How have all my friends been from the early days when the forum started?? How about a roll call? I am sorry I was gone for a while but it couldn't be helped. I see that a lot of you DO still post here, and that is wonderful!

First of all, hello Marty and I hope things have been going smoothly here on the site.

Phillis, Deni, Gran, VickiV, CaliGirl, Callee, Lisajan, teena, mrsnorthcarolina, door, Jenifer, KristenF, Brooklyn Born, Irish, Sarah, joCee, Marilyn, STL, Mrs.A, Pat Hodges Furth, I KNOW I am missing a bunch!!  What have you all been up to?

~Julie   

Julie, I'm still here. I still try to post when I can contribute. I think alot  of folks go to the chat room. My son returned safely home from Iraq and is now in Korea. I still send my letters and packages but seem to pick groups in Afghanistan. Not conciously, they just seem to speak to me. plus the shift in troops has been to A-Stan. Kristen F is awaiting arrival of her third son. Deni has taken over the quilting bee. Others post occassionally. Some I haven't seen on the forum for a long time. I'm glad your back. Look foward to your posts

Diane

Hi Diane! Great to hear from you! Glad your son is doing good! I have hooked up with Phillis and Deni on Facebook. AnySoldier has a Facebook account, too! Exciting news for Kristen! I will need to go find chat now. I just picked up my first soldier ina long time and I am excited towrite him! Take care and we'll talk more soon!

~Julie

Hey!!! Great to have you back!! 

I'm still here -- still doing my support junkie thing and loving every bit of it!!   I spend a good bit of time in the Chat Room, too -- and on Facebook. 

I'm doing the same thing Diane is -- almost all my current contacts are in Afg -- although I do have one in Iraq and one in the Phillippines   I was thrilled not long ago to get an e-mail from one of my contacts from last year.  He wanted me to know he was deployed again -- this time in Afg -- and had signed up with AS again.  He asked me if I'd support him and his Soldiers again -- hahahahaa -- guess what my answer was

--Marilyn

hi, I am still here...sitting in Jen's (inkydigits) kitchen in CA...still sending packages!!

will write more when I get back to Florida!

Pat Hodges Furth 

Door Here! 

No problem with you being gone to take care of family, sure glad to see you back.

The economy did impact the amount of support I could send, but some nice local people stepped up and are helping out.

Losing soldiers has been tough on me, and I was blue, but I got back up and dusted myself off and got to the important work of supporting their friends. Thats what they would have wanted.

The job we do, is so important, that it may mean more to them, than we will ever know.

Good to see you are back,

Welcome, door

Hey Julie,

Thanks for asking.  I'm still here, just not as frequently.  I took a pretty big pay cut and we have a lot of local guys deployed right now so I haven't been able to do much here lately.

Hey, this one needs no quotation marks around old, as I have been a senior for a while now.  I am still plugging away, but at a very reduced level now due to reduced income and energy.  Family and friends on Facebook have taken some of my time also.

Hi Julie,

I'm still here.  I saw you on Facebook somehow.  I hope your family is doing better and things are back to "normal".  I think of you every time I go through Ventura and Oxnard.

VickiV

I'm still around, although not on the forum too often. I got a new job and moved to a new town (and bought a house!) so I've been busy with that. I've had a few "repeat customers" - soldiers on their second deployments, and a Marine ready for a third, and it's great to be able to help them through multiple deployments.

Minnesota has a lot of soldiers in Iraq right now, and the office where I now work actually shares a parking lot with the local Armory. I got to see first-hand the hustle and bustle that goes on when a unit gets ready to deploy. I've been asked to join two of the local FRG groups, and hope to do that soon (once I get over a busy time at work).

It seems there is no shortage of soldiers who are in need of support, so it's nice to see lots of "old" - and new - faces here.

  Jenifer

HI,  I am back in Florida. I had a great visit to CA and got to see my good friend Jen (inky digits).   I am still sending packages.  I have had a lot of old AS contacts returning, so have been supporting them for their 2nd and 3rd tour.  I haven't contributed to the forum, because I have already told everything I know...LOL....Good to see some of the old gang checking in...I still hope we have a convention some day.  I did get to meet Marty, Sue , Major(Pain) B  and some other AS supports when they held a fund raising event in Florida...That was really fun...I gave the Major a BIG hug from all of us and a CIGAR... of course !!! 

Hey Y'all!

I'm still hanging in too!  It's like Pat said though--I've already told everything I know, so I don't post as much.    Actually, everything with me just about mirrors what everyone else has said--the economy has slowed me down some (hubby has been unemployed for a year and a half now!), I've got several folks on their 2nd or 3rd deployments, and THEN there's that all-consuming facebook addiction!  LOL

Glad to hear from all our "oldies but goodies" and to know everyone is doing well!

I am still here, too!  I haven't been on this forum much at all in the past year because I haven't been on Anysoldier much.  Nearly all of my contacts this year were folks I had supported on previous tours and they didn't register this time around, knowing they already had a base of support.   They are all heading home in the next few weeks (hurray!) so it's time to find some new contacts to befriend - - so here I am!  I have 2 local "boys" I'm sending to, so I have to pace myself in order to keep from going too broke, but I selected one new contact this morning and will take care of that one before searching for a 2nd.  

And Phillis - I hear you on the Facebook addiction!  My daughter got me started on it just over a year ago.  Weeee!  I am happy to say that several of my contacts are on there, so that is another fantastic tool for staying in touch with them.  The first time one of them caught me online for an online chat session I was downright giddy with excitement.  LOL!

Wow! Great to hear from everyone! I will pray for your hubby to get a job, Phillis, mine just went a year without one!! So things are looking up for us now.

My husband and I are spending a lot of time with our cars, we both have Mustangs, and getting them in magazine articles. We are both excited to get into road racing, that will probably be in the near future. The soldiers always like to hear about our cars! Send me a private message if you want to add me on facebook and I'll give you my full name.

Again, it's so nice to still be in touch and hear from everyone!

I am on facebook too, I sent you a PM...I joined because several of my AS contacts  update there too...