In Reply to: Re: Christian "Fundamentalists in US military? posted by Jo on December 19, 2006 at 20:52:03:
I've been thinking about doing some sort of volunteer activity for the troops, like putting together care packages or writing letters. It may be too late to get on the Christmas bandwagon, but it shouldn't make that much difference because things aren't getting any easier for them. Talk about Holidays in Hell! If your son-in-law wasn't agnostic, I'd say, "Tell him he's in my prayers." How about this as a note in your holiday communication: "People back home you don't know are thinking about you and wishing you well."
I know about the benefits and perks thing, btw. A good friend's nephew just re-upped because of the signing bonus of $50K. That's not peanuts to a kid from a small town in a state with few jobs if he were to come home from the service right now. The thing that's got my friend so upset (her nephew is like a son) is that he had a traumatic head injury, was hospitalized with a concussion, then sent right back out on active duty in the line of fire. On top of dealing with his concussion, he saw his buddy get his head blown completely off. It's not so much the re-enlistment and continued deployment in Iraq that's got her upset laying awake at night, but the fact that he's showing all the signs of PTSD (nightmares) and not getting treatment. So the health care benefits aren't everything we'd hope for...