Supporting the US troops abroad

Over the Christmas holiday I discovered anysoldier.com and was surprised I hadn't stumbled across it sooner.

Sergeant Brian Horn from LaPlata, Maryland, an Army Infantry Soldier with the 173rd Airborne Brigade was in the Kirkuk area of Iraq when he started the idea of AnySoldier to help care for his soldiers. He agreed to distribute packages that came to him with "Attn: Any Soldier" in his address to the soldiers who were not getting mail. Brian is no longer in Iraq but Any Soldier Inc. continues with your support.

Any Soldier Inc. started in August 2003 as a simple family effort to help the soldiers in one Army unit, thus our name. However, due to overwhelming requests, on 1 January 2004 our effort was expanded to include any member, of any of the Armed Services, in harms way.

We now have 981 Contacts (872 Army, 8 Navy, 42 Air Force, and 59 Marine) helping approx 43,570 soldiers!

There's a list of contacts, including recent emails, and a list of suggested items to send. You can even purchase care packages that have already been assembled with soldiers' needs in mind. I spent a long time just reading the emails from soldiers, it gives you a better sense of what it's like over there than reading most news articles. So if you received some money for Christmas and you're not sure how to spend it, consider getting something for Any Soldier and making a soldier's day.