It is the beginning of a long 4th of July weekend. Most of us will be celebrating our nation's independence by barbecuing hot dogs and corn and watching fireworks displays. While we are enjoying the most American of all holidays, the 4th of July weekend is just another series of working days for our servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Follow me below the fold to learn more about summertime in the Middle East.
As an archaeologist, I have spent several summers in the Middle East. The temperatures are well about 40 Celsius (that's 104 Farenheit) for months at a time. I have never experienced the kind of thirst that I experienced when I did a summer of fieldwork in Jordan. Blue jersey dad spent about three weeks working the in National Museum in Baghdad in the summer of 1976. The daytime temperatures were about 110 degrees, and he was not wearing a helmet, flak jacket, and full combat gear. In short, summertime in the Middle East is miserable. And don't let anyone tell you that "it's a dry heat." Temperatures of 115 degrees are still 115 degrees, regardless of whether it is humid or not.
Here are a couple of pictures that blue jersey dad took in the ancient city of Babylon in Iraq. This was long before the days of electronic cameras. The Iraqi government required him to process all his film before he left Iraq so that they could check each picture. It was so hot that dad had trouble keeping the photographic chemicals cool enough to develop the film.
You can do something to make the lives of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who are serving in the Middle East a bit more pleasant this summer. I donation to NFTT will help send care packages to our servicemembers overseas. Here is a link to the diary that ms scarlet leadpipe posted earlier this week. Her son was deployed to Iraq last summer, and he received one of our care packages. I will quote one paragraph, but you should go and read the entire diary. Her son said:
The weather really sucked when we first got here. The summer days were like anywhere from 110 – 145 during the day. Add that plus our body armor and our uniforms and it makes for a miserable day. Plus when we first got here our trucks didn’t have air conditioning. It would get to 165 degrees in the truck. It was nothing to lose about 10 pounds in a 2 hour mission. You would have to drink 5-6 1.5 liter bottles of water a day.
I know that times are hard for all of us, but please spare a few dollars to make the lives of our servicemen and women a little bit easier.
Our goal for Netroots For The Troops 2009 is $50,000.00 (cash or in-kind donations).
PLEASE DONATE HERE
We realize that you would like to donate something tangible to go inside the packages that will be mailed to the troops. Unfortunately, accepting in-kind donations from individuals is not practical in terms of storage and handling of the items. The Pittsburgh Convention Center is a union shop so we have more stringent rules that need to be followed. Instead, we will only be accepting corporate donations or cash from YOU to purchase items for the care packages this year.
Here’s how YOU can help:
- Please contact TexDem or VeloVixen if you know someone who might be helpful in securing the corporate in-kind donations. To help you think of companies who could donate products, see below* for a list of potential items. Put your thinking caps on and let us hear from you. It takes time to get through the corporate processes so we need to hear from you ASAP!
- We are accepting cash from individuals and
beg ask that you DONATE HERE to contribute to this worthy cause. Your donation will enable us to purchase the things that we are unable to obtain through corporate donations, and will help to pay the costs of shipping them to our troops. This year your donations will be tax deductible, thanks to Netroots Nation and their partner Netroots Arts and Education Initiative, a California 501(c)3 corporation.
- Sign up for a diary! Our goal is to post two diaries per day until NN09. That’s a lot of diaries! Don’t worry---we’ve made it easy for you. We’ve got a template set up, and all you need to do is add a small introduction telling us why you are donating, sharing a story of someone you know who has served or is serving, or any other thing you want to share that might help motivate others to donate. Please contact politik if you are interested in posting a diary.
- Do you know a service member who would like to receive a care package? Email a request to: NFTT.request@gmail.com before July 31, 2009.
Please include all of the following information. Unfortunately we will not be able to process any incomplete requests:
Rank:
Last name:
First name:
APO Address Line 1:
APO Address Line 2:
APO Address Zip:
- Write letters to be included in the packages! Our own jlms qkw is collecting the letters and will print them out and bring them to Pittsburgh. Just email your letter to her jlms_qkw@yahoo.com. Look for more information from jlms qkw soon. If you need some ideas, rbutters wrote an excellent diary with tips on how to write letters to troops and why it’s so important to them.
- Help us assemble the packages in Pittsburgh. It's fun! More information will be forthcoming for those of you who are going to be in Pittsburgh and would like to help there.
- Please consider joining the NFTT FaceBook Group. Invite your FaceBook and non-FaceBook friends.
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*The following list contains some of the things we would like to include in the packages. Please let us know if you know someone who might be helpful in securing these corporate in-kind donations. (Please DO NOT send these items yourself! We have no way to accept them. Instead, your cash donation is the very best way to help make this happen on the ground in Pittsburgh.)
- Baby wipes
- Mechanix gloves
- Language translation books or CDs (Rosetta Stone as an example)
- LED flashlights
- Gel shoe insoles
- Goop Cleaning Gel
- Powdered energy drinks
- Gel energy food packets
- DVDs and CDs
- Letters to the soldiers
- More suggestions coming soon
Books for Soldiers
Soldiers love to receive books, but due once again to the logistics of collecting and storing them prior to NN09, books will not be included in the packages that NFTT will put together this year. Other organizations are more specialized in the collection and distribution of books to Iraq and Afghanistan. If you are interested in sending books, please consider checking out the Books for Soldiers Website. It is run by DKos's very own StormBearand is a great resource for giving.
Important Note about Successful Online Donations
PLEASE DONATE HERE
When you make your online donation, the screen indicates that you are donating to Netroots Nation. This is the right screen! Rest assured all donations WILL go to NFTT. If you wish, feel free to use the comment area provided to note that your donation is intended for Netroots For The Troops. It isn’t necessary to do this however, as this is the only fundraising activity being conducted for Netroots Nation at this time. For further information about online donations, please read TexDem's diary on the subject.