictures of his area and other more or less gave me orders to enjoy the outdoor activities I had planned.  Their attitude is so often: ''We'll do our job over here now you do whatever your job is, and enjoy the freedoms that we're protecting''.

Hey, Just wanted to let you know, I had a contact that I had been told got little or no mail, so I wrote and sent packages to him faithfully for 6 months, I never heard from him.  Then one day at work, my office manager came and got me and said she had a call on hold one of my "boys". 

I couldn't beleive it.  He told me he had always meant to write, but time got away from him, and he felt horrible.  He said he was coming home and while he didn't use everything I sent him, he made sure someone got it that needed it, and thanks for that, but he had saved every single letter and postcard I had sent him.  He said he would keep them forever. 

I don't hear from my boys very often, but that call from James tells me everything I need to know.  Keep it up, they care more than you can imagine. 

I am going to go with the 10%.  And of that only one keeps in constant contact, though he and his troops are going home soon.  I will miss them.  And yes, I get discouraged.  I have sent out over 100 boxes and 1000s of cards and letters, but I also think about what it must be like for a mid 20s something, far from home, to cold write to someone they don't know.  Let alone the fact that real letter writing is almost a lost art, replaced by emails, l33t sp3@k (elite speak) and smilies.

 Just trust in God or a higher power that they hear and take comfort from you.  If you are worried about things getting where they need to go, insure it for a small amount.  The post office has to track it then.

I know the TOS here says don't expect anything, but I am human, and sometimes what my head knows, my heart doesn't exactly follow.

Hey when I started I used to insure some boxes but I rarely do anymore unless there's a really expensive item in it.  One reason is that when I send it to someone who does not reply back, I don't know if they received the box or not.  So insurance just didn't help me.   I didn't know if I should track it or not because maybe they got it and maybe they didn't...I'll never know! 

As to how often I hear back from contacts, over the years I realize that it tends to fluctuate a lot.  Sometimes I have "regulars" who I hear from every day or so and other times are "lean" and I rarely hear from anyone.  I figure that things will pick up some day and just don't worry about it.  Of course, NightBloom. it's always really really nice to hear back from them.  And when you have a contact who is always in touch, it's hard to go back to those lean times...I get spoiled!  But I guess that it's all good and eventually I'll end up with another marathon communicator and the fun is ON! 

Kathy