Blackfive spreads the word:
Here’s why and what they need: At the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom, some of the spouses of the deployed Marines put together hundreds of recovery baskets in anticipation of wounded Marines arriving at our military hospitals. The purpose behind these baskets was to provide the wounded with personal items to be used during their hospital stay and to help fill up their days while being confined in the hospitals. However, due to the higher than anticipated numbers of wounded, they are all but out of the supplies to outfit these baskets.They are in need of the following items: nonperishable food (snacks and candy), DVDs, all sizes of batteries, phone cards, Game Boy games, books and magazines, Domino’s Pizza gift certificates (they deliver on base), towels and wash cloths, and hygiene gear (razors and shaving cream).
These items can be sent to MSgt William Bonney, Office of the Division Inspector, 1st Marine Division Rein FMF, Bldg 1413 Room 200, Box 555380, Camp Pendleton, CA 92055-5380.
As most of you know, I am not a supporter of the Iraqi occupation or the concept of nation-building. But those decisions are not only out of our hands, but out of the hands of the Marines who are charged with executing them. They are still our Marines, they have risked everything they have to do their best to defend you, me and the nation, and I would very much like to encourage everyone who is a regular on this blog send something, even if it is only a phone card or a pack of batteries, to these wounded Marines.
It breaks my heart to read of Captain Sean Sims little boy, who lost his father in the Fallujah fighting. I cannot imagine the pain of Nick Larson’s parents, who lost their only son there.
It is all too easy for we intellectuals to view these things dispassionately, from a safely abstract distance. And there is a time and a place for honest and abstract debate, just as there is a time and a place to set it aside and do what little one can to alleviate a small piece of human suffering. This is that time, Camp Pendleton is the place.