Comfort - If it is more comfortable, it will stay on troop's head longer and more often.
Stability - Keeps the helmet firmly on the head and out of the eyes.
Protection - Shock-absorbing pads keep the helmet from slapping the skull when hit with blast forces, fragments, or being tumbled along the ground or inside a vehicle. This decreases the chance of brain injury
from bombs, RPG's, vehicle accidents, falls, etc.
Doc Bob started Operation Helmet when his grandson asked him to check out the effectiveness of a helmet upgrade kit. Doc Bob sent a $100 kit to Justin plus a dozen more for members of his rifle team. They loved them but told Doc Bob that they couldn't use them unless the whole company of 100 had them. Thus started Operation Helmet.
About Operation Helmet
Operation Helmet is a nonpartisan, charitable grassroots effort that
provides helmet upgrade kits free of charge to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. These helmet upgrade kits consist of shock-absorbing pads and a new strap system. Operation Helmet depends on tax-deductible donations. For $75-$100, depending on the manufacturer, added safety and comfort can be provided for a trooper. But donations of any amount are welcome. The donation can be designated for a specific branch of the military, a particular unit or an individual trooper. 99% of donations go toward helmet kits. There are no salaries or payroll and the Operation's books are available for inspection by anyone who wants to see them. To date, Operation Helmet has sent upgrade kits to over 16,000 troops. For more information, see www.Operation-Helmet.org
<http://www.operation-helmet.org/> .
For further information on Operation Helmet, please contact:
Dr. Bob Meaders, President, Operation Helmet,
ophelm@operation-helmet.org
http://www.operationhelmet.org
(936) 449-9706
I Learned in the Military
- If the enemy is in range, so are you.
- Incoming fire has the right of way.
- Don't look conspicuous, it draws fire.
- There is always a way.
- The easy way is always mined.
- Try to look unimportant, they may be low on ammo.
- Professionals are predictable, it's the amateurs that are dangerous.
- The enemy invariably attacks on two occasions:
- when you are ready for them
- when you are not ready for them
- Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at.
- If you can't remember, then the claymore is pointed at you.
- The enemy diversion you have been ignoring will be the main attack.
- A "sucking chest wound" is nature's way of telling you to slow down.
- If your attack is going well, you have walked into an ambush.
- Never draw fire, it irritates everyone around you.
- Anything you do can get you shot, including nothing.
- Make it tough enough for the enemy to get in and you won't be able to get out.
- Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than yourself.
- If you're short of everything but the enemy, you're in a combat zone.
- When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
- Never forget that your weapon is made by the lowest bidder.
- If it's stupid but it works, it's military issue
Come Home Soon
Comming Home Soon
Click Here On The Picture To Take You To One Of The Largest Military Websites!
MILITARY CONNECTION!!!
Lots of Resources!!!
Wal Mart -- Wall of Honor
11, Wal-Mart stores and SAM'S CLUBS across the U.S. created their
annual in-store "Wall of Honor" to recognize military men and women
currently serving our country, as well as the veterans who have
fought to protect our freedom. During this time, customers wishing
to honor their "hero" who has served or is currently serving in the
U.S. Armed Forces were invited to bring a photo to any U.S. Wal-Mart
or SAM'S CLUB Photo Center to be included on the Wall.
Customers have their choice of one of the two packages courtesy of
Kodak. The first package includes two free 5"x7" prints. One of the
prints was placed in a decorative photo holder and added to the wall
among other honored veterans and military men and women of that
local community and the other print was given to the customer free
of charge. The second package includes one 5"x7" print, one 3.5"x5"
print and two wallet sized photos. The 5"x7" was placed on the "Wall
of Honor." One wallet sized print was placed in a "Badge of Honor"
and given to the customer along with the second wallet and 3.5"x5"
print.
Also this October, Wal-Mart and Eastman Kodak Company have joined
America Supports You, a nationwide Department of Defense campaign
that highlights military support and encourages others to share
their gratitude for the troops. Although Wal-Mart and Kodak began
the "Wall of Honor" program in 1998, this new partnership further
highlights the shared commitment to honoring those who have
dedicated their lives to protecting ours.
"Wal-Mart and Kodak are true champions for our military men and
women and this is yet another way to show their strong support,"
said Allison Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Public Affairs. "We are excited about this new partnership with Wal-
Mart and Kodak and are looking forward to working with them as they
continue to support our troops and their families." Wal-Mart will
also engage in other activities to support our service men and
women, families and veterans over the coming months and year.
"Veterans Day reminds us how important it is to remember and honor
those who serve and protect our country," said Betsy Reithemeyer,
vice president of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. "We
started the Wall of Honor at Wal-Mart seven years ago as a way to
help our communities pay tribute to those who bravely serve our
nation. We are happy to have joined forces with the Department of
Defense's America Supports You team to continue honoring the men and
women who defend our freedom everyday."
"For more information about Wal-Mart's continuing support of our
military and other community giving programs, log on to
www.walmartfacts.com. To learn more about America Supports You and
the stories of Americans supporting the troops, please log on to
www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil
Web site Available For Families To Link Up With Deployed Loved Ones
Story Number: NNS080613-06
Release Date: 6/13/2008 12:38:00 PM
From LIFELines Public Affairs/American Forces Press Services
WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The families of deployed Navy and Marine Corps personnel are invited to sign up for a new Web site, www.websitesforheroes.com, which allows them to maintain close family ties with their loved ones beyond the occasional phone call or e-mail.
These family Web sites provide a safe and secure online environment for a military family through a portal on the front page of the LIFELines Services Network, the Navy Department's official Quality of Life Web site at www.lifelines.navy.mil and www.lifelines.usmc.mil.
Each personalized family Web site includes innovative features such as two hours of streaming video so parents can see what the family is doing back home, unlimited photo albums, interactive calendars and message boards that ensure military families don't miss life's special moments.
Last year, the Department of Defense blocked access to some popular social networking sites in order to guarantee bandwith availability for mission-critical functions.
Websitesforheroes.com is a Linux-based Web environment which means it is secure and password-protected, to ensure a level of privacy not found in most public sites.
"Deployments are hard on families," said Terry Gniffke, CEO of Caliber Media Group who co-founded websitesforheroes.com. "When you're away and you're in harms way, it's a lonely place. You miss home, and the greatest thing is to be connected in some way. Websitesforheroes allows that to happen."
Gniffke knows from experience just how important something like web sitesforheroes can be. The former Marine served in Vietnam, and he explained he waited up to three weeks for a single letter from home. "It's tough on the homefront, and it's tough on the other side," he said. "What a difference [websitesforheroes.com] would have made."
"We want as many Navy and Marine families as possible to take advantage of this fantastic resource," said retired commander Rudolph Brewington, director of LIFELines. Brewington learned of Gniffke's invention and worked with him to have the site cleared through DoD's "America Supports You" program which now has the site among it's public-to-military support projects.
Under the program, websitesforheroes keeps families connected at no cost to the family. There are currently 1,200 families enjoying a family Web site that has been graciously sponsored by an individual or a corporation at a cost of $99 per year per family. Specific families cannot be sponsored; the sites are awarded on a "first come, first served" basis to protect anonymity.
The goal for websitesforheroes.com is to keep military families connected and let them know that someone cares.
For more news from LIFELines Services Network, visit www.navy.mil/local/lifelines.
Holiday Season For The Troops -- USO
The holiday season is upon us and while many Americans will be enjoying the company of friends and family, more than 160,000 service men and women serving overseas will not. Instead of sharing in the laughter and smiles the holidays bring -- especially for the children in their lives -- they will be defending us at lonely outposts around the world. Help the USO put a smile on their faces by giving them the very special gift of reaching out to their loved ones for the holidays. Make a donation to either the USO's Operation Phone Home or United Through Reading programs and help brighten the day of a lonely service member. Giving these men and women the opportunity to speak to and interact with their loved ones over the holidays will provide an immeasurable boost to their morale. Operation Phone Home - Prepaid, international phone cards are distributed free of charge to service members, especially those in Afghanistan, Iraq and other overseas locations. | |
United Through Reading - At participating USO centers, service men and women can stay connected with the children in their lives by videotaping themselves reading a children's book. The USO sends the DVD and a copy of the book to the children back home. The parent or caregiver is encouraged to photograph or videotape the child's excitement while watching the DVD and following along with the book, and sends photos or DVD back to the deployed service member. Holiday Season For The Troops -- USO | |
| Let them know they are not forgotten! | |
SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 17, 2006 - Just in time for the holidays, Operation Homefront has launched "eCarePackage," an online service that allows caring citizens to send care packages to deployed troops and their families.
Operation Homefront is part of CinCHouse.com, a community for military wives, and is a team member of America Supports You, a Department of Defense program connecting U.S. citizens with members of the military.
Servicemembers and families can register on www.ecarepackage.org, which protects their identity and location, and visitors can "adopt" them based on common interests. Then visitors select individual items to create a customized care
package for their chosen servicemember or family and include a personal message.
Operation Homefront's team of volunteers takes the order, boxes the selected items and ships them directly to the servicemember or family - always protecting their identity and physical location.
"There's nothing like a care package to cheer a deployed soldier or a lonely military family, especially during the holidays," said Amy Palmer, executive vice president of operations for Operation Homefront. "With operational security for the troops so tight, we were concerned that care packages weren't getting through. So we built eCarePackage to ensure our troops and families continue to
'feel the love' from Americans."
Items available in the eCarePackage store range from toiletries and necessities to games, books and candy. Most items were donated from sponsors, particularly The Dollar Tree, which runs its Operation Appreciation program in most stores nationwide.
Donated items are not marked up, so eCarePackage visitors often pay only the cost of handling and shipping - making eCarePackage less expensive than doing it yourself. Moreover, Operation Homefront has partnered with DHL, which provides postal service to overseas troops, to ensure direct and timely delivery of all
care packages to deployed troops.
The eCarePackage program is an extension of Operation Homefront's mission to provide emergency support and morale to our troops, the families they leave behind during deployments, and wounded warriors when they return home. Operation Homefront recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Defense
Department to ensure greater collaboration.
(From a CinCHouse.com news release.)
[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil<WBR>/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2147]
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2006 - Silver Star Families of America, a group dedicated to supporting wounded servicemembers and their families, is thinking outside the box this Christmas.
A member of America Supports You, a Defense Department program highlighting ways Americans and the corporate sector support the nation's servicemembers, the group has undertaken a program to send holiday cheer to military and veterans hospitals.
"We concentrate on sending Silver Star banners to the wounded," Steve Newton, the organization's founder, said. "But the members wanted to do something special for the wounded for Christmas."
Through "Project Christmas," Silver Star Families is sending at least one box of goodies to a military hospital, a Veterans Affairs medical center or a combat support hospital in every state in the U.S., and to Germany and Iraq, Newton said.
The effort got under way a mere three weeks ago, and the organization has nearly met its goal. All boxes for overseas locations have been shipped to ensure they arrived in time for the holidays. As for the stateside venture, only a handful of states remain to be checked off the list. "This has been a big project for us," Newton said. "We usually don't tackle care packages on this scale. But we've had a lot of support."
That support has come from within, with members donating items to stuff the boxes, and from the celebrity realm, including best-selling author Dean Koontz. The author shipped "cases and cases of autographed books," which meshed well with the group's goal of sending "fun" items. Other items donated for the packages include signed baseball, football and other sports memorabilia, as well as items with musicians' signatures.
"We got pencils from the Chicago Cubs, just hundreds and hundreds of pencils," he said. "The Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team sent us, I bet it was 150 ... T-shirts, beautiful T-shirts."
The Silver Star members also are taking it upon themselves to pick up any slack, Newton said. One member from the Washington area stepped up to cover the postage for all of the packages being sent from the national headquarters in Missouri. Other members are sending packages on their own to ensure as many wounded servicemembers as possible have a great Christmas.
"If you'd asked me a week or two ago, I'd have said, 'I don't ever, ever want to see any kind of box again," Newton said with a laugh. "But I think we'll do this every year."
[Web Version: http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2263]
FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE