Supporting the Troops

Delivering Medical Supplies to an Iraqi Clinic, Jan 2004 (that's not me; I was the one taking the picture)

One reader wrote to me asking about how best to support the troops downrange, and about a group called "Adopt a Platoon". Its a very, very good question, because there are so many charitable groups out there.

I'm not familiar with "Adopt a Platoon", although their web site looks pretty legit. Back in 2003, my unit (the 1-1 Cav) founded an excellent charity called Iraqischools.com, although it is geared toward Iraqi children instead of the troops (If you donate, I recommend contacting them first; several different units have rotated ownership, and I'm not sure how up to date the web site is now).

The truth is, soldiers are very well supplied now, much more so than a few years ago. In my experience we simply received too much useless stuff, so here are some guidelines. I'm sure this advice applies equally toward British, Australian soldiers, or anyone else serving in Iraq, since they use the same Post Exchanges and Iraqi vendors as US soldiers do.

Some things that people often recommend (like the "Adopt a Platoon site") but are no longer much needed (at least not since the beginning of the invasion in 2003): wet-wipes, sunscreen, playing cards, paperback novels, mouthwash, toothbrushes, other small toiletries, etc. Around Christmastime, I got boxes of this kind of stuff. I gave the excess to Iraqi Army soldiers (who always need stuff), but not every soldier had contact with them, so a lot of it got thrown away.

We got a lot of religious material too, which was very seldom used, and since most of it is Christian, and in English, we can't give it to the Iraqis. The only religious material I really needed anyway is my Bible, and I already brought one with me (in electronic format on my Palm pilot). But still, Church groups were usually the most generous out there, and the gesture was always appreciated.

If you could read their minds, what most soldiers would really want most are porn, alcohol, and tobacco. But porn and alcohol are prohibited (although everywhere anyway) while tobacco isn't good for their health.

So what is left? DVDs and AT&T calling cards are always useful, a book or two also, but don't go overboard (libraries are everywhere). Most canned food ("Adopt a Platoon" says don't send pork products, but there is no prohibition on those), candy, and snack foods like beef jerky would disappear right away, and chewing gum was particularly in demand. The US military is very well fed over there now, but any variety is always a good thing. You have to consider the heat however; once my wife mailed me a bag of gummi bears, and it completely melted with all the bears fused into one perfectly smooth gummi ball... Someone once sent every solider in my unit a $20 check (I lost mine though). The gesture was far more important than the money.

I thought personal correspondence like Christmas cards or letters were always great, and they don't cost much. Letters from school children were always fun to read. Most soldiers would not write back, but a few do. If you are a woman and include an email address or an internet chat ID, I guarantee you will get responses. Keep in mind, however, that a lonely soldier is likely to form an emotional attachment this way. But if that's what you are looking for, then go ahead!

One thing I saw on the news that was NOT helpful were these ridiculous bake sales in 2006 for additional body armor for soldiers. The Army has issued all the body armor soldiers need (and with the heat they don't want any more anyway). Whether wittingly or not, these charities were used a propaganda tools by people like filmmaker Michael Moore, and actually did more harm than good to morale.

Keep in mind too that US soldiers are not the only ones suffering in Iraq. The Iraqi Army and Police contain a lot of honest soldiers that have a very, very difficult job. Iraqi civilians, especially children, need all the help they can get. International Aid groups, such as the Red Cross/Red Crescent, SaveTheChildren, or the Iraqischools.com I mentioned above are also good charities to keep in mind. If you donate to one of these, make certain that its really a neutral organization, not one of the many political anti-war groups, or fronts for Islamic militias that disguise themselves as charities.