Adopt a Marine! Project Redux

Last year we instituted the Adopt a Marine! Project because Adam's friend Jason was deployed in Iraq. Jason is back and out of the Marine Corps. He's going to college in northern California and life is pretty good.

But his unit (2nd Recon) is back in Iraq. This time they'll be there for the holidays. Even if Jason isn't there, I still feel as if they're kind of our guys. Jason got me the names and addresses of the guys in the 2nd Recon Battalion and once again, I'm asking anyone who is interested to contact me and I'll send you a name and address.

What do you do? You get a box and fill it with cool stuff—magazines, books, video games (they’ve got all the consoles) DVDs, CDs, toys, time wasters, not very perishable food (chocolate and things that melt, alas, don’t ship well, although my box of vanilla wafers and jar of Nutella shipped just find, thank you. And apparently Nutella vanilla wafer sandwiches are pretty damn good. And Jason swears nothing keeps you awake on patrol like wasabi peas.)

When you have a box of stuff, you seal it up, take it to the post office, explain that it’s going to Iraq and fill out a custom’s form. (Keep track of what you put in the box, okay?) Then you send it off. It takes you a little time. And then you get to feel pretty good about yourself. And every time you see one of those stupid ‘Support The Troops’ yellow ribbons on the back of a car, you can have a moment of insufferable superiority knowing that you do a lot more than just buying a magnet.

They guys aren’t so great at writing back. But I have it on reliable authority that the packages do make a difference. And the magazines, books, CDs, DVDs, and games that we send stay in the common room and lots and lots of people use them.

Jason said that the boxes were a big hit. The guys never knew that they were coming, and there it would be, a box out of the blue. It can't make up for spending Christmas in Iraq, but it's got to be better than nothing.