Wednesday, March 16, 2011
I drove Matt to work at 0730 and then headed over to the Panzer Base Fitness Center to set up our USO table for the Soldier Readiness Program. It was pretty chilly this morning and the sun was definitely sleeping in today. I found our table and began bringing everything in from my car, one by one. A few guys asked if they could help but I thought it would be good exercise so I thanked them but said I was fine.
Bekki showed up just as I was bringing in the last bunch of stuff and she helped set the table up to look nice and pretty. We were ready to go by 0800 and the Soldiers started pouring in with their folders for each of the stations to sign off on. The deploying soldiers had to visit tables where they checked out with medical, dental, finance, Army Community Services, Exceptional Family Member Program, and so on. Once they arrived at our USO table we were just giving away free goodies, nothing needed to be signed by us. I'm pretty sure we saw over 60 guys (not a single female) today, several of them recognized me from the testing center. We had these adorable deployment kits to give away to soldiers with children. Each kit contained a teddy bear with an aviator outfit, dog tags, a journal, post cards, and a DVD. We gave away all 18 kits before noon and the event was a huge success.
As I made dinner for my husband and I tonight, I said a prayer for those who were about to deploy. It's hard to picture them miles away eating crappy MREs (meals ready to eat) while we enjoy all the luxuries that they are out there fighting for. It makes me so proud to be married to a Marine and to be an American when I think about them.
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| MRE Contents |
Why be saddled with this thing called life expectancy? Of what relevance to an individual is such a statistic? Am I to concern myself with an allotment of days I never had and was never promised? Must I check off each day of my life as if I am subtracting from this imaginary hoard? No, on the contrary, I will add each day of my life to my treasure of days lived. And with each day, my treasure will grow, not diminish. ~Robert Brault
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