Support Our Troops
*Beef jerky and corn nuts to savor during long, boring watches.
*Protein bars, or prepackaged tuna or chicken salad with crackers, for energy.
*Slinkies, Nerf balls and Frisbees to play with during downtimes.
*Olive-green T-shirts and socks because laundry is so hard to do.
*Chapstick for dry lips
*Baby wipes for obvious personal hygiene reasons.
*Chemical hand and foot warmers for cold nights.
*Q-tips, endlessly useful for cleaning weapons.
*Disposable cameras, to document their experiences.
*Letters of encouragement-our troops can never get too much support!
Soldiers also love to get prepaid phone cards or gift certificates. You can help a soldier link up with his or her family through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service at www.aafes.com or by calling 1.800.527.2345.
Another organization doing similar good deeds is Operation Uplink, which will purchase and distribute phone cards to troops. Contact them at www.operationuplink.org. The USO’s Operation Phone Home can be contacted at www.uso.org or by calling 1.800.901.1501.
Care Packages are also a great way to show your support. For a $25 donation, Operation USO Care Package will put together a package and send it to a loved one, or any service member, with a personal message from you. They can be contacted at www.operationusocarepackage.org or 1.800.876.7469.
If you don’t know any soldiers overseas but still want to send someone a gift, try Treats for Troops, Inc. Soldiers register on the site and then are matched up with gift-giving civilians. You can select a soldier by branch of service, home state, gender, or birthday. Or if you don’t have a preference, they’ll send your package to the soldier who’s been waiting the longest. They can be contacted at www.treatsfortroops.com.
Show your support all year long for our troops.
