This weblog is no longer being maintained. All information here has been ported to EclecticEchoes.com. This site (heupel.com/eclectic) remains only for archival purposes.
You may be familiar with Toby Keith’s song “American Soldier” which has become an anthem for our forces, especially those deployed. Last night as I was driving through Mystic, the radio started playing a song from my time in the Gulf. For some reason, I really lost it. Tears streaming down my face as I was driving over the bridge. By the time I got parked the song was over and I sat in silence in that freezing car for quite some time remembering people long gone and events I thought were long in the past.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve heard that song on the radio. In fact it’s been since I was there. Hearing it again brought back that flood of memories I have been wrestling with unknowingly for a very long time, and it made me realize something. I am damned lucky, and blessed.
And it’s time to give some of those blessings back.
I spent three Christmas holidays deployed in combat zones during my six years with the Army. They can be extremely rough times. I know from my family and my wife’s point of view they are also rough–in some ways even more so–for those waiting at home.
There are ways we can help support them–the men and women–whatever your viewpoint on the war or the politics of it all:
These are only a small selection of the programs that are available to support the soldiers and sailors, their families and the mission of rebuilding. They are a selection that I personally believe in. Supporting the rebuilding mission, supporting the soldier, putting a smile on their face by giving them a chance to call home, and supporting the families left behind.