Thursday, December 6, 2012

Marine Care Packages

My friend, Susie Stark, is a retired Marine. She sent out the following message to a few friends in October about two of her Marine friends and their units being shipped off to Afghanistan.


1) SSgt Weston, Anthony
GLT-6
Unit 40081
FPO AP 96427-0081

Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Anthony Weston. Nickname: “Antt”. Call sign: “Pink Panther” (what did the Pink Panther say when he stepped on the ant? Kid’s joke, I know!). From Chicago, is a healthy eater, loves to workout, wears 5-finger shoes when not in uniform. Antt is one of the most loyal Marines I know – and a dedicated and skilled logistics chief. If anything needs to be acquired, I always go to him. He was in charge of the motor pool and fixing all my mistakes at the Marine Corps Trials and Warrior Games for the past 2 years. I thought he was stationed in Germany until he finally responded to my email last night and said he was in Afghanistan and just finished a 15-hour firefight. He’s getting attacked each night and I suspect he and his unit need a morale boost. He is not at a “safe base” as he is operating from the FOB (Forward of Base) where most of the casualties occur.

2) Capt Casey DeMunck
PAT DET 3
Unit 72001
FPO AE 09510-2001

Casey is the boyfriend of my sweet red-headed friend Megan who lives in Woodbridge VA. From Megan: “Casey’s accommodations sound pretty terrible... They're situated right next to a cesspool and the helicopter landing pad, so it's a mix of putrid water and sand flying up all the time. He's from NC and I know he misses being out by the trees and water, so anything that might remind him of home would probably be good. The challenge is that right now he and his 25 guys are living in bunks that are spaced really close together, and he says they haven't even had the space to unpack their bags. So it's important to not send anything too big or something they can't really use. I've sent him a couple packages with cold medicine, muscle rub, beef jerky, nuts, granola bars, etc. I know Casey himself is getting a lot of packages from both his and my family, so if anything sent to his address could also be directed to be used for his team (Advisor Training Group), that'd be great. He mentioned a few of them are young and single and don't have families to send things. I'm sorry I don't have specific addresses for those guys, though...”

 She asked for us to send letters or a care package with some much needed love from home. So, I approached some of my students to see if they would be interested in getting some stuff together and they definitely were...and so were a bunch of others. We have been collecting goodies and money for shipping for a few weeks and are getting ready to send out 6 boxes (almost 120 pounds of supplies) to the two separate units, just in time for the holidays. I wish we could do more, there are about 150 soldiers collectively so these 6 boxes won't make much of a difference to most of them but its a start!!







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