Any Soldier
As the war continues, the military stories coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan are continually overshadowed by politics and election preparations and protests, it is more important now than ever before that we remember the actions of our troops who are serving overseas. For all of the talk about funding the war, keeping troops in Iraq or pulling them out we cannot lose sight of the individual men and women who are in the midst of combat. The service members who are fighting everyday, who are sweating in the oppressive heat, who are far from home and who are willing to put their lives in danger for this nation. Those men and women should never be far from our minds. If we are safe today, it is because they are willing to defend us.
Many of the soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have friends and family members who are sending them letters and cards of encouragement. They send care packages full of goodies from home to help the troops pass the time. But there are also troops who are in combat zones who don’t ever receive a letter, who never get to open a care package and find something special. For those service members, loneliness can be just as damaging to their morale as the heat and the sandstorms.
One organization is trying to make sure that no service member gets forgotten. Any Solider, Inc. was founded in 2003 to help get mail and care packages into the hands of troops who weren’t receiving mail. The organization was started by the parents of a deployed soldier who told his mom and dad about men he was serving with who weren’t receiving tangible support from home; the cards and letters that bring a smile to a soldier’s face in the midst of so much tragedy. By 2005, the organization had incorporated and received approval as a non-profit group and had expanded to include all the branches of the armed forces.
Any Solider and its sister sites allow people who want to show their support for our troops and to put that support into concrete action to send letters or care packages to our troops. Volunteer service members receive the packages and distribute them to the troops who need them most. Everything goes directly to the volunteer troops who make sure everything goes to our troops. If you are interested in participating you can visit their website at anysoldier.com. Complete instructions for sending letters and care packages (including things that cannot be sent to our troops) can be found there.