Mom sends last shipment of Silly String

[unhappycamper]

Marcelle Shriver plays with Silly String while posing in front of boxes containing about 80,000 cans of Silly String she's collected and is sending to troops in Iraq, where they use the foamy substance to detect trip wires on bombs


Mom sends last shipment of Silly String
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Oct 18, 2007 11:53:32 EDT

Last October, Marcelle Shriver’s son called her from Ramadi, Iraq, and said his unit was spraying Silly String in doorways to check for trip wires connected to explosives.

A year later, she’s collected more than 120,000 cans of the toy store staple and finally found a company to ship the remaining 80,000 cans to Iraq.

Shriver said collecting was the easy part. However, finding a way to ship the aerosol cans packed with the foamy substance was a different story.

The U.S. Postal Service restricts air shipments of aerosol cans, which forced Shriver to seek help from the military or a shipping company registered to send hazardous materials.

Thom Campbell, chief strategic officer for Capacity LLC, a New Jersey-based shipping and warehousing company, read about Shriver’s Silly String cans in a news story and called to offer his company’s services.

“We have received a lot of thanks from people in the military,” he said. “By far, it’s been the most important and moving part of our participation, along with the tears in Marcelle’s eyes.”


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/10/marine_silly_string_071018/

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. figures. a toy is a better bomb detector than our high tech tools.

then again, the abrams tank originally came equiped with a specially made titanium wrench, that did not work. A sears craftsman tool did the job far better, at 1/100 of the cost.

[Olney Blue]

2. It won't be long until a government contractor re-labels the can as

"Wire detection kit" and sells it to the Pentagon at $300.00/can.

[left is right]

3. I don't know whether silly string works or not

but I have a couple of concerns. If it works, why is it up to the parents of soldiers to collect and send the cans? Why isn't the government sending them? Why hasn't the government said to the makers of Silly String we will be requiring x number of cans monthly and since this is war you will do your best to supply x cans, you can only sell it in stores if your production exceeds our requirements?
Having said all of this, let me add, congratulations to the parents who step up and provide what the government won't. Good on them and may it keep their loved ones safe.