Jiim, I apologize, I did not make myself clear. Over the course of his deployment, I sent many, many boxes for him and his tentmates. I was merely commenting that one of the boxes had Cracker Barrel candy that I bought and sent to him. This box gave them something to talk about and remember about home. I did not mean to imply that there was a Cracker Barrel supply of candy in the Iraqi desert. As far as a "worse condition", my son worked his job in security forces "outside the wire" and only slept "inside the the wire". He was injured in a Humvee attack, and when he came home, he had surgery at age 29 which required a spinal fusion. And he did all of this to keep us safe at home. Thank you for making my point of the Cheetos people for me in the very first comment on the blog!

HyUP! Thanks Jennette. Love from a Wingmom with an AB in WOT5 (and this week is his birthday).

I didn't hear anyone crying ... You're an interesting character, jiim may. You will get no arguments from me. No time!

jiim may, Why yes, as a matter of fact, I have. Including in the past when I would send socks, cleaning wipes and clothing to my brother who was wading through the mud in Bosnia.

Thank you Dave, for a thoughtful question. My son was home and did everything possible, from injections, to physical therapy for quite a long time. Fortunately, the ortho guy was skilled and the decision to do this lower back spinal fusion was made. He was off work for a while, and was rehabilitated where he lives now, at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc California. The Air Force was going to medically discharge him, but he fought against this, and really worked hard to get back into shape. Long story short, he is still active duty Air Force, and AFTER his back surgery, he was sent to Afghanistan for another six months. This makes his deployments the United Arab Emirates, Korea for one year, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. I guess people will help each other if they want to, my hope was that the post would motivate people to keep their eye on the ball, and what is important. We are so lucky to live in our country, and not have to worry about the strife in the middle east on a daily basis. How horrible it would be, and we are so spoiled. I try not to complain (even though this summer it was HARD) about the heat. When Andy landed in Iraq, at midnight, it was 112 degrees. whew. Thanks again, Dave.

jiim may, This is just so funny to have an answer for the things that you ask! I work with a dog trainer.(With apologies to Patch, please see today's Beacon Journal for the Beacon's Best that was published today) I work with the Beacon's BEST Dog Training Company winner three years in a row (In my "day" job I work in a medical office) I am also a Certified dog groomer, I am a Certified PetTech First Aid Instructor for dogs and cats, I am a Certified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator and I am a Certified "Bright and Beautiful" Therapy Dog instructor and evaluator. I am also a photographer and I will post some photos of our beautiful dogs on my blog later tonight. I have two Therapy Dogs of my own, and along with the dog training classes we offer and the Therapy Dog classes that we have, we have started, in cooperation with the Akron Summit County Library to have a Reading with Children volunteer group that meets once a month at the main library downtown. We are also striving to have other Therapy Dog classes to help with the all of the Summit County branch libraries. My two dogs were rescued from the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter about 4 years ago. Their names are Cady and Zack and they are Chow Chows.

jiim may ... You are a hoot! Yes, I have. There was a young man in my son's tent in Iraq that was basically orphaned. He was troubled and had no family. I know my son shared things with his tent mates. My office had a Christmas project where for the year my son was in Iraq over Christmas, we did not exchange gifts. Instead we packed boxes for each of his tent mates. We packed food, magazines, the plastic sunglasses that wouldn't burn their faces, everything thing we could stuff into a box, we stuffed and mailed. Each man got a Christmas box from this activity. The one that had no family, told my son that he didn't need "charity", and I told my son to tell him that he was going to have to cowboy up, because I was now his new best friend. He got other boxes from me, and I never heard a word, but I don't care. For a short period of time, someone else knew he was out there in the world and cared about him until they came home. I don't know his whereabouts now.

In this box, a school adopted the same tentmates and the first graders wrote and drew greeting cards and they were included in this box. In fact, that gives me an idea. I will have to look back and see, but I might have some photos... when my son came home, he was invited to meet the first graders. If you think that one person can't make a difference, read my next blog! It was inspiring! I will write it this week sometime.

Thank you for your comments today. I appreciated it. / Jeni

To Soldiermom11: When Andy got to Iraq and actually sent me an email... and actually ASKED for something... I thought, "Oh geez...this is bad". My nerve endings were already sticking out through my skin, and after I packed up 8 boxes of stuff... I carried them to the Fairlawn Post Office and stood in line. People offered to help me hold the boxes. It was nice. When I finally stepped up to the counter, the clerk saidk, "You need customs sheets with these." I looked at the clerk and said, "Grllpppp" and started to cry at the counter. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't talk. (Hard to imagine, huh?) He called me about two weeks later on a crackly phone and said... "Thanks, Mom for the EIGHT BOXES THAT CAME ALL AT ONCE" that he had to carry back to the tent. He laughed and laughed at me for that. The Cracker Barrell candy was a Halloween treat. I didn't think of sending a tree! That was a good job, mom! No showers, they washed with bottles of water... I sent him a battery operated fan with a spray mist. I don't think he was ever more demonstrative in his thanks than that time in his life. At one point, he DID say... OK mom... you can stop sending Gold Bond Powder... I've shared with everybody and we don't need any more! I'm with you, I have no idea how many packages I sent. I kept a box in my office and the staff would drop in an item or two... a book for the general area, small items, candy, etc. How nice to hear from you! Jeni