Our ‘Support the Troops’ campaign passed a significant milestone at the end of July this year when we shipped our 500th model to the Baghdad Hobby Club. That’s a lot of plastic, not to mention the over 1,200 modeling tools, bottles of paint, decals, magazines, and other miscellaneous items. The modelers at Forward Operating Base Speicher received our initial support as we responded to their request for donations in early 2006, but over the past four years, we have expanded our support to include: the central kit distribution point in Baghdad; modelers in the middle of the Indian Ocean at the U.S. base in Diego Garcia; and small units deployed in locations remote from the larger bases who now missed the support of the Morale, Welfare, and Recreation associations and turned to us.
As club members, we’ve donated in different ways. We’ve shown up at meetings with multiple boxes of kits and we’ve given steadily, kit-by-kit, over the past four years. Kits and tools won in a raffle have found their way into the donation bin by the end of the meeting. There’s evidence that the troops were in mind on that last trip to the dollar store when those small, but essential tools and supplies show up in multiples. There have been nights when the donations from members have only been limited by the carrying capacity of my car. A club that has few car modelers donated an air compressor, airbrush, and over 30 car models in seven months to support a special request from soldiers suddenly relocated from Baghdad to Basra. And no one has donated with the goal of being recognized for it, but simply because they wanted to show their support in a tangible way to the troops who have sacrificed so much since 9-11.
And the troops are grateful. We have received thank you messages from the following; doubtless many others also enjoyed the kits and supplies we donated as a way to break up the monotony or ease the stress of a deployment
- SSGT Steve Demott
- Commander Kevin Kincaid, USNR
- Major Andrew M. Taylor, 3-2 SBCT Engineer
- LTC George Salerno, coordinator for IPMS support, country-wide
- MAJ Duke Samouce, founder of the Speicher club
- MSGT Erick Gonzalez
- SFC Paul Edwards, 793rd Military Police BN
- COL Ted Martin, Commander, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division
- Thomas Turner, Commanding General of the 101st Airborne Division
- Diego Garcia Modeling Club
- MSG Brian Allen
- SMSGT Jerry M. Sadler, Jr.
In closing this summary, I’d like to extend my thanks to the entire club for their support. Without your generous donations, this four-year run would not have been possible. Obviously, we’d like to see all the troops heading home, but until they do, we’ll continue to support them as only modelers can.
March 2006 to September 2009
