Lt Burkey went to old contacts in Viper Company. One way to deal with the black out issue and non-communication is to send stuff to Dave Zimmerman. He is in charge of all helicopter operations in Afghanistan. He sent me some pictures of his delivery to the troops.

I have got a box full of Robitussin that I got for free in one of my deals and am sending it to him to distribute. I figure that is the fastest way to get it out there before they don't need it anymore.

The blackout is temporary and should be lifted in the next day or so. There are still lot's of good contacts active too if someone wants to send directly to the outposts...

Either way you choose to send, these guys are really appreciative of the support. And every hug and prayer goes a long way.

Blackout is lifted, I was able to IM with my son this morning.

 Angela

Angela what a relief that must be, glad he contacted you right away.  Thanks for sharing.  Anita

Has anyone had any contact with Donna -   Garrett's Mom?  Gettin a little concerned, she used to post fairly often, and I see he has gone to old contacts.    Anita

NEVER MIND - I figured out how to look her up and e-mailed her,  couldn't figure out how to just delete this msg rather than edit it.  LOL   

Hello Anita,

Sorry to worry you. Thank you for caring so much! Everyone on AS is so amazing! I am ok, just working way too much. My daughter was in the hospital - she was very sick and they are running some tests on her. She is home now and seems to be much better. I do not worry Garrett with this at all.

Garrett told me he will be on the move again, but he is not sure where or when. For now they moved his group all into a different plywood building. He was in good spirits last I IMed with him. He said he is going to buy Skype and give that a try. He did not want to update on AS because he is supposed to move again soon and because he is scheduled to come home for leave within the next month. He said he will write an update when things settle down again. For now he is at the same place - it looks like for at least a month, but who knows. As long as he keeps me updated, then I keep calm.

In the mean time I still manage to send out several care packages to the contacts I requested. I have some packed up to send this weekend.

Thank you again for thinking of me and my soldier Garrett. That really meant a lot to me. I will let everyone know when he is on his way home for leave

Big Hugs,

Donna (Proud mom of PFC Garrett Hall)

Hey Donna, Anita, & everybody...gosh, I've missed you all so much.  I'm sorry I've been MIA lately...lots of things going on the past few weeks, some good, some not so good, but all getting back to normal now.

It sounds like ya'll are really enjoying having your kids home for their visits.  I'm sure they're being spoiled rotten (& well they should be!) & that they're eating you out of house & home...LOL.  I hope lots of photos are being taken.

I'm very excited myself as I got my first thank you card in the mail today from Steve Brewer, one of the medics with the 6/4 Cav.  Also, I've got another fundraiser schedule for next week in the Student Lounge at my local Community College.  I came up with a couple of ideas that I thought I would share with ya'll.

1.  I purchased a big blue Rubbermaid tote that I now take with me to the stores when I shop for the guys.  The rules are once the tote is full, I stop buying.  And then I can't buy more until the tote is empty & all the boxes are mailed.  My living room no longer looks like part PX/part Post Office & hubby's happy about that too...lol.

2. As I mentioned, I'm doing another fund raiser next week.  Last time, I had those 3 banners as a big draw...getting people from my community to sign it for the guys.  Well, I don't have any banners now so I was in a quandry as to how I would draw them to the table this time.  Also, I have limited funds, thus the need for the fund raiser.  Then it hit me!  On the main table I am going to set out all the stuff I've bought for the guys & make little price tag signs beside each item depicting what it cost me to purchase each item.  Then the people can "shop" for what they'd like to send.  In essence, I am going to recycle my onhand monies.  I make BACK the money I spent so I can then go out & buy more.  The 2nd thing they'll be able to do is sponsor a box at which time I will encourage the sponsorer to write a note to be included in the box.  That way I'll have the postage covered & the guys will get mail along with the goodies IN the box.  I'm very excited & can hardly wait to see if my ideas will work.

So, those are my ideas.  I'll let ya know how things went after the event.  In the meantime, I had a very nice meeting with a pair of school teachers from one of our local high schools.  They contacted me after they read the article in the paper about what I'm doing.  They REALLY wanna get their students involved & they said the kids are quite enthusiastic.  Arrangements are being made for me to spend the day in the classrooms meeting the students so I can tell them about my "mission" & so that we can all brainstorm together on creative ways to support our soldiers.  The teachers are also going to speak with the Athletic Department to see if they would be willing to donate the procedes from one of their sporting events.  Oh, gosh...we came up with so many terrific ideas...too many to mention right now.  Suffice to say, that article really did some good things.

I have a couple of questions that I hope one of ya'll might be able to answer or maybe can GET me the answer to.  Is Restrepo still doing without a TV?  And has there been any mention yet about who's gonna be our guys' replacements?  I intend to continue sending boxes after our current guys return home since their replacements will most likely be just as in need as these guys are.

Finally, I have a dilemma that I'm not sure how to handle & could use some advice.  A very nice lady in Culpeper donated a BUNCH of towel angels...they're made out of a wash cloth, a hand towel, & a piece of ribbon.  Attached to the ribbon is a business card from her Church.  I'm not worried about the angels as I'm sure they will be taken apart & used as they are intended.  It's the cards with the religious stuff on it.  At first I was going to simply remove the cards, but then I discovered that there are personal messages of love & support written by people on the back of the cards.  It's obvious that these angels were a church project & a lot of care & thought went into not only constructing the angels, but in the messages on the back of the cards.  The messages, themselves, are not religious in nature, only on the face of the cards.  I know the rules say that we aren't supposed to send anything religious out of respect for the religious customs of the Afghanis, but I also don't want to disrespect or discount the effort these people went through.  Any suggestions on how to handle this delicately yet respectfully?  I'm truly at a loss here.

Well, I think I've rambled on long enough.  I'll try not to stay away so long...like I said earlier, I've really missed all of you.  I look forward to your responses.  In the meantime, keep happy thoughts!!

Big hugs!!

Ann

Donna I sent you a reply by e-mail I think as your msg came to my gmail act., but now it is showing "draft" in red so I was checking to see if it showed up here, you may get it twice.  LOL   Someday I MUST learn more about this machine. 

Ann I'm so glad you posted, thought I was going to have to go hunt you up too!   Love your idea about putting the items on the table to let them pick.  I did a sponsor a pair of socks for $5  or a Xmas Stocking for $25 but it really didn't go over too well, but I think your's will, they can spend a little or a lot.  I'm going to try it later thanks for sharing. 

As far as those Angels go, I would send them as is.  We are allowed to send a Bible here and there, just not en masse like we're trying to convert someone.  I think it would mean a lot to the folks that get them as they will be able to feel the care and love that went into them.  You might now want to send all of them to one contact, but I'd send them.  That's my 2 cents.  LOL

Keep up the good work, you're always full of good ideas.      Anita 

Donna, can you direct the angels to a chaplain? I get a lot of religious stuff too, and if it's not something I can "recover" (sometimes I cut a card apart and glue the handwritten message inside another card that isn't religious)....I just send it to a chaplain with a note. They can figure out how to use the items or who to safely share them with.

Ann, can you somehow use either some kind of generic stickers or picture cutouts or even glue on paper that you use around pictures for matting so that they can't determine that there are spiritual messages on them?  I don't know if they are doctrinal or simply scriptures, so I can't say exactly what I would do about it.

Gran

STL, can you help me?  Are all the names you listed on the same "mountain top" or are they spread throughout  Korengal?  I've got a bunch of movies that I want to send, but I don't want to send the same ones to the same unit.  Thanks.

Teresa

Hey Teresa, the guys are on several different outposts. I know Rollins & Halase are on one. Kane & Gradick are together. Young, Moffit and Newcomb are on another. I'm not sure where Adams and Longakit are. But that'll get you to 3 different locations if that's what you're looking for you can pick one from each  Hope that helps... Shelly

Adams is with Young and Newcomb, Longakit is with Kane & Gradick.

The DOD announcement was issued today. Prayers go out to Viper Co.

Joanne 

Just wanted to let you all know, I talked with Chris.  He says he got 9 boxes in one day

In fact they had so much stuff come in they had to pile it all in the Lt's quarters since he was away and when the Lt came back he did have place to sleep due to the huge amount of boxes.   Go supporters!!  He also said a pile of other boxes have filled up the "talk" (communications bldg), lol Keep up the great work.

 I think he said they have enough toothbrushes for now.

 Angela

Andrew too received around 50 boxes.  He was very appreciative and really appreciates everyones support.    THANK YOU for all you do.  Each and every one of you.  Thank you.  I wish I could give you all a big hug in person, but for now here is the big HUG!!!.   Our prayers go out to the Dawson family.  He was a buddy of Andrew's and we are praying for his family. 

Hugs,

Dianna (Andrew my son, my hero)