Can I brag a bit? You folks may be the only ones who will understand this brag... Nope, no puppies or weddings or anything major, but I thought this was very cool. My neice is stationed at Camp Victory in Bagdad, and she was lucky enough to come home for a short leave around the 4th of July. We've been sending her "care" packages since she left for Iraq in January with magazines, candy, etc., so I asked her what else she wanted/needed. She was part of our houseboat trip the week before and enjoyed my homeroast coffee. She told me that her seargent liked good coffee, so I roasted a pound of PNG Arokara and a pound of CRLM and sent them back with her so she could score some points with "the boss"! The coffee wouldn't really be fresh by our standards, but compared to what they normally drink, it has to be much better. Anyway, I just received an e-mail from her telling me that the coffee was a huge hit not only with her seargent but with the entire platoon! The email included a request for more coffee, so I'm going to roast 4 or 5 pounds over the weekend and send them to her! If this keeps up, I'll be able to justify the RK drun that I've been thinking about! One short commercial... My neice mentioned that out of her platoon, only two or three people get any packages from home. I was shocked by this! If you know of anyone in Iraq or Afganistan, think about sending them a care package. Since the package goes to an APO address, it is treated as domestic mail, so the rates are the same as sending a package to a US address. Also, many service organizations sponsor packages to these areas. The 4H group that my daughter belongs to is sending packages monthly to my neice for distribution to other soldiers at Camp Victory. ...ron (Official Home Roaster for Camp Victory!) |
Great story! Thanks for sharing. Our woodturning club is making custom pens for the troops. Anything we can do to make our men and women in uniform know we love and support them is a big YES from me. Maybe next time you should send a Yemen! Les Ron_L wrote: Can I brag a bit? You folks may be the only ones who will understand this brag... Nope, no puppies or weddings or anything major, but I thought this was very cool. My neice is stationed at Camp Victory in Bagdad, and she was lucky enough to come home for a short leave around the 4th of July. We've been sending her "care" packages since she left for Iraq in January with magazines, candy, etc., so I asked her what else she wanted/needed. She was part of our houseboat trip the week before and enjoyed my homeroast coffee. She told me that her seargent liked good coffee, so I roasted a pound of PNG Arokara and a pound of CRLM and sent them back with her so she could score some points with "the boss"! The coffee wouldn't really be fresh by our standards, but compared to what they normally drink, it has to be much better. Anyway, I just received an e-mail from her telling me that the coffee was a huge hit not only with her seargent but with the entire platoon! The email included a request for more coffee, so I'm going to roast 4 or 5 pounds over the weekend and send them to her! If this keeps up, I'll be able to justify the RK drun that I've been thinking about! One short commercial... My neice mentioned that out of her platoon, only two or three people get any packages from home. I was shocked by this! If you know of anyone in Iraq or Afganistan, think about sending them a care package. Since the package goes to an APO address, it is treated as domestic mail, so the rates are the same as sending a package to a US address. Also, many service organizations sponsor packages to these areas. The 4H group that my daughter belongs to is sending packages monthly to my neice for distribution to other soldiers at Camp Victory. ...ron (Official Home Roaster for Camp Victory!) |
Ron, I just got turned on to home roasting a few weeks ago. I am a Sergeant in the Army, on Active Duty and I'm stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. I spent 6 months in 2002 in Kuwait, followed by 1 year in Baghdad. I spent about 7 months running a checkpoint at the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) and my checkpoint was next to Camp Victory. I was in 1st Armour Division, and a Bradley Commander (M2A2). I can assure you that your niece is in a pretty good (for Iraq) place, and I wish her and the rest of the men and women over there my Best!. Note: It's at least 120 degrees out there, and think about that when you send 'Care Packages' to them. I asked people to 'burn' music CD's and send out old DVD's and CD's. We love anything entertaining from the US of A ! Keep your packages small and the lighter, the better. Current magazines, a newspaper or 2 is really cool too. Car trader magazines ( It's the 1st ..no 2 nd thing that we get when we return home) (the 1st thing is, hopefully..lucky..(hint, hint, nudge, nudge). My brother is into cigars and sent a few boxes over to me, I shared them with the people closest to me, and I drank coffee everyday there. I took the month of July to go home ( S. New York and N. PA) and my brother was homeroasting coffee in his garage. After my 1st cup of Kona, I was hooked HARD... I bought some Popcorn Pumpers and WB poppery 2's and went nuts and ordered the 2X *-pack green coffeee sampler from...you guessed it Sweetmaria's and it'll be here on the 6th... I can't wait to get started... By the way, Coffee is a great idea!, If I had home roasted coffee, over there, I would have been MUCH better off ! I'm the old Sarge that carried a dual fuel Coleman Stove, and a SS perc. pot and brewed my own coffee, everyday. Filled up my thermos, and did many patrols through the streets of Western Baghdad wired on Java, late at night, early in the morning, any time we were called out. Politics aside, Support the Troops ! I retire with 20 years in the Army, 30 Sept 2005. I hope to finish my degee, get a house of my own in the next 6 months, and maybe look into coffee roasting as a line of work. I think that I've learned alot from the internet, and this site. It's something that I like, I've got a few ideas, and at worst, I'd be stuck drinking up my own misguided roastings... Who knows. Keep up your niece's morale, offer to write other members of her unit, you might make a new friend 'over there'. Everything is okay in the End. If it's not okay, Then it's not the End. Gary --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. |
You know if you post the addr, maybe a few more of them can send them some homeroast. Ron_L wrote: <Snip> -- Ben Treichel Program Manager S.E Michigan SwRI 248-232-7365 (o) 248-935-6845 (m) |
I'd like to second Ben's thought. If you can provide some names of your neice's platoon-mates and the mailing address, I'd be glad to put = together a package or two for them. Brent |
Oaklandguy wrote: <Snip> Thanks guys... I'll send her an e-mail and find out the best way to get packages to more of the soldiers. Look for a follow-up shortly... ...ron |
Please, as someone who never served our country in the armed forces I'd love to contribute. Count me in for a couple of pounds at least!!! James |
Count me in! My father was a 1st Calvary Air Mobile soldier in Vietnam in the mid 60's (an Ia Drang Valley veteran) and received care packages from a young lady in North Alabama he had never met. When he returned home he went to meet that lady and three month later they were married - My parents have been married almost 38 years and it all started with a care package to a soldier... humm maybe my single sister should be sending a package too. Gregg |
<Snip> I really, REALLY like your motto, Sarge. Gene Smith riding the wild learning curve, in Houston |
Gary Townsend wrote: <Snip> Gary... First, Thank you for all of the time you have spent in defending our country and our way of life. Second, congrats on you upcoming retirement. Good luck in your plans for after retirement! Third, welcome to the world of homeroasting! I've only been roasting since February, but I love it. I've learned a lot from the great people on this list! Fourth... Thanks for your insight on the things that you and your fellow soldiers enjoyed receiving. My neice is part of the 555th Engineering Company, so she has a "desk job" and works with mapping the intelligence information that is coming in. At this point, she's supposed to come home in mid December, but she feels that there is a good chance that she will be extended for at lest 6 months. ...ron |