In his profile update, he has listed 8 males and 2 females in his charge. So I doubled that number to send Guardian Angel cards to his group, since usually the contacts only count the number of troops that don’t get mail on a regular basis, and EVERYBODY deserves an Angel of their own. I put four cards in the mail to Sgt. Braswell, each one with five Angels in it. I sent one of my “Chicken Up On You” cards, one of my Bluebird cards (The front has a big blue bird on it, with “Hi, Sgt. Braswell and Troops! I am the blue bird of…” then on the inside it says “Well, I’m not sure what I’m the blue bird of, but you’d better watch your head!”), one of my “Two Important Things” cards, and one of my “Just flying through to say Thank You to an American Hero” cards.

From the update he posted, I got the idea that he and his Soldiers are not feeling the love of a grateful nation, and that’s just not allowed to happen on my watch. I know that the unit they are with has suffered some heavy losses, and that likely has a lot to do with the major drop in morale.  He also mentioned they had not received any mail at all in 10 days, and he didn’t know if it was because nobody was sending anything or if it was because whoever is in charge of their mail decided not to deliver until there was a large amount of mail built up. All I know for sure is this ~ If my cards make even one of them smile, I’ll feel better about this group. God love ‘em, they just want to go home after their year in hell, and in the meantime, they need to know that they have not been forgotten.

I found some twin-size sheet sets online at Wal-Mart.com, two different Jeep prints, and ordered 3 sets of each print (using Bill Me Later as a payment option). They arrived Wednesday and I unpackaged and washed them, and they are now packed into two large FRB’s (Flat Rate Boxes for those who don’t speak USPS language…LOL!) ready to go ~ whenever I have postage available. A large FRB costs $11.95 to ship to an APO/FPO address. That’s a $2 savings over a domestic address, but still ridiculous in my own humble opinion. (Note: I washed them because I personally will not use or wear any item until it has been laundered, and I don’t expect our Warriors to do so either.) Anyway, that leaves “Solar shower” on their wish list. We’ll come up with something.

I don’t know how many of you are keeping an eye on the news coming out of Afghanistan, but we’ve got one Soldier missing, abducted by insurgents along with three of his Afghan counterparts last Tuesday. All efforts are being made to locate and return our missing Warrior safely back to his post, which of course puts other Troops in danger as they work on this mission. Prayers are called for, so if you’re a praying person, please send up multitudes of prayers that the mission is a success and none of  the searchers are harmed during the search and rescue.

Also there have been several Warriors killed in action this week in Afghanistan; two just this morning when their base was attacked by Taliban insurgents using RPG and mortar fire. A suicide bomber with a truck load of explosives and rocks made an attempt to crash into the base but was thwarted when guards fired on the truck as it refused to halt, and it exploded, harming none but the driver.  Thank God! I mentioned in an earlier blog that things are really picking up in Afghanistan, and the number of troops there is woefully inadequate as the focus of attention has been in Iraq. Our brave Warriors are stretched to the limit ~ prayers for their safety and success are called for as well.

Every Soldier, Marine, Airman, Sailor, Coast Guard member we adopt gets their own Guardian Angel, as seen below. One can’t have too many angels watching over them…

Front and Back of Guardian Angel card

Onward and upward…

“I’m a sniper team leader in the Korengal Valley, Afghanistan. We don’t have many resources out here, including no showers. Some of the things my men and I need are baby wipes, and a portable shower, something along the lines of a 5 gallon solar heated jug? We need sheets for our mattress’ (twin size) because they are bare and are very old and there is a big problem with fleas and bed bugs here. Also some chewing tobacco would be great, we have no way of getting these things, if you are going to send chew I like grizzly straight long cut, thanks a lot to whoever answers this, i hope I didn’t ask for too much, God bless.
Chuck”

The Korengal Valley of Afghanistan is also referred to as “The Valley of Death.” A friend from AnySoldier lost his son in the Korengal Valley on April 15th this year. It is a rough and rugged place at the best of times, and those stationed there are certainly not experiencing the best of times. It is my intention to provide as many items from this Soldier’s wish list as possible; I can put together a box of edibles and get it in the mail tomorrow, and I have e-mailed to let him know I am doing that. I also told him I was going to work on getting the items he specifically requested, as soon as possible. Anyone want to help? (I feel like The Little Red Hen sometimes. Anybody remember that story, or am I showing my age?)

Hello friends and family. The above link is to a web page for Mrs.Tracy Roberts. I hope you all at least go and look at it…she has sent me and the Marines that I work with several packages and letters. The packages from Ms.Tracy are always accepted with much anticipation. She packs everything from hard candy and homemade cookies to REAL toilet paper in them. With the economy the way it is she has had to slow down and in some cases stop sending her packages to our troops.
I am asking those of you that can to send her at least 20.00 dollars. That will mail 2 packages overseas. If you can send more that would be great.
Please help her and her family continue to send a smile in a box to someone. If you have any questions about Ms.Tracy and her efforts please ask me. I will be glad to tell you. I just wanted to let you all know that she is not running a scam.She is the genuine article.
I have included her mailing address if you wish to make a donation to help her.

Thank you for your support and please pass this on to anyone you think might help.
Kenneth Henderson

(Kenneth’s favorite package was the one with, among other items, an 8-roll pack of Cottonelle Ultra toilet paper in it…LOL! I’m not sure he shared that one.)

I was somewhat stunned and awed that he did this; when I told him thank you, he said “You help us, we help you. I hope this does some good, so you can continue to support the troops as you want to.” He’ll be home this fall, and that will be one less Warrior on my “worry list.”