I just got a mail from a friend, forwarding an email from some soldiers at a hospital somewhere in central Asia. Here's the basic jist of it:
I was talking to our docs about conditions for our dudes in the hospital here. I asked if there was anything the patients need and my Doc said that unlike a typical hospital, there are no TVs, so guys are just laying there staring at the ceiling going out of their minds.
This isn't some big donation campaign or BS charity that takes every dollar you donate and puts it back into sending junk mail to ask for more money so they can send you more junk mail. This is me personally taking whatever you send across the street to the intensive care unit of a forward hospital in a combat zone to help some dude who just got shot or mortared or landmined get through the day.
He goes on to ask for DVD's, books, magazines, or anything else that might entertain the minds of 18-24 alpha males. I'm certainly an opponent of the war engine, but a lot of cogs in that machine are just kids like me, and being hurt and bored in a hospital, especially when you can't get visits from friends and family, sucks.
My first reaction when I got the mail was actually, "There are third-world countries where kids don't have any books at all, and you want me to send them off to some bored soldierboys? Seriously?" I thought about it a little more, though, and realized that I have little desire to spread car magazines, trashy thrillers, and dude comedies outside of this country. This is one of the more fun, viscerally helpful-feeling ways I've come across to help out our boys overseas.
My friend's email is clearyPERIODmegan@gmailPERIODcom (replace the word PERIOD with an actual period), and there's also a facebook group here. Contact her and she'll sort out the shipping, pickup, or whatever.
