troop letter: worth every mile!

January 07, 2011

In the last 10 days I’ve received 4 boxes from your organization.  What
a blessing you are to our troops! 

Bob,

In the last 10 days I’ve received 4 boxes from your organization.  What
a blessing you are to our troops! 

A small portion of the items have been distributed to soldiers here at
Bagram Air Base, but the majority of the items have been sorted and sent
to the fobs.  Each of the fobs where 401st soldiers are located has
provided a list of hard to get items, and one of the wonderful DA
Civilians here has worked magic getting boxes to the fobs.  She has
access to convoys, which means we can send things like NyQil, mouthwash
and hand sanitizer ... things that have alcohol in them, which otherwise
cannot be shipped.

The biggest hit… the item in most demand, continues to be the hot,
fresh, bread that I am able to make because of your generosity.  One day
last week I happened to sit down at the DFAC with a couple soldiers, not
from my organization, just soldiers serving their country here in
Afghanistan.  These soldiers are from Montana and they run the ammo
supply point here at Bagram.  The number of troops in their unit is not
as many as it usually takes to run this operation, yet these guys and
gals are getting the job done.  As we talked about home, and the folks
at home who love and support us, I mentioned you and your organization,
saying that I had been baking fresh bread since you sent me a bread
maker.  Holy Cow - their eyes lit up!  Hot, fresh, bread?, they asked.
I got the name of one soldier and a phone number.  The next day I baked
a loaf of bread, called and asked for directions to their shop, wrapped
my bread pan in my neck gaiter, then in my knit scarf to keep the bread
warm (NOTE:  the scarf is not authorized for wear with my uniform, no
matter how cold it is) then tucked the pan, gaiter, scarf and all into a
bag and set off to deliver the bread.

Luckily, I’m a walker.  I have no transportation here, so I started
walking - looking for their shop.  The soldiers had given the best
directions they could, but there are no street signs here… just dusty
roads.  I walk very fast, but I was afraid the bread would get cold…
it turned out to be 3 miles to where their shop was located.  But Bob,
the look on SSG Lugenbill’s face when I showed up with the bread was
worth every mile!

The soldiers don’t know who I am, and had no way to contact me after the
bread delivery.  But last night in Warrior DFAC, SSG Lugenbill saw me
and came rushing over.  He thanked me many, many times for the bread and
told me what it had meant to his troops. 

Bob, those soldiers have a shop and they think they can rig up the power
to run a bread maker, so if you get another bread maker donated, it
would please me to serve as a conduit, getting the bread maker from you
to SSG Lugenbill.  I tried to get his address so you could ship directly
to him, but he said it would be better if he just picked it up from me,
if one ever became available.

Thanks again for all you do for our troops.  It means so much to them.

You keep sending the bread mix, and I’ll keep being your hands in
Afghanistan,
Best Regards,
Jean