How to Support Our Troops

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How to Support Our Troops

a.. Donate a calling card to help keep service members in touch with

their families at Operation Uplink a http://www.operationuplink.org/

b.. Send a greeting via e-mail through Operation Dear Abby at

http://anyservicemember.org or http://www.OperationDearAbby.net

c.. Sign a virtual thank you card at the Defend America web site at

http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html

d.. Make a donation to one of the military relief societies:

a.. Army Emergency Relief at http://www.aerhq.org/

b.. Navy/Marine Relief Society at http://www.nmcrs.org/

c.. Air Force Aid Society at http://www.afas.org/

d.. Coast Guard Mutual Assistance at http://www.cgmahq.org/

e.. Donate to " Operation USO Care Package " at

http://www.usometrodc.org/care.html

f.. Support the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services

at http://www.redcross.org/services/afes/

g.. Volunteer at a VA Hospital http://www.va.gov/vetsday/ to honor

veterans who bore the lamp of freedom in past conflicts.

h.. Support families whose loved ones are being treated at military

and VA hospitals through a donation to the Fisher House at

http://www.fisherhouse.org.

e.. Reach out to military families in your community, especially those

with a loved one overseas.

f.. Send a personal message via " Stars and Stripes " - U.S. troops

deployed to the Persian Gulf region and other locations can now receive

personal messages from family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues

and supporters via the pages of the overseas newspaper " Stars and

Stripes " as well as " Messages of Support, " a daily section that debuted

March 17, giving family and friends of deployed service members a chance

to pass their greetings, words of encouragement and announcements free

of charge. " Messages of Support " can be e-mailed to " Stars and Stripes "

24 hours a day at messages@..., are limited to 50 words or less

and will be printed on a first-come, first-run basis. " Stars and

Stripes " reserves the right to screen and edit all messages and to omit

any determined inappropriate.

g.. Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/

h.. Salvation Army: http://www1.salvationarmy.org/

i.. USA Freedom Corps: http://www.usafreedomcorps.gov/

j.. Support our deployed sons & daughters:

http://www.adoptaplatoon.org/

k.. Send your thanks to the US military:

http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html

l.. Purchase " Gifts From the Homefront " gift certificate - These can

be redeemed by troops in their local exchange. Anyone may purchase these

" Gifts From the Homefront " with a U.S. credit card or check, but only

authorized AAFES customers can redeem them at any PX or BX. Sold by

CertifiChecks, these gift certificates can be purchased 24 hours a day,

seven days a week, every day of the year, and they come in denominations

of $10 and $20. At this time military authorities have advised that

CertifiChecks can only be sent to a specific service member at his or

her APO or US mailing address. AAFES officials said they are currently

working to find a solution to allow CertifiChecks to be sent to units or

non-specific troops.

Due to security concerns and limited transportation space, the military

can no longer accept mail to " any service member. " Many generous people

have tried to avoid these prohibitions by sending large numbers of

packages to an individual service member's overseas address, which,

however well intentioned, clogs the mail system and causes unnecessary

delays.

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Further Support Our Troops Links

The Pentagon is discouraging individuals who are not family and close

friends of deployed soldiers from sending packages - for Force

Protection reasons. Instead, they ask that you show support through

specific websites created for that purpose. These websites are:

http://www.defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html

http://www.usocares.org/home.htm

http://www.army.mil/operations/iraq/faq.html

http://anyservicemember.navy.mil