Is that my phone ringing??

Military families can surely relate to the dreadful feeling that sets up shop in the pit of your stomach when you miss a long-awaited phone call.

How could you have missed it?! You’ve been carrying around that darn cell phone like it was a hand grenade that could go off at any second if you didn’t check it and look at it and check it again and again and again. Impossible to miss a call! It was in my HAND, I was LOOKING at it.

When I heard the noise that alerts you to a new voice mail, I knew, just knew, that I had missed the call.

I almost cried when I heard the message; I felt like I got caught sleeping on Mom-Duty.

Well, people will just have to understand; I am not putting this phone down until I speak to my son.

Then I’ll go back to being a normal person — my normal, of course.

--Tiffany
_________

Holiday Mail for Heroes

A note from Frank McDade who is working with the Red Cross on a campaign to send uplifting mail to our troops:

I am working with Pitney Bowes and wanted to let you know about our 2009 “Holiday Mail for Heroes” campaign with the Red Cross. You may have seen information about this campaign last year, and I wanted to reach out to see if you would be willing to help us send a touch of home to as many soldiers as possible.

The goal of the campaign is to recruit Americans to send holiday cards with their messages of thanks and cheer to service members and their families. It is our hope that, through this campaign, American service men and women in the U.S. and around the world will feel comforted and appreciated during the holiday season.

The post includes information about what types of cards can be sent, how cards should be addressed, and also provides further information regarding how you can get involved. I hope that you will be willing to spread the word about the campaign through your blog, helping us send a touch of home to our U.S. Armed Forces, veterans and their families when they need it most.

Best regards,

Frank McDade

_________

Around the military:

An enlisted air crew member signals a Marine Corps CH-53E Sea Stallion helicopter as it approaches the flight deck of the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry during landing qualifications in the South China Sea, Oct. 29, 2009. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Joshua J. Wahl

U.S. Army Pfc. Pherelle Fowler stretches during yoga class on Camp Bundela, India, Oct. 24, 2009. During the two-week exercise, U.S. soldiers participated in Indian sports, ate Indian food and participated in other cultural events. Fowler is assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment. DoD photo by Fred W. Baker III

U.S. Army soldiers conduct a clearing exercise in a newly discovered 150-year-old village near Camp Bundela during Exercise Yudh Abhyas in Babina, India, Oct. 16, 2009.U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Rodney Jackson