I can so imagine a little kid going, "can we keep him/her, mom? He won't wear his BDU's all the time. . . And look! No gun, see? Can we?"

 Sorry. It's just so many people are so excited when they "adopt" their soldiers, I just kind of think that would be my reaction.

But OK. Here we go, Adnai's dilema.

She is a college student. Therefore, she is broke most of the time paying for tuition and whatnot. I won't be able to send care packages - my family is in a hard rut right now, and I have to help them out. Even though I think it'd be cool to send care packages. I love those things to death. . .

 So right now I'm interested in being a pen pal or something of the sort. Anybody mind helping me out in that retrospect?

 Adnai, do a search on the where to send page using the key words "letters" or "pen pals" I send more letters and cards than I do care packages these days, as my husband's hours have been cut and things are a little tight. Letters are treasured by ALL of our Warriors, even the ones who didn't specifically ask for letters in their original posting. You may or may not hear back from the troops you write to, because they've got a LOT to do, and staying alive is their number one priority. When you DO get a FREE MAIL or an e-mail from a Soldier, I guarantee you'll do the happy dance, right at the mailbox in front of God and everybody...

Thanks! I didn't even know that there was a search mode, but I turned up some promising results.

 I understand that I might not hear back from them, but if I can help somebody over there, than maybe I can do it in my own way. I just want to help somehow - I've always entertained the idea for a long while, but I was always too scared to do it. Now I'm feeling slightly more confident about it.

Because, if I can't do care packages, at least I can do letters, right?

And writing is something I enjoy doing it, so why not do it to brighten up somebody else's day?

 Now you've got the right idea!! Honestly, letters mean more to our troops than you think. Once they empty the packages, all they have is an empty box. When they get a letter, it gets read, re-read, passed around, put in a pocket to carry with them and read again. It helps morale, knowing that people they don't even know and aren't likely to ever meet in person have taken the time to write a letter to them. I tell them about the latest funny things the grandkids or the dogs have done, talk about just everyday things that are going on in our neck of the woods, that sort of stuff. And I always close with "Blah blah blah, nag nag nag, STAY SAFE!! Don't make me have to come over there..." A little comic relief...the ones who write back always mention how that makes them smile. I say any time you can make one of our Warriors smile, you've done something wonderful; God knows they find little enough to smile about some days.

I've always entertained the notion, but the idea slipped away when I was younger because I didn't know how to approach the matter, but now I feel a lot better that I can.

And thank you for another tip of advice. I wasn't sure what to write about in my letter - because I haven't had a pen pal in forever. And I do know the joy of snail mail, because heaven knows that I do a little jog when I find out I have any kind of mail. LOL. I just hope that all the soldiers I write will happily write me back - that'd just make my day. But I understand that they do have more important things to do - so I certainly won't hold time against them in any way.

I signed up with another site and got the address for my first soldier pen pal. Of course, me being the overachiever that I am, I do want more. . . Already. Haha.

 Adnai -

I am in the same boat as you.  Finishing up my senior year of college and trying to work out loans.  So I send lots of handwritten letters to people who ask for them.  

Also, I got students in my department at school to donate unopened, hygiene items (like tampons, shower gel, etc.) and then we raised money to pack these donated items into flat rate boxes and sent them off.  It worked out really well!