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DETROIT (May 5, 2008) - Carolyn Blashek was determined to answer
her nation's call to duty following Sept. 11, 2001, but recruiters
from every branch of service offered the same sad refrain: "You're
too old."
Disappointed, yet undaunted, Blashek refocused her efforts and
started a nonprofit organization to support those young enough to
wear the uniform. To date, her Encino, Calif.-based Operation
Gratitude has stuffed and shipped 324,062 care packages to deployed
U.S. troops.
Blashek's organization was one of two America Supports You
home-front groups honored at Chrysler headquarters here today for
the automaker's Military Appreciation Month kickoff. America
Supports You is a Defense Department program that connects citizens
and corporations with military personnel and their families serving
at home and abroad.
Following the event, which featured remarks by the car company's
chief executive and Defense Department officials, about 200
Chrysler employees inside the headquarters' main atrium swarmed
tables lined with magazines, videos, snacks and mini footballs.
With the efficiency of an assembly line, they crammed the items
into $10 mailing boxes and sealed them in preparation for shipping
abroad.
Michele Junod, who works in Chrysler's material and cost
management division, volunteered at station one, where the goods
were first laid on box bottoms. Junod, a first-generation American
of German descent, said her parents credited U.S. troops with
saving their lives during World War II.
"They fed them, they took care of them, they moved into my
mother's home," she said of the welcomed American servicemember
occupiers. "Actually, my mother's Communion dress came from a
parachute from a U.S. soldier.
"I am very grateful and very proud of what we do," she added. "I
hear a lot of crap in the paper, but I know personally what
soldiers did for my family, so if they could do that for another
family in this world, I'm all about it."
As might be expected, the most popular articles abroad are DVDs,
CDs and flash drives for storing and uploading pictures of loved
ones back home, according to servicemembers on the receiving end.
Ironically, though, the Beanie Babies that Blashek sent somewhat as
a lark proved the most vital items in the box.
"We got a letter from a Marine that said, 'We took the Beanie
Babies and gave them out to the children in the community, and they
told us where the IEDs were hidden,'" Blashek said, referring to
improvised explosive devices, the deadly makeshift bombs
responsible for many U.S. servicemember deaths and injuries.
The other America Supports You group present today was Freedom
Calls. The group, which employs sophisticated communications
technology to connect deployed troops to families back home, was
represented in two rooms here with video teleconference setups.
As the crowd milled about following the ceremony, Freedom Calls
representatives ushered people into chairs in front of a dual-panel
screen. One on screen, participants here could see a real-time
video of themselves. On the adjacent panel sat four soldiers, live
from Baghdad.
On two leather couches sat Staff Sgts. Bryant Maude and Angela
Younger Embree, Pfc. Leslie Deas, and Capt. Rory Bradford, Army
public affairs personnel deployed from Fort Riley, Kan.
The exchanges were somewhat stifled at first, but then became
free-flowing as curious onlookers sauntered into the conference
room. The gregarious Bradford spoke highly from Baghdad of the
video technology.
"People have witnessed two births over this thing, a couple
marriage proposals -- one soldier here even managed to serve jury
duty," he joked, as the spectators in a room thousands of miles
away laughed.
Younger Embree said the technology is especially important for
troops with young children, who hear of violence in the Iraqi
capital, and are unconvinced of their parent's safety until they
see visual evidence.
"Especially with all the violence going on in Sadr City now,"
Bradford added, referring to the restive Baghdad region that has
been the epicenter of recent clashes.
Some troops with access to the video conference centers in Iraq
manage to talk with their families for about five minutes per day,
Bradford said. With the help of Chrysler, Freedom Calls hopes the
technology on the U.S. side proliferates, with free centers
eventually spreading to Chrysler dealerships across the country.
Having provided 2 million minutes so far, the organization is off
to a good start.
Back in the atrium, Chrysler volunteers were closing in on their
goal: preparing 500 care packages for shipment to Michigan
servicemembers. Though troops who receive these boxes won't be
quite as lucky as the soldiers who opened the organization's
250,000th and 300,000th care packages -- which each contained keys
to a free Jeep from Chrysler -- the payoff delivers an intangible
gift in addition to the goodies.
"It's giving them a touch of home," said Robert Nardelli,
Chrysler's chairman and chief executive officer.
Editor's Note: Military families can also avail
themselves of the Defense Department's America Supports You
program, which highlights home-front groups across the nation that
are providing a variety of services and support to troops and their
families. A listing of these groups and information about their
efforts is available at www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil.
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