Project Darkhorse

[DC - G'mother of My Fav Sailor]

 

 

"Darkhorse" is the name given to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, the most highly decorated regiment in the Marines.  These young men are currently serving in Afghanistan.  There are five companies in this battalion and this represents a large number of Marines who would appreciate any love we can send their way.

 

Weapons Company received several care packages in December and then HAE moved on to Lima Company.  When all have finished up mailing their boxes, Lima Company will be put to "bed."  The next, and probably last company, we will do is Kilo Company.  There are about 170 Marines in this group, all males.  The mailing date for Kilo Company is February 7.   This should give us enough time to get sufficient pillowcases ready for mailing.  As with every project, we need to have sufficient pillowcases for each Marine in the company to receive one.

 

For OPSEC reasons, I would appreciate your letting me know via PM (make me a friend on N4M if I am not already one) the number of pillowcases you will send in your box.

 

Sue sent me this "Semper Fi" poster.  I watched the video about the Marines in Bethesda.  The attitude of the Marines who have suffered terrible injuries is absolutely amazing.  Here is a link with a video of Kilo Company.

 

[DC - G'mother of My Fav Sailor]

Ooh-Rah!  

 

Birdie, Many thanks for taking the initiative in this.  Wouldn't it be great if they were willing and able to do this.  It certainly would encourage me to shop with them.

[Birdie]

That's kind of what I said in my e-mail to them. Our placing orders with them would depend on their willingness to label the boxes in a way that works for us.

[DC - G'mother of My Fav Sailor]

Okay group, I have the scoop.  There are not females in the battalion; however, there are females in support teams.  I have no idea how many BUT I do have a contact who will see that they get their stuff.  I have no idea how many to send.  So, here's my plan.  What if we send a couple boxes of female cases and "feminine goodies."  I suspect that they will find their way to deserving females no matter what.

 

Also there are probably four or five corpsmen per company we adopt.  I will make sure an angel pillowcase goes to each company.

 

Now for the difficult part ... if we want to try to do all companies, we have a very short turn-around.  We will need a lot of pillowcases ... let's say 1000.  If this is not possible, so be it.  We will do what we can.  We will mail to Lima Company on January 10.  Right now I have about sufficient commitment to cover a little more than half of Lima Company.  Is it possible to mail to Kilo Company on January 20?  

 

I know that most of us are in the middle of Christmas activities and not sewing.  So if we can't send pillowcases, do we want to send care packages without pillow cases to some of the companies. 

 

It is all really up to you.  Oh, yes, I have a contact for the replacement battalion.  Well, at least today I know who is intended for replacement.  As you know that can always change.  This would be another big group.  Do we want to work towards sending to that group as well.  This is a big undertaking.

[Birdie]

Just got this e-mail reply from the owner at Alltravelsizes.com

I'll be placing my order today or tomorrow.

I sent him a copy of the "Heads At Ease" label, which he will print out and stick on every box that is shipped for us.

 

Hi Birdie,

 

Thank you for your inquiry.  Sorry for the delay in responding.  We could certainly accomodate affixing the labels to your shipments and look forward to working with your organization to support our military.  Please have anyone placing an order type "Heads At Ease" in the customer comments box at the bottom of the checkout form.  We will have our shipping department look for this designator in the order comments to determine shipments that require the Heads At Ease label.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can be of further assistance.  Thank you and Happy Holidays!!

 

Scott Strahler

Owner

AllTravelSizes.com

[e-mail]

[Birdie]

Sent 30 scarves today. Each with a note and picture. Will send more as funds become available.

[Tamara]

Birdie, The scarves are nice.  I am assuming you sewed them??  Who is the picture of?

[Birdie]

No, the scarves were only cut, not sewn. I went by directions that were e-mailed to me. Actually quite easy.

You get 60" fleece (the good stuff, not the cheapy kind) and cut it in 9" width. Then trim the selvage and you have a nice scarf. You can get 4 of them out of a yard of fleece. I was told they had to be brown, tan, black or green. No other colors can be accepted.

The picture is of my husband, his flight crew and the Cal Fire crew in Auburn.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

that is so cool about the vendor doing our labels.  love the scarves and pictures.  funds are already on their way to you.  Isn't it neat how God works?

[Birdie]

God is amazing!!!! I can't say that often enough. He has blessed so much and has given me a new outlook on life by hooking me up with Heads At Ease. My husband works a lot. And I mean A LOT. He's gone every other weekend, which usually happens to fall on holidays. He's only had two Christmases off in the last 11 years. And so it goes for all other holidays.

But now, instead of sitting home and having a pitty party (as I used to do), now I make care packages, sew pillowcases, write notes to the soldiers, etc.

Life is good. Now, if I only had an unlimited amount of funds....well.....  :)

[DC - G'mother of My Fav Sailor]

If you find those unlimited funds, I would appreciate your spreading them around. ;-)

[Birdie]

Of course! I think I'll have to water my money tree a bit more. Maybe a little fertilizer will do the trick. :)

[D~W~G]

Oh Wow, Birdie, these are scarves made from fleece? What an awesome idea!!!!