Remember Our Troops This Christmas

• Remember Our Troops at Gitmo This Christmas:

  Instead of bullets and IEDs, troopers here duck noxious "cocktails" of the fab five: feces, urine, spit, semen, and vomit tossed into their faces. They don't receive Purple Hearts when an enemy detainee requests a comfort item then grabs the hand of the kind guard passing it to him and breaks the trooper's arm or wrist. . . .

  Last year alone Guantanamo detainees received more than 14,000 cards, the vast majority from muddle-headed well-wishers and sympathizers. This year local authorities estimate the number may exceed 16,000! . . .

  Like the other 40,000 or so pieces of detainee mail that transit the post office on the base the cards are distributed into the cells. The cards are passed out to the detainees by troopers who may themselves not have received any sort of greeting from home in a long time.

• AnySoldier.com - Want to send your support to a Soldier in harm's way, but have no idea of what to send, who to send it to, or how to send it? -- Any Soldier Inc. started in August 2003 as a simple family effort to help the soldiers in one Army unit. Due to overwhelming requests, on 1 January 2004 the Any Soldier® effort was expanded to include any member, of any of the Armed Forces in harms way.

• In a giving mood? -- Consider donating to Spirit of America, whose mission is to "to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom."

  [Spirit of America] provides support to those on the front lines: American military and civilian personnel and people who call to Americans for help in their struggle for freedom."

  Recent projects include providing Special Operations Forces stationed in the Horn of Africa with education supplies, sports equipment, safety and survival gear for local residents; providing locals in Afghanistan and Iraq with winter clothing and refurbishing a school in Afghanistan. (View a list of SoA's Project Accomplishments for 2006).

Just a note to say I'll be away 21st-25th and blogging (if any) will be light for the remainder of December. Merry Christmas to all of my readers.