Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 9:57 PM
Adopt-A-Soldier!
There are 144,000 Americans stationed in Iraq, and over 48,000 in Afghanistan. While we enjoy the freedom their service provides us, they are being put to the test in every conceivable way.
Let’s reach out, shall we?
I introduced ‘Aunt Nancy’ last year, a lady who out of the goodness of her heart has organized an effort to send packages to soldiers around the holidays. By simply emailing her, she will assign you a specific 
soldier, and you can send them a ‘relief package’ to enjoy for the holidays.
Here is her message:
Jim,
Thanks for your offer to help spread the word for my last minute plea for getting Christmas to our troops! As you know, I’ve been at this for over 5 years now. There is no organization here, just me and my laptop, connecting people to our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany (wounded military), and now even a few sailors out at sea.
Your blog readers know what a lean year it has been for everyone, and our troops are feeling it too. Their families are struggling to be able to send much, and well, my little project has had about a 75% drop in participation this holiday season. If anyone would like to help by filling up and mailing a Christmas stocking or two, that would be awesome! We are also looking for candy canes, cookies, candy, and decorations. Even just more Christmas card greetings would add some cheer!
Usually packages need to be shipped by Thanksgiving, and that surprises people. Fortunately, I just received two Army units stationed right at the Baghdad International Airport bases and that is where the mail arrives. They can get PRIORITY MAIL delivered in 10 to 14 days! That gives us a chance to still mail decorations in time for them to hang them up and enjoy them for a week.
In any case, even a couple of extra cards would be nice. Some people bring a box of cards to Thanksgiving dinner and have all the family sign them. Scout and school groups often make cards. Whatever! A note here, there continues to be an email forwarded around saying “send a card to ANY SOLDIER” etc. Please let people know that those cards get thrown away. They must be addressed to a specific soldier. I can help with that!
My blog has several postings about the different projects I’m organizing. No troop addresses are ever listed online. Just send me an email request! Thanks again for your effort Jim.
Nancy’s email is nancy@auntnancyusa.com
and her blog is http://auntnancyusa.blogspot.com/
Email Nancy today, and she’ll give you a soldier’s name and address for you to send a holiday treat! Thank You!
Posted on Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 at 9:57 PM in Uncategorized | 12 Comments » | 
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I am a veteran and will be the first in line to welcome our troops home.
But let us be clear. Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are not defending America. This is a lie that has been repeated so often that no one really considers it anymore. San Diego was not about to be conquered by Baghdad. For that matter, Afghanis are more likely to show up on our shores as illegal immigrants or drug smugglers than as invaders. So lets have done with the euphemism. We have conquered both countries in a misguided attempt to deal with Al Qaeda. It has cost thousands of lives, many tens of billions of dollars, and has not worked. The real travesty is that, by failing to speak plainly, many Americans allow this to continue.
It is certainly not the fault of ordinary soldiers that they have been sent far from home to do an impossible job with no clear benefit to the United States. At the same time, pretending that they are somehow defending America allows those in charge to avoid admitting that Iraq and Afghanistan are a good deal away from US maritime or land borders.
Are you safer today than you were 7 years ago? Don’t bet on it. The same economic fiasco that is damaging our economy is destroying the stability of many developing nations. Radical elements will be more than happy to make things much harder for the US. And guess what? They would love for us to come to their country and act in a heavy-handed and self-defeating manner, just as we have in Iraq. We want to punish someone for blowing up the World Trade Center (I was in NYC on that day). Bomb them. We have many more bombs. But don’t send our troops to the other end of the earth on a false pretext to “nation build” when there is no way in the land of petroleum that is going to work, and then pretend that this is defending America. The US lasts for about 200 miles West of where I am sitting right now. The rest is foreign.
Rational expectations | November 25th, 2008 at 11:49 pmAll the more reason to support the men and women over there dealing with all of this. It would be much easier on them if everything you said was untrue. These troops are struggling much more now than 4 or 5 years ago.
A Christmas stocking for even a greeting card from home can literally save a life as they have told me more than once.
Aunt Nancy
Aunt Nancy | November 26th, 2008 at 9:16 amYes. Just venting my anger at the fact that loyalty and appreciation for the troops is being used, cynically by those in power. Letters and holiday gifts are good for morale and certainly help in small, personal ways. I would much rather buy a few of them a one-way ticket, home.
Rational expectations | November 26th, 2008 at 10:47 am‘rational expecations’ – shame on you for incorporating your polital views/agenda into this piece. Even if you are completely right, there is a time and a place for this kind of rant, and this is not it.
Aunt Nancy – thank you, just sent you an email for a soldiers info.
justrent | November 26th, 2008 at 11:03 amRational,
I appreciate your frustration, but let’s pitch in and help where we can. Email Nancy and do a little something to brighten a soldier’s holiday.
Jim the Realtor | November 26th, 2008 at 11:45 amFron Aunt Nancy’s blog:
As of this time we have no need for anything not on the current list (updated regularly). Thank you for your generosity. Please DO NOT send the following:
No International phone cards, or phone cards that have an expiration date
Jim the Realtor | November 26th, 2008 at 11:57 amNO CDs, Video tapes
No AA or AAA nor any size batteries
No magazines, books, puzzles, sudoko games
No Books, Playing cards
No Bar soap, large and hotel size
No Bubble bath, salts
No Hair conditioner
No Large toothpaste
No Toothbrushes
No Combs
No Lip Balm/Chapstick
No Make-up and facial creams, nail polish, etc. including samples
No Hair pins and bands
No Q-tips
No Large economy size toiletries
No Small hotel size toiletries
No Lap blankets/double, queen or king size blankets
No Women’s underwear
No Feminine products
No Men’s white or color briefs
No Pencils (mechanical pencils okay), erasers and pencil sharpeners
No Writing paper
No Blank greeting cards
No Signed holiday cards (Christmas, Valentines, Easter, etc.) Please only send a very few – we receive thousands more than the number of patients that come in all year and cannot possibly distribute them all.
No Over the counter medications/any medications
No Coffee mugs
No Candles, matches, lighters
No Canned food
No Any knitted items
No used items and please,
No Used clothing – or clothing with stains or holes or broken zippers, missing buttons, etc.
Items to send:
Filled Christmas Stockings
Christmas Lights
Tree, and ornaments
Cards (from you to them)
Decorations of any kind
Baked goods (store bought)
Fake Snow
Inflatable Snowman
Fun stuff!
Some suggested items for the Christmas stockings:
CANDY! Chocolate, Twizzlers, M&Ms, whatever! Lots of it!
Find fun holiday versions of the goodies — those are especially welcome in stockings.
Small candy canes – they don’t break as much in shipping.
Small cans of chips and cookies, chewing gum, beef jerkey
Fun stuff from local drug stores – small novelties, decorations
Girl Scout Cookies are LOVED!
Healthy snack bars
“Little Debbie”-type treats
A Get Well card or a Christmas card may be inserted into the stocking.
Breath-mint strips
Small hand-held mirrors
Nail clippers
Travel size Gold Bond Powder
Travel size shower gel
*Phone cards – Domestic only with no expiration date
*iTunes Cards
*iPod Shuffles
*Hand-held electronic gamesDVDs (no extreme violence or nudity – no VHS tapes)
*These last items should NOT be put in the Christmas stockings; keep them separate.
The younger generation has many of the newer electronic gadgets. They no longer need music CDs, nor AAA batteries, for instance! Now they mostly download music from the internet. It’s tough keeping up with them!
Some veterans have told me that the troops would rather receive sports teams news, caps, pictures, or shirts, than shampoo any day!
Dollar stores may be a great asset here. It would be nice if they receive decorations ASAP so they can enjoy them longer.
Note: Homemade baked goods are generally not allowed
Jim the Realtor | November 26th, 2008 at 12:03 pmSpeaking of holiday cheer, this just over from our Countrywide rep:
This morning I locked in these two new transactions.
FHA 30-year fixed at 5.25% and 1 point
Jumbo 30-year fixed at 5.625% and 1 point
Jim the Realtor | November 26th, 2008 at 12:18 pmI apologize for offending some of the readers with my comments. Perhaps they were better suited for another thread. As far as “shame,” I think this is misplaced. We would not need to console our troops with chocolates and pretend snow if they were not sent far from home on a false pretense (Iraq) or a misconceived plan without sufficient support (Afghanistan). How about a bit of shame directed at Washington along with candy for the troops? We do not support soldiers, sailors, or airmen by giving them trinkets on holidays and looking the other way while they are misused by our politicians. Nor is it patriotic to allow our leaders to hide their incompetence and deceit behind “support our troops.”
I was one of those troops. In uniform, I would fight for this country any time, anywhere. But as a citizen, supporting the troops includes using them wisely. We all know that the troops will be recalled some day, with little effect for their efforts (Iraq has been fractured into a breeding ground for terrorists. Same for Afghanistan, except Pakistan is now infected. We have not stabilized, but destablized. I could say more).
I was fortunate enough to get my discharge before the big deployments and will be thankful on this day that I am spending it with my family rather than risking life or limb on a lie for a futile effort, just because no one at home was impolite enough to demand the troops come home. Nuf said.
Rational expectations | November 27th, 2008 at 1:00 pmYou apologize and then continue your political diatribe. Nice!
IMO, you’re nothing but a low-life jerk who thinks it’s ok to be a jerk just because you’re a veteran.
Save your next rant for the Dailykos!
nkep | November 27th, 2008 at 1:49 pmHi Jim,
I know I’m a bit late in posting here, but I wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for posting this and connecting me (and others!) with Aunt Nancy. Today I spent several hours shopping and stuffing 25 stockings full of goodies (everything from nail clippers to Odwalla bars), and I will be mailing them out to Iraq on Monday.
I will also be posting this on my blog, which has several thousand readers who may also be able to help.
As for those who choose to make this a political statement, I can only say that it is unfortunate. I don’t agree with the war either, and am hopeful that Barack Obama will keep his promise to bring the troops home quickly. Still, I cannot take out my politics on those who are simply doing a job that I would NEVER want to do.
I am so thankful to live in a country that values freedom and does not force young children to join the Army. It is this freedom in part that has helped me build and sell a hugely successful business at a young age. I will not forget that.
The few hundred dollars I spent is not that much to me, but it may mean the world to others. It is for that reason that I spent my time and money today on our troops — thanking and honoring them for their choice to serve so that no one is forced to.
Thank you again.
-Erica
Erica Douglass | November 30th, 2008 at 12:06 amThanks for posting this up Jim. I got in touch with Nancy and sent something to a soldier. Lastly, I completely agree with Rational Expectations (but let’s post that stuff elsewhere since this is a real estate blog)
.
UnsureBuyer | November 30th, 2008 at 4:51 am