Support the troops....

[malta blue]

Hey loungers, when making out your holiday/Christmas cards this year please include the following:


A Recovering American soldier
C/O Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

We all know these men/women did not deserve the commander they got, but they still deserve appreciation for the sacrifices they have made.

~Peace~

[Lady Freedom]

1. Kick

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

2. Thanks For Remembering

This is a great idea

[malta blue]

3. Thanks Jeff...

:hi:

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

4. And now...The Cold Water

I just checked the Snopes website, and it turns out the Walter Reed DOESN'T accept cards that are generically addressed to "A Recovering/Wounded Soldier." It's for security reasons, which I don't totally agree with, but that is apparently a DOD Regulation and so these cards won't be delivered. In fact, the US Postal Service will not even deliver them to Walter Reed.

It you want to do something for soldiers at Walter Reed, you can send small gifts (i.e., phone cards, CD's, individual packages of candy) through the Red Cross, which has operations at Walter Reed. Probably at other military hospitals, too.

Their address:

American Red Cross
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20307-5000
www.redcross.org

If you have any questions, you can call them at 202-782-6362. I spoke to a representative earlier today, and their caveat for gifts is to remember that anything that comes gift-wrapped must be opened before being distributed to a soldier (security again), so don't bother with gift wrap. And mail them SOON so they can be there and distributed for the holidays.

Now if you really want to send a card, the Red Cross says that there is an organization that is collecting generic holiday cards and then distributing them to hospitals across the country. That address:

Operation Holiday Saints
c/o E. D. Hill
Fox News Channel
1211 6th Ave; 17th Floor
New York, NY 10036

Fox News? Sticks in my craw (whatever a "craw" is), but remember that it's for the troops.

[malta blue]

5. Thanks for the cold water Jeff...

I would rather the correct information than have it be wasted.

Much appreciated :)
MB

[LynneSin]

6. I wonder if I could include a gift card in the card

I mean a card is nice but I wouldn't mind maybe giving them a gift card to something they can be universally used (AMEX gift card or something like that)

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

8. Gift Cards are welcome...

But you would have to send the greeting card to the Fox News address and the gift card to the Red Cross. The Red Cross doesn't process the greeting cards, and I wouldn't trust anybody at Fox News to ever do the right thing with a gift card.

The Red Cross website suggesting that gift cards to national restaurant chains are also welcome, as many GI's have family on extended visits during their convalescence.

[1gobluedem]

7. Urban legend -- sorry to rain on the parade

But the USPS won't accept mail that isn't addressed to a specific soldier:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/soldiercards.asp

I do support the thought behind it, though.

On edit, I see someone already posted this. Sorry for the dupe.