Update 5/5/08: We’re up to $220!! Only $3280 to go. Please help spread the word.

When I moved here, I realized that I was going to miss going to Walter Reed. The opportunities to do something special for troops beyond the few I’m directly responsible for. So, I thought that I would do something special for those that may one day become troops and volunteer with JROTC program at the local high school.

This is the first year that the program has existed and they need help. Through other donations and fundraising they’ve been able to take the kids to various competitions. In their first year they have won two first place trophies in physical fitness, but they really need help with drill and ceremony (marching and movement). Since this is the first year, there aren’t any experienced cadets that can train them. Unfortunately, most of the Soldiers (like me) who consider themselves subject matter experts on D&C aren’t able to be at the school during classes to teach them.

The JROTC instructor, retired Chief Warrant Officer Hobbs, would like to send two returning Juniors to a Drill and Ceremony Camp this summer. The problem? The camp will cost $3500 to send them both (not each). I’m thinking that we have enough support here through direct donations as well as enough people with blogs elsewhere that we can put a substantial dent in that need.

Here’s the deal: Miss Ladybug has graciously donated four cross-stitches to four of our military services - Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy (click links to see these fine specimen). Anyone that contributes any amount of money to this effort to send two students to Drill Camp will be entered to win one of the following prizes:

1. One of four custom cross-stitches
2. A copy of Luke Stricklin’s debut CD “American By God’s Amazing Grace”
3. “Charlie Wilson’s War” on DVD (starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts)
4. One of Emily’s faulty kidneys
5. A signed copy of my cheesy, official Army First Sergeant Photo that all my offices are required to hang in their hallways (limited edition 1 of 1!)
6. A thank you (chances of winning are 1:1)

You can make a donation with a credit card through the Paypal link on the A Soldier’s Perspective sidebar or contact me if you’d prefer to send a check. At the end of each day, I will tally up how much has been collected so we can see how close we are to our goal. Please share this with as many people as possible.

While I work to get the code back up, you can email Paypal donations to dj_chcknhawk@yahoo.com by using the Paypal site. Thanks for your help and good luck.

Thanks to the Girl Scouts and the Community Associations of The Woodlands, military personnel serving in Iraq will be treated to 1,222 boxes of Girl Scout cookies!

Girl Scout Troops 8683, 11007 and 4384, along with Girl Scout leaders Susan Welbes and Neslihan Tesno, who are also Community Associations employees, coordinated the effort with The Woodlands Association Director Anthony Fasone.

By working at more than 40 “cookie booths” over a six-week period, the girls and their sponsors solicited purchases of boxes of Girl Scout cookies to send overseas. Buyers of the cookies were encouraged to sign a banner (shown in photo) which will be sent with the cookies.

Members of The Woodlands Professional Firefighters Association generously sponsored the postage costs of this venture.

Cards and letters of appreciation and support are important to young people serving far from home in dangerous and inhospitable locations. Citizens who would like to participate in supporting the troops can get involved by visiting www.AnySoldier.com or www.BooksForSoldiers.com.

Shown with all of their cookies just prior to boxing them for shipment are, back row, left to right: Anthony Fasone, Justin Hill, Susan Welbes, Lt. John Frost, Gary Bennett, Jason Enyart, Brice Parmer, Jimmy Ballinger, Neslihan Tesno, and Steven Crenshaw. Front row: Claire Wright, Angelica Saena, Kayla Fetterhoff, Alexandria Elder, Sarah Welbes, Megan Malpass, Liz Saenz, Katherine Tesno and Courtney Boney.

A quick reminder to all mil/Vets (or those that have qualifying family members) that are currently enrolled or planning to attend college next Fall - we are again accepting essays in conjunction with our Military Education Scholarship Program. This is the 3rd round of scholarships we have offered and it continues to be a rousing success!

Funded entirely by our employees, we are offering five $1,500 scholarships to students with personal or family military affiliation. Essays will be accepted between April 1st and May 12th, with the scholarships awarded a week later. Our essay prompt this time is:

“What leadership qualities have you derived from your service in the Armed Forces? How do you project that these qualities will help you in pursuing your education and beyond?”

We love reading about the lives and ambitions of our applicants, help spread the word. The costs of higher education are astronomical these days and every little bit helps. Thanks!

The Army Times has opened nominations for the 2008 Nominate a Hero contest. It is actually not just Army Times, but all the different publications of the Military Times papers. So not only a Soldier of the Year, but also a Sailor of the Year, Airman of the Year, Marine of the Year, and Coastguardsman of the Year.

Anybody can nominate any serving member, regardless if they are active duty, national guard or reserves. The nominee does not have to be someone who saved a life, was wounded or even served in war. It can be anyone that any submitter thinks is a hero, and as long as the person can submit a good reason in 300 words or less. There are thousands serving that are probably very deserving of this honor, but only one can be awarded. However, if you don’t nominate that person who you feel is a hero how will you ever know?

Go to http://www.militarytimes.com/smoy/nominate.php?pub=arm to put in a nomination.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day (or perhaps a belated Valentine’s Day gift), word has made it to You Served that there is a new initiative turning old military uniforms and fatigues into custom handbags for military spouses. The company is called Maeva Design and you can see an example of their product below. 10% of all profits benefit organizations associated with the military. Check ‘em out!

Thanks to our pals at VA Joe for sending this our way :-).

To wrap up “Honor Your Hero,” we’ve put together a Q & A with our winner, Sergeant Brian Horn.

You Served: What was your inspiration for AnySoldier.com?
Brian Horn: The inspiration for Anysoldier.com was a simple need to take care of my team in a tough situation. A few of my guys weren’t getting anything in the mail, and here I was getting excessive amounts of food, etc from my parents to supplement a less than ideal feeding situation. As I requested more and more support from my parents to help more and more soldiers, the idea of anysoldier.com came through a rare, chance phone call home to my Dad. We believed that as many troops needed help, there had to be some way of getting them connected to the outstanding supporters who had no idea just how to send their support. Seeing as how my parents financially couldn’t support our entire fighting force, we needed to come up with a vehicle to connect the supporters to our troops. Thus, Anysoldier.com was born.

You Served: What do you feel has been your greatest accomplishment through AnySoldier.com?
Brian Horn: My greatest accomplishment through the duration of Anysoldier.com is simply knowing that my Dad and I have had a lasting impact on so many lives, be it soldier or civilian. Thanks to the tireless supporters, Any Soldier has become a true force multiplier. And to think that we’ve really only just begun…

You Served: What was your most memorable experience as a Soldier?
Brian Horn: I had alot of memorable experiences as a soldier, but in the end there is really only one true goal of any war or deployment. Ask anyone in a leadership position and they should tell you the same. It is to bring all of your men home safely. No matter the cost, it was not an option to ensure that everyone found their way home.

You Served: What are your plans for the future?
Brian Horn: My future plans are to complete my degree in business while continuing to further promote and establish the Anysoldier.com organization. A book is also in the works!

You Served: Any plans for your award?
Brian Horn: I plan on donating a portion of this award money to anysoldier.com, as this organization is a non-profit website and stays alive strictly on donations alone.

In closing, I would just like to send a very heartfelt THANK YOU to all who voted for me and to the VA Mortgage Center for holding such an honorable ordeal! Thanks again guys, and please be sure to check out www.anysoldier.com if you haven’t already. All you have to do is try the site once, and I promise you will be hooked, and know that you are doing a great thing.

We also wanted to share this statement from Brian’s proud father, Marty Horn:

WOW! Thank you!!!!

It is really hard for me to put into words the pride we have in what Brian is and has done. His time in the military was full of action. He experienced a wide range of events, from terribly horrible to the very touching.
He has grown a lot and we appreciate every day that he is with us.
Our hearts go out to all the families who have lost a loved one. We are the fortunate ones, and we know it. We pray that this continues as Brian now has a sister in the war. She has a tough act to follow, and she knows it, and we do believe she is up to that challenge.

We thank everyone who shared their pride in Sergeant Horn and voted for him.

When we were in the planning stages of the American Hero Award, we decided it would be perfect to have our theme be “Honor Your Hero.” We called on visitors to the site to honor their heroes by nominating them for the award. Nominations came flooding in and with each story we read, we knew our task of choosing ten finalists would be a difficult one. Not only were the nominees’ stories inspiring, but so was the support and pride shown by those who had nominated them. Some soldiers were nominated by friends and families, others by people they had never met in person.

After a lot of reading, thought and discussion, we selected our ten finalists. Our staff can’t express enough how hard this part was. In the end, we chose ten Veterans whose stories, deeds, and courage stood out to us. Here is a quick recap of our finalists:

• Gregory Anton – an Iraq Veteran raising a family, working full time, and completing college
• Daniel Ashe – an Iraq Veteran who now cares for his young children while his wife is away at basic training
• Steve Clark – an Iraq Veteran who has spearheaded grassroots efforts to arrange a “Small Town Send-Off” for troops and sends 15-20 packages a month to the troops
• CJ Grisham – an Iraq Veteran who runs the blog “A Soldier’s Perspective” as well as the site “They Have Names,” which is devoted to honoring fallen soldiers
• Brian Horn – an Iraq Veteran who started the site “Any Solider.com,” which has provided support for nearly 1 million troops in 4 years
• Todd Parisi – an Iraq Veteran who is the youngest Sniper Instructor in the history of the Marine Corps and has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service to the Marine Corps and country.
• Brandon Rork – an Iraq Veteran who disarmed an attempted suicide bomber planning to detonate a dump truck filled with enough explosives to blow up his entire base
• Eddie Ryan – an Iraq Veteran who survived two gunshot wounds to the head and continues to defy the odds with his amazing recovery
• Steve Stephens – an Iraq Veteran who founded “Soldiers Helping those in Need,” who, along with Blankets.com, provided Iraqis with over 3,000 blankets
• Richard Tibbetts, Jr. – an Iraq Veteran with more than 25 years of military service to the United States through the Marine Corps

It’s clear that we had ten remarkable finalists on our hands and each was awarded a finalist prize of $500. There have been few personal or professional situations that can compare to the wonderful experience we had contacting the soldier’s and those who had nominated them.

Individuals who submitted nominations were thrilled to hear their heroes were being honored and each were ready to heap more praise on their nominees. Even though they were not receiving a prize, it was clear that having the Veterans they knew recognized was a prize in and of itself. As for the Veterans themselves, their stories were touching and their gratitude and humility was the most genuine we’ve ever witnessed.

These men, many who had no idea they had been nominated, expressed surprise that they had been chosen. One even called our offices to see if it was a joke. No, we assured him, no joke. Each of them deserves this prize more than they will know and we hope this inspires others to honor their heroes.

As wonderful as all of our finalists are, only one could be named the VA Mortgage Center.com American Hero. Visitors to the site voted once per day online from December 21, 2007 – January 11, 2008. We are proud to announce the $5,000 winner as…

Brian Horn
Founder of AnySoldier.com
Congratulations to Brian and all of our finalists! Thank you to all who participated.

Keeping with our “Honor Your Hero” theme of the American Hero Award Contest, we are profiling Veteran organizations and their heroic work. If you’re interested in having your organization featured, please contact Katherine@vamortgagecenter.com

Veterans For Peace is a 22-year-old organization with 7,000 members. Veterans For Peace delivered 24,000 phone cards to patients in 149 VA hospitals last Christmas. This year the organization is planning a larger effort, raising $90,000 to do so. Veterans for Peace also helps 80,000 Iraqis get safe drinking water, supports orphanages in Vietnam and Afghanistan, and has an NGO seat in the United Nations. As part of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, Veterans for Peace shares a part of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Northern New York chapter of Veterans for Peace helped pass the New York State depleted uranium (the “new Agent Orange”) GI/vet coverage law, which has served as a legal precedent for other states. The chapter also informed the VA headquarters of 4,000 nationwide free support groups that provide help for individuals suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The chapter has also begun assisting the Gandhi Institute on how to help America heal after the conflict in Iraq, including ensuring that troops aren’t passively blamed by neglecting their needs.

We would like to offer our thanks to Roland Van Deusen, US Navy 1967-8, Naval Reserve 1962-72, a Vietnam era Veteran who provided us with information about the achievements of Veterans for Peace, nationwide and in New York. To learn more about the Northern NY Chapter (Chapter 121) please visit www.vfp-northcountry.org or contact info@vfp-northcountry.org. To learn more about Veterans for Peace nationwide, please visit http://www.veteransforpeace.org.

VA Mortgage Center.com has launched a contest for honoring veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The American Hero Award, which comes with a prize of $5,000, will be awarded to the veteran who receives the most votes on the company’s website.

This year’s theme calls on citizens to “Honor Your Hero” by nominating friends and family members they think deserve to be recognized. Nominations will be accepted on the website until December 14, 2007. All nominations should explain why the nominee deserves to be recognized in 300 words or less.

Ten finalists will be selected and an open online vote will be used to determine the winner. Finalists will have their photograph and bios featured on the VA Mortgage Center.com voting page. Along with the $5,000 donation to the winning Veteran, VA Mortgage Center.com will be awarding $500 to each of the ten finalists.

Visit our Honor Your Hero page now to nominate a Veteran!

The second installment of our Military Education Scholarship Program here at VAMC launches today. After the overwhelming response we received last May (read about the winners here), we decided to keep the scholarship offerings coming each semester.

This round of scholarships includes more awards and more money to be had - we are offering 5 scholarships worth $1500 each.

We will be accepting submissions to our essay prompt: “How do you project that your military experience will prepare you for your career?” between October 1st and November 12th. For more details on how to apply, view our submission guidelines.

It was incredible to read about all the lives and stories we received back in May and we look forward to much of the same. Working day in and day out with Veterans and their families has proven a rewarding experience for all of those involved with our company, and this scholarship program was conceived to allow us to give back in some small way to the lives of those who serve. With the cost of higher education being what it is today, there’s no shortage of need for financial aid and assistance. Best of luck to all those who apply!