Card Playing Grunts

F-Train posted a message about his brother serving in Iraq and it got me thinking about whether or not there was anything I could do. As I’ve noted in several posts, I once wore the uniform so I can imagine what it must be like to be over in Iraq. In fact, during the first Gulf War I was re-called to active duty a year after my tour expired and spent a month up in the SF Bay area doing reindoctornation training on fun subjects like urban combat environments, close quarters combat, and desert survival (which seemed odd since the SF Bay area doesn’t resemble a desert in any way). Fortunately the war ended about the same time as my training.

Of course, I don’t exactly know what it’s like for the men and women over there in terms of getting shot at but I do know that in the military hurry-up-and-wait is the normal state. I’ve lived in tents and the back of ambulances for months on end with absolutely nothing to do. We would often get so bored we would shoot ourselves up with the bee sting kits (epinephrine) and drink ipecac (it makes you puke) just to entertain ourselves. So, maybe the thing I can do is give them something to do during the downtime. Maybe I can send them some cards so they can play a little poker or spades or whatever while they sit around waiting for ???

So I pinged a friend of mine who used to be COO at Spirit of America a non-profit that takes various items on donation so that the troops over there can better the lives of the local Iraqi people. For instance, they took donations of bats, balls and gloves and taught some of the locals how to play baseball. They’ve collected books and school supplies so the troops can give them to the local schools. Although he’s no longer involved with the organization he says he still has contacts who can get things into Iraq and to the right people who can make sure they go where they’re supposed to.

Ok, so it looks like my friend isn’t going to be able to assist. Instead, I took a look at existing programs that coordinate efforts to send items over to the troops. One of the most recommended ones was Any Soldier. The way they work is they allow the troops to post messages about things they could use. People who want to send stuff can find someone who has a need and ship it to them directly.

I did a quick search for “Cards” and came up with a nice list of soldiers who say they need playing cards. So, I’ll be packing up some playing cards soon and getting them shipped off to Afghanistan and Iraq so the troops have something to do between missions. Hopefully, some of the folks who read this might considering doing the same. It’s a small gesture but I can assure you that when you’re a million miles from home every gesture that lets them know that people are thinking about them is appreciated.