Hi.

Came across this article about shipping items for humanitarian aid. According to the article, it's a violation of the Department of Defense regulations. Huh?

 http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/11/military_mail_110709w/

I know most of us have sent things to our contacts to hand out to the children or to assist the local population. And now, I'm wondering if we are still allowed to do so...  Marty, have you heard anything?

If anyone has any additional information about this, please post.  

Thanks,

Jen

 

That does sound contradictory to me because many of the contacts were calling it the "warm hearts and minds (wham)" program for a long time, which made me think it was a policy to collect items for the needy people.  Now I don't know what to do with the school supplies that I have been holding onto to send when I could ship the crayons, but got too busy to pack.

Typical "News" coverage.

If your mother ever told you "Don't believe everything you hear (or read)", then here is a great example.

Note a few things:  It isn't a release by the Department of Defense, but from some paper who also does "Army Times".  We have had experience with these people and they are a for-profit industry, NOT part of the Department of Defense.  Years ago they wrote several articles that caused a lot of trouble for Any Soldier, only to be dropped later.

Note too that it refers to "a letter" sent by "the Pentagon" in "2003-04".  OH PLEASE!!!  You *might* think that real investigative work would give you WHO sent the letter, and at least the date.  A letter is NOT a regulation or law, and may be a simple threat by an uninformed desk-jocky like the ones that threatened us years ago.

Note yet again that this was in the time *before* "AmericaSupportsYou.mil" when it was "DefendAmerica.mil".  The ONLY military person involved with that was one officer who you could never talk to.  AmericaSupportsYou.mil with their multi-million dollar budget was hopeless also.

What we need here are more supporters from Missouri, the "SHOW ME" state!!!  Make these spineless REMFs produce proof, an actual policy, law, something to back up mindless, stupid stuff like this article.

Those of you that were with us back then likely remember the 'policy' (it was 'reported' that way in the papers, tv, everywhere) that the "policy" was that ONLY family members are allowed to send mail to their troops.  The truth?  It was a press release by one of those desk-jockies from DefendAmerica.mil who not only was a civilian, but it NEVER was a policy.  It was a standard shell game of 'who-said-that' and 'who-can-we-hold-responsible-for-this-stupid-idea'?

The newest idiot in hiding is the brainless fool who designed and the other idiot that approved, the latest Customs Form.....

The USPS blames the Customs folks, and surprise, the Customs folks blame the USPS.

The holidays are a special time.  One in which we display and share our love for those we care about.  It is also a time for idiots to almost come out......

Folks, read carefully garbage like this, and don't be afraid to ask "WHY?????"

Gran, I was wondering the same thing. I have stuff for the kids and clothing piling up to send out!

Marty...thanks for clearing things up. So much for "responsible" journalism!

Thanks.

Jen 

 

 I don't believe the words "responsible" and "journalism" can be used together in the same sentence; maybe not even in the same paragraph. Just sayin'...

Thanks Marty, for clearing this up. I wouldn't have believed the article. People write and papers print the dumbest things. Sometimes it's ignorance, other times it's to foster some agenda they're following. Always question what doesn't make sense. I've been sending things for six years now, and began at soldier's requests. I have two boxes about to go out now. I'd be delighted to make headlines if the DOD grabbed me for what's in them. I can see them now: "Sixty year old arrested for mailing pencils to soldiers." Now, there's a threat to national security.

Well, personally, I can't imagine anything that I would be surprised at seeing that originates from a government entity, whether truth or error.  My Hubby's dad's saying was that there are two ways to do anything - the right way and the government's way.  He was a vet of WWI, and suffered physical ailments in his later years and had to fight for VA treatment and a tiny pension that would barely feed a dog in the 1950s.