How do you know what I've done?  I've only been a junkie for a little over a month.

Welcome aboard!  Don't think I have ever heard the expression, "talk a leg off an iron pot", but I sure like it!

Never mind!  I just looked at my introduction.  Forget sometimes how garrulous I can be!

 Hi Clouddancer,

I love your screen name.  It sounds like a Native American name.

If there are Polish soldiers where there are Americans, it is possible that some sharing is going on.  I know that in chapels and clinics that all troops are served by what is sent.

I know you said it was very expensive to mail things. It is very expensive to mail from the US, so I can only imagine what it is like from Poland.   Treatanysoldier.com will send care packages and you can pick the type that you want to send.  This may save you some money in the long run.  That site is run by Sue Horn, Marty Horn's wife.

I was visiting with my brother and father and we watched several WWII movies of Poland during that time.  Your country has experienced war first hand and I know that you probably see reminders of it to this day.  Thank you for doing your part in supporting the troops that are fighting to keep the world free from more terrorism.

Howdy all! My names Heather, Im from Nebraska. I came across this site by accident actually. A friend of a friend sent me an invite to check out another group on Facebook, and this site came up on their links, and I had to join instantly. A little about me, Im 24, have two little boys, and Ive been in a military family my entire life. My father is retired Army, now working as a civilian at Ft. Hood, TX, my uncle is a medic in the Navy, soon to leave for another tour in Afganistan, and my little brother is currently on his second tour to the desert, his first to Afganistan, fighting with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Ft. Bragg, NC. My boyfriend is also military, 45th Recon Squad for the Air Force, soon to leave for the 4th time this year. I also will be joining the Air Force soon, leaving for basic training next summer. Currently I am a DoD civilian here at Offutt AFB, working for AAFES, and before I leave for basic, I will be doing a 6 month tour in the desert, doing what I can to bring a little bit of home to our men and women overseas.

 

 Hi Heather,

Welcome to AnySoldier.com.  It is great to have you here.  I am sure that you will be able to offer many helpful suggestions, especially while you are doing a tour in the desert. Congratulations on joining the Air Force.  My dad and uncle were both fighter pilots in the AF.  Thank your family for me for all the service and sacrifice through the years.  We all appreciate them.

 

 Hi Heather...I am Kay in Minden Nebr. We are Patriot Guard Riders. I would love to correspond with you. I write hundreds of letters and send boxes and e-mail with men and women from Nebr.. Thank you and your family for the many years of serving that you have done. God Bless all of you. I have to figure out how to send you a private e-mail if possible.    Kay

Thank yall for the warm welcomes!! I just sent out my first letter for this deployment to my little brother, and Im sending his carepackage along with my first carepackages to my AS contacts this weekend. I also told my little brother about this site. I usually send a bunch of things to him for everyone in his unit to use, but there are so many of them who dont recieve items from home, its hard to keep up with them! I hope that he will be able to get onto the site, so that his fellow soldiers will be able to feel everyones generosity!

Greetings and Salutations :) I hope you are all well. I am one for promoting supporting our military and have been writing for over a year, with a few of our deployed servicemen. I'm a single mother in Canada, online writer, offline temp and also support OQC. I'm feeling really shy ,   but wanted to say hello. :)

Hello all,

Thanks to all of you who show your support for the men and women who serve our country. I am a grad student in Texas, and wanted to express my appreciation to service personnel in a tangible way.  I researched a few different organizations, and liked what I saw on this site.  I have just joined, and am preparing my first care package to send out this week. I wonder if some of you might share your experience with me on this first shipment - is it best to pack several separate small care packages in one box, or just put everything together in the box with a letter to the AS soldier representative to distribute as they see fit? For instance, the profile says there are 7 women and 2 men, but the most recent post said they had several new people join their unit - should I package up 9+ small packs inside one or just send one large package with enough to share?  I'm still a little fuzzy on the actual distribution process. Am I likely to receive individual names back for future shipments, or more specific info on what they want?

 Thanks for your help,

Amy

Hi Amy, Welcome. I would read FAQ under the tool bar. I think a lot of your questions will be answered there.I usually just send what I can afford. My experience has been that you may not get individual names back but I have gotten three replys from people that the contact fowarded my packages to. Each contact has their own way of distribution. Many open packages together and all share whats inside. Some put items out in a common area for people to take what they need, others just hand a package to someone who gets little mail or just need a moral boost. I tend to pick groups that have a lot of people so I could never afford to do individual packages. But you should do what you feel comfortable with. I sent a package with a lot of random things to a commander that represents over 500 soldiers. In it were some flip flops size 13 that I had gotten at old navy for a dollar. He wrote me back telling me that a soldier of his needed to get new flip flops since his just broke that day and that the PX did not carry his size. It must have been fate that the very size he needed was in my package. That story made my day. Just remember to send hygiene seperate from food since the food will taste like the hygiene stuff if boxed together. Tape the box well and double bag liquids. I also bag canned goods since I had a can of stew explode during transit to Iraq. We also have discussed a lot of your concerns in past threads. Just use the search function to find the answers to your question. This is a great site

Thanks for the info - very helpful!

Hi, Amy.  I'm so glad you decided on anysoldier.  I joined last year in Nov after seeing a newspaper article about the website.

As far as I've seen the way the packages are distributed depends on the contacts. Some will give the whole box to someone who doesn't receive anything and let them share if they chose or the contact will open the box and let the soldiers help themselves.  I just send everything lose in the box (not individual boxes) but there's not a wrong way to do it. Just do it the way you want to.(you're sending support that's what they will look at.) In the boxes I send a note addressed to the contact and his fellow soldiers so they can all read it. I know some supporters include letters addressed to any soldier so they can be handed out.

As far as the individual names for future shipments that's a possibility. i have received mail from soldiers who have received a box and then in the future you can send esp. to that soldier too. 

I have found the best way to find out what they need/want is to ask direct questions.  In the notes I include in the boxes I just ask if they need such and such?? But they don't really like to ask for things. Sometimes they'll give you hints like everyone  enjoyed the canned soup. or the little debbies.

I hope this helped a little.   Again it's good to have you here.  Lynn

 

Thanks, Lynn. Part of what I was hesitant about was the letter inside the box - if my contact is just going to give the box, unopened, to an individual soldier, then I didn't want to specifically address the letter to the contact. But your idea of sending a letter addressed to the contact and her unit is great - that's what I'm going to do, at least for this first shipment. I've got two boxes packed up, and am hoping to get the letters written and customs forms done in time to take them to the post office today.  I figure after the first shipment, if I get any response back, it will be more clear how this contact handles the packages.  Thanks - Amy.

Hi My name is Judy. I am a retired school teacher. My husband and I were high school sweethearts and have been married almost 48 years. We have three grown kids and 4 grandkids. We live in our motorhome in the summer and spend the winter months in Yuma, AZ. Yes, we are snowbirds. We both grew up in a little town on the ocean, Long Beach, WA, NOT the other Long Beach. One of our hobbies is Geocaching. Last night we found a cache with an Any Soldier bracelet in it. I knew I had to have it and wear it. Our 19 year old grandson enlisted in the army not long ago and is in Fort Knox in basic training. He was hospitalized with pneumonia a couple of weeks ago, and he is still trying to recover. For the time being he is assigned to a desk job answering the phone. He is concerned that he will have to start his training all over again, but right now he is having problems breathing even as he walks. The whole family is worried about him and it is especially difficult to wait for snail mail to get word on his condition. I'm sure that he is very homesick as well as being sick. I am wearing my new bracelet in honor of him and will be checking out this site further in order to find out more about this great service for our men and women in uniform serving our great country.