Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Lonely soldier in Iraq..........

Hello everyone. I have a special favor to ask, for those of you who are interested enough to help. Scott and I have a very good friend who is Deborah Wiley. Deb has a brother stationed over in Iraq who is spending his second Christmas away from his family and friends. His home town is Atlanta, Georgia, and he greatly misses home and all his loved ones. Deb is asking that all of her friends ask their friends to send David a Christmas card. He will then share them with other soldiers and spread the good cheer around. Address:

SGT DAVID MCKEEHAN
CO B 711 SIGNAL BN
FOB DUKE IRAQ
APO-AE 09389

Thank you so much! Happy Holidays

This is an excellent thought. I'll be sure to send one out to him Caroline!

What a great idea, Caroline!

Excellent thought Caroline

Consider doing this:

Pack a box and send it to "Unmarried Soldier" at the BN/APO address given (if you're in the US)

Include:
good quality white socks and glove liners
small size liquid body wash, no bar soap
travel size shave gel, razor, blades
trail mix, nuts, hard candy, small packages of cookies
news, auto, fitness mags -- nothing potentially offensive, it's not the time or place for it
carmex lip balm
lotion
books/dvd's/music new or gently used
something relevant to whatever holiday you might celebrate
and of course some Legion comics.

The CO's will get it ditributed to the soldiers who could use it. Whatever your feelings about this war, keep in mind that many on the front lines fighting it and dying are younger than the characters we write about on this website.

I'd love to send a batch of the new Legion were it to come out on time. Maybe I'll buy a bunch to send after the holidays.

Does anyone know any guidelines on sending stuff to APO addresses? What kind of security checks do they go through and what's likely not to make it to its final destination? There's the obvious stuff (uhm, edgy, magazines) but would stuff like homemade cookies get thrown out for safety concerns? If so, would any packaged food be okay, as long as it looked whole?

One report last week on KNBC Los Angeles was about such Christmas boxes "to any service member" being sent by a local charity. The reporter noted that such boxes -- when sent by individuals, not by an organized group charitable effort -- were returned to the sender, citing "security concerns." They'd have to be addressed from a service member's family to get through. I found this a bit absurd, and have been trying to verify it.

Those sending cards to service members abroad, such as Caroline's friend, should keep in mind that they probably won't reach foreign locations before Christmas -- the deadline for such delivery to APOs and FPOs was, I believe, mid-November. They'd still be appreciated any time, though.

The US army has a site at http://www.army.mil/howyoucanhelp/ which gives information on how you can work to help the soldiers, including links to organizations that help send care packages to soldiers. There's advice on what to send and how to send it on a lot of those sites.

http://www.usocares.org/ also offers the option of donating $25, so a pre-made package with a letter you type can be sent to a soldier. I think this might be a good idea, if just because you can be sure what is sent will be acceptable to security.

It's less personal than sending a package on your own, though, which is kind of disappointing...

I sent him a superhero x-mas card (golden age Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman building a snowman) with Batman and Robin stickers and a Wolverine 'Zcardz' and a packet of green tea - basically stuff that I could place in a flat envelope

Grey, it isn't absurd when you consider the possiblity of tampering, and the damage it can have. Not to mention some fool ass with a gripe sending stuff in a rage to some poor guy or gal over there. Remember the halloween candy thing and the asprin tampering scare of about ten or fifteen years back? Not to mention the absolute sick jackass that sent anthrax through the mail.

There are legitimate concerns. Going through the proper channels doesn't hurt anything, and will make some soldier very happy.

We might know that no one here would send stuff like that, but how are they to know? I think the term is 'an ounce of prevention'. Just a thought, anyway.

Monkey, green tea? Man, do you know what that stuff does to people's digestive tracts? It has a specific purpose i wont go into here, but i feel sorry for the guy or gal that drinks it and isn't near a latrine at the time.

Will do! I'll try to get that Monday, though I think I might have to go to a post office since I'm not sure how much the stamp will cost.