Operation American Soldier
Sometimes I wonder why I volunteered to serve this country. Our Commander-in-Chief has ordered us to Iraq or Afghanistan or some other remote country. For some of us, this is the first time we have been away from home. I've made some of the greatest friends I'll ever have, actually they are now my "family". We have shared some of the most interesting, wonderful and frightening moments you can imagine.
The best part of the day (or worst) is "Mail Call". Hearing from home, knowing that someone cares helps me continue day after day. It reinforces my commitment to keeping our country safe. But today, just like so many other days, my name isn't called. Remind me again, Why am I here?
Then a package arrives from someone I don't know. It's addressed to me! A box filled with letters of encouragement, food that is familiar and comforting, books, magazines and other fun stuff. You know what, people do care! We are not forgotten!
Operation American Soldier began when my daughter Tracy was in Iraq. After hearing that some of the other soldiers weren't receiving any support form home, we thought we should help. So we asked from some names and addresses to ship to. Each box contained a letter from us asking if there were any other soldiers that needs support. Well our list of soldiers grew and grew.
Eventually we thought we should ask the community to help us with this program. Sometimes the local newspaper will run a community note . Sometimes we will find boxes of goodies left at our front door. Once in a while we have a nice financial donation to help with the shipping costs. We have shipped to more than 1500 soldiers, 34000+ pounds of cheer so far! We ship to Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines, we have shipped to Chaplains, The Red Cross. Combat Support Hospitals. Our packages have gone to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and even Cuba
Our goal is simple. We will send packages and letters to as many soldiers as possible, for as long as we can. We will try to bring a little bit of cheer and maybe a smile to the brave men & women that serve in harms way.
Mission statement:
Operation American Soldier exists to support and encourage the Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen/women of the United States Armed Forces. Our goal is to “Let no one walk away from mail call empty handed”. As long as there are wars/conflicts in which our troops serve, Operation American Soldier will ship “care boxes”.
We are limited only by our finances and donations. We began at the start of the war on terror. To date we have provided more than 1000 members of the Armed Forces with support from home. We have received numerous letters of gratitude from the recipients. Each box contains an assortment of snacks, beverages, coffees/teas, books, magazines, toiletries, and letters of support, games and fun items. We receive some donations from the community, friends & family. Shipping costs are a major factor in our operation. OAS (Operation American Soldier) is based in our home. 100% of the donations, financial and material go directly to the troops.
2008 is the first year that OAS has been 501 c compliant. Prior to 2008 we were self contained (self supporting). We have always shopped and shipped as our budget would allow. The need for support to our troops is much larger that we can handle on our own. Many of our troops receive NO support from home. The moral of our troops is vitally important to them and us
NO SOLDIER WALKS AWAY FROM MAIL CALL EMPTY HANDED!
