DU's adopted soldiers do not "qualify" for leave..(pics)

[SoCalDem]

I saw Mary & Jim tonight and they said that even though the guys are there for a year, they willl not get leave.. I guess where they are is too "hot" to spare anyone.. Tikrit.:(

Jimmy is counting the days til he can ...G E T ..O U T !! He had planned on making the army a career, but no more.. He also said that the scuttlebutt is that Iraq will not be the last.:(

They are still receiving and enjoying packages.. Thanks to all who have adopted them

He put names on the backs of the photos, but I do not feel comfortable listing them here :)

[jab105]

1. they are so young!!!!!!!!!!

poor guys...let us know if you got any more guys that we can send packages to socal, I was too late in writing you to help out last time...

[SoCalDem]

2. check your pm mailbox

I sent you their addresses & names :)

[dsc]

8. This was brought home to me a few weeks ago

On Point was interviewing two soldiers who had served in Iraq and they were named Jeremy and Zack. I never knew anyone with those names until I taught school and now I know a ton all students or former students. All I could think of was the teen agers and younger than I knew with those names.

[Don_G]

3. The Situation There Is Bad

Check this article out: http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0310/S00105.htm

[lfairban]

4. That is heavy!

If it was sent to all the papers in the US as a letter to the editor, I wonder how many would publish it.

[7th_Sephiroth]

5. yeah

someone should do that, if even a few papers pick it up it might be enough to drop bush's numbers into the 30's

[Mari333]

6. I sent out that link to bartcop, cnn, atrios, and a few columnists

I hope they pick it up..I know bartcop did. Keep sending those out...maybe Nightline would cover it....also sent it to a columnist at Newsweek.

[SoCalDem]

7. kick for daytimers

:)

[Robb]

9. Man, they ARE young....

...Did I say that? :)

[proud patriot]

10. Thanks

My friend , (yes I have a new friend) has been away from
home for a year and in Iraq for 6 months . He misses
his young wife and hopes to get home soon . His hometown
is in California so I hope to meet him someday .

Our lives changed utterly when we adopted him .
The worry , an anguish everytime another I hear
about wounded or killed soldiers is difficult.

I thank you SoCalDem for the honor of Really
supporting our Soldiers . My family thanks you .

[gully]

11. *sigh* Please tell them Thank YOU from all of us.

And that we are sorry they are there in the first place.

I do appreciate their service though I disagree with 'da comando in chief'...

[Mandate My Ass]

12. No LEAVE??!!

Poor things. And yes, they look impossibly young to be seeing what they're seeing there. I wish them all well.

[SoCalDem]

13. Jimmy's parents think that the "leaves" were just a PR stunt

They are so incredibly pissed at *.. and they were republicans..

When the stories about the leave came out at first there was a flurry of stories about the soldiers, but when was the last time you saw soldiers coming home on leave?? They made it sound like it would be a revolving door, of soldiers going home and returning.. It's not happen that way..:(

Rumsfield just wanted the publicity.:(

From what his parents said, I get the impression that his crew are out EVERY NIGHT...ALL NIGHT...and they sent all the women back to Germany (can't have more "girls" getting hurt)..and they are shorthanded...

[Mandate My Ass]

14. hmmmmm after that first bunch got home

it did get very quiet. What a bunch of snakes. How scary that they have to patrol every night, you'd think that would be pooled and they'd have a bit of time to rest. This is outrageous that they're laying it down on the line every day with no end in sight. :mad:

Thanks for the pics, they're a handsome bunch, and I wish them and all the soldiers well.

[SoCalDem]

15. The really sad thing is that they are scared of kids now..

Kids would walk up to them and act friendly, and then run away and then the gunfire starts..

They cannot trust ANYONE except each other :(

[proud patriot]

30. So sad

:-(

[leftchick]

16. SoCal am I dim?

What is the fellow in the back signing? Is it peace? It doesn't quite look like it. Anyway, thanks so much for the info on these fellows. May they all make it home SOON and in one piece!

[SoCalDem]

17. peace..(That's Jimmy)..my friend's son

:)

[RamboLiberal]

18. Stars N' Stripes has a bit on living conditions today

I posted article over in LBN, but here's excerpt. At Hunkering Down section of article they also mention some living in a safe house in Kirkuk.

When Pfc. Alan Shaffer wakes up each morning in his camp near the Tigris River, he looks up and sees the stars. He grabs an MRE for his morning chow; for a toilet he uses a slit trench in the grassy field not far from where he sleeps. A shower to wash off the sweat? Only in his dreams.

Shaffer and his infantry buddies from Company A of the 173rd Airborne Regiment’s 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry Regiment live in the yard of a village water plant in north- central Iraq. The two open, concrete buildings aren’t safe to live in, so the soldiers sleep outdoors in a chigger-infested yard ringed with barbed wire.

The neighborhood, a hotbed of Saddam loyalists, isn’t terrific, either.

The run-down water plant is the 11th camp Shaffer has called home since his unit parachuted into northern Iraq in April.

“We always move into the worst sites and fix ’em up,” said Shaffer, 20, of Monroe, La. “Then we have to move on.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18133

[mrgorth]

19. How

do I adopt one?

[RamboLiberal]

21. To adopt one just Private Message SoCalDem

You can find her PM under one of the posts here or under profiles.

[Melinda]

20. SoCal, could you re-post the list of items needed, please?

And thanks again for all you have done and continue to do for OUR loved ones. :hi:

[omshanti]

22. I'm sort of new to DU and missed this the first time round

What all is involved in 'adopting' a soldier?

I will do what I can to help. I really feel for the soldiers who have become pawns in the power struggle of this admin.

Edit -- apparently I "do not have enough posts to send private messages".
Does this mean I need to post-pad?
:-(

[RamboLiberal]

23. omshanti - you'd have to get message to SoCalDem somehow

to get addresses of troops that need packages. It got started when a friend of SoCalDem had her son Jimmy in Iraq send some addresses of guys in his unit that weren't receiving packages from home. A bunch of us here decided it was a great way to show we supported the troops though we didn't support Bushie's war.

I don't know how many posts you need here before you can PM someone.

[omshanti]

29. Thanks rmpalmer!

SoCalDem if you're reading this and you know of anyone else who isn't receiving 'care packages' please PM me. Thanks for what you are doing - you are a true Patriot.

Especially now with the holiday season looming, the troops need an extra morale boost.

[proud patriot]

31. here's a link with a list

http://www.equipped.com/deployed_military_suggestions.htm

[diamond14]

24. yes, these guys are DRAFTED...they can't leave....

hoping that many young men today begin to realize that the DRAFT is already here...bush* is a back-door man, instituting a draft without notice in the press....

[Skittles]

25. SOCAL

NOW GET THIS:

I received a letter from M.B. - he thanked me for my package but was most excited by the beanie babies I sent - he said they had to clean up and elementary school - he said he gave one toy to one little Iraqi girl and "it was all over with; they flocked me like a pack of wild dogs". He said they were SO happy.

He requested some tuna and hydroxycut (fitness stuff) - I sent them in another package along with some more beanie babies. Yesterday I mailed yet another package with more toys and some canned chips, a Texas t-shirt and some magazines!

[Mandate My Ass]

26. That's good to know, thanks

I'm ready to send out a package and I was wondering what else to put into it. I always send tuna in the new envelope package and now they have flavored ones too so I sent some of those. I'm also going to send chlorella tablets because that helps detoxify metals from the body if they've ingested any and I'm guessing fresh fruit and veggies are hard to come by.

[Skittles]

27. LOL - tuna:

I was kinda miffed about the request because I WAS going to include some in the original package but my boyfriend said JESUS, THEY ARE ALREADY IN IRAQ; WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO TORTURE THEM?

I don't care for tuna and didn't realize there were so many kinds. I mailed four kinds of the enveloped tuna.

My next package will include some PEANUTS from the WHITESBORO TEXAS PEANUT FESTIVAL which I am attending tomorrow!

[Mandate My Ass]

33. good beanie baby karma

That's so cool that they gave them to the kids and they liked them so much. I just went to a store that's going out of business and they were selling beanie babies for $2.75 each. I was ready and willing to pay a lot more than that. I got four but I'm going to go back and get more for the next box.

[Bozita]

28. ABC Nightline tonight -- R&R for our troops

link to Nightline's daily email:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=547791

[proud patriot]

32. Thanks for that link

:hi: I'll watch it

[Bozita]

34. kick

[SoCalDem]

35. one last kick

:)

[Changenow]

36. SoCal please check your PM

Thanks.

[SoCalDem]

37. Done.. check yours ..someone aked for e-mail..(forgot who it was)

I am going to ask Mary to have Jimmy take a pic of all the ones we adopted, and maybe a few new names if there are new guys there :)

[Changenow]

38. I sent one more note to your pm

thanks.

[jumptheshadow]

39. Maybe the e-mail came from me

I wanted to see if "our" soldier was in the picture you posted.

[omshanti]

40. SoCalDem let me know if I can help

Kick

on edit - check your PM - sending you one now.