I want to send Chrismas cards to our troops in Iraq but am having a hard time obtaining an address. Anyone?

Question

This has absolutly nothing to do with anyone's personal politics. I'm not intrested in what anyone has to say about Bush, the war, or terrorism. I simply want to let OUR troops know that they are not forgotten and to wish them a merry Christmas.

Answer 1

You need their names before you can mail them and you can go to www.anysoldier.com to get names and addresses.

Answer 2

Last Christmas I went to a luncheon where some folks from the American Legion, the VFW, and their auxiliaries were represented. They said that cards and letters for the troops could be given to them. So you may want to contact your local AL or VFW.

Keep in mind that they may be a little cautious about giving out names and addresses. This is because back in the Vietnam War the troops received some "hate mail" from people opposed to the war.

Answer 3

How about to wounded troops in the hospital?:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington, D. C. 20307-5001

Answer 4

There was an article about this recently. Do you know someone out there or are you trying to just send cards to soldiers that you do not know? If you know the soldier then you can get the address thru the family of the soldier or the family can get the address to send the card to.

If you do not know the soldier, the government will not give you the address. If you send the cards without a specific soldier's address on it, it will be either destroyed or returned to you.

The military is trying to protect the soldiers from getting cards that have been poisoned or trapped somehow. If cards from strangers were allowed to be delivered then this could possibly happen. Also, it is to protect the soldiers from being bombarded from cards with anti-war or anti-military themes coming from strangers. This would be a major blow to the soldier's morale.

Your best bet is to donate to various organizations that help the soldiers overseas and not try to do this as an individual.

Lots of people are saying otherwise. However, I have a link to the article in Snopes where I first read this.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/soldiercards.asp

Here is a link to Walter Reed about this.
http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Lists/WRNews/DispForm.aspx?Id=25&

Here is a link to the US post office and what they have to say about it.
http://www.usps.com/supportingourtroops/supportingfaqs.htm#H5

Here is their direct quote:
Q. I’d like to send a card to servicemen. Can I just send one to anybody?

A. Only if you have the name and address. Programs that allowed people to send mail to servicemembers unknown to them were discontinued following the terrorist attacks of 2001. Mail addressed as “Any Service Member,” “Any Soldier, Sailor, etc.” will not be accepted. If this mail is deposited into a collection box it will be returned to sender. Items without return addresses are opened in our Mail Recovery Center Network to determine the sender’s address. If it is impossible to determine the sender’s address, we donate care items to local charities.

Please, if you want to direct your energy into helping military personel overseas, go to the American Red Cross and make your donations.

http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_subsrc=RCO_DonateButton&s_src=F7ZWGR00

Also, there are other organizations that you can send donations to. Do a little searching and you can find them.

Answer 5

I would second the care package.
I worked on bases teaching college classes for a year in Kuwait and 8 months in Afghanistan. I asked students about drives back home to send cards, letters, etc.
They all said that cookies, beef jerky, nuts, toothbrushes, socks, candy, or other care package items is much much better. You can always include a note.
(To be fully honest, some students also mentioned pictures of pretty girls--they were not in total agreement about what kind of pictures.)

My students included members of all four of our branches of the military.

Answer 6

Good Job! Get in touch with the USO. They will give you the correct address to email the troops with love.
Signed,
Caring Mom
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving!

Answer 7

I would recommend instead of sending cards... create a care package for the soldiers. You can send snack foods (either resealable, or snacks you can eat in one sittng.) Open food can bring in critters! Magazines are good to send. Cd's, DVDs.... They are very limited to supplies over there so just something as simple as person hygiene stuff would be appreciated. You can get in touch with the USO and they can tell you what excatly to do.

Answer 8

The mail service was overwhelmed with cards, so they asked that people not send them anymore. Look here for other options: http://www.uexpress.com/dearabby/special_column.html

Answer 9

go to:
soldiersangels.org
anysoldier.com

They have tons of programs that do things like that.