8.19.2009

Support Our Troops - A Bleg

I know, I know...I owe you about 7 more days of SEAL PT Boot Camp suffering and misery. To tell the truth, every time I come back to the keyboard, I get a little woozy. Promises, promises.

One of my Boot Camp brethren (who graduated Class 155! HOOYAH, J!) was excited to find my blog, but disappointed to find only three days worth of reading. I think he was trying to gain an advantage. Can't say as I blame him. Way to use his noggin' to get the advantage over the instructors.

I digress. I do that a lot.


I want to do a bleg for something that is near and dear to my heart. The Warrior Support Match is in its second year. On October 17th, 60 men and women will get together at the Impact Zone in Waller, TX to shoot a charity 3-gun match. I participated last year and came in somewhere around the bottom of the pack. I don't care, I had a great time. Also won a Ken Onion Leek knife from Kershaw. I also donated one of my Camillus bush knives to the door prize table and saw it go to a good home.

The Warrior Support Match is the chance for us to raise money to purchase equipment and needed supplies for our men and women fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each and every dollar collected goes straight to the purchase of necessary items. Comp-Tac, our primary sponsor, puts up the shipping cost, and other donors and sponsors donate time, money and other essentials so we can shoot and have fun. This keeps the overhead costs to zero and allows for more equipment to be purchased and shipped over.

Here's what Instructor Greg has to say about it:

For the last few years we have been sending gear to our troops in Iraq and Afganistan. They tell us what they need and we get it to them. We have been shocked to find that EOD guys need nomex (fire proof) jackets and that troops on the ground need reliable magazines for their hand guns. And every soldier needs to know that the folks back home are supporting them. Berretta M9 magazines, nomex, lights, knives, slings, coffee and bore snakes are some of the requests. The suppliers generally offer deep discounts, which adds 10% to 100% more gear to each shipment. I pay for the shipping to Iraq. There are no overhead costs. When our contacts rotate home, we find new ones. All our Iraq
contacts are either personal friends of ours, or vouched for by people we trust. All the gear goes to the troops. The fact I receive thank you notes from individual soldiers confirms this.

That's it in a nutshell. I'm just asking for some help covering my entry fee. I've pledged $200 to secure my slot in this match. I'll be damned if I can't go because I can't raise the money. Times are tough for us all, and it is all I can do to scrounge the ammo up to compete in this match. If you are of a mind to hit the Tip Jar at the top right of my page, I'd greatly appreciate it. Don't know what I can do to repay you, but I will do so on this site. I'm not asking for a lot from you, but every bit helps. Please pass this on and link so that the word is spread. We are of a like mind, and want nothing more that to see our troops have the tools they need to win the fight and come home safe.

Recipients of last year's donations. Over $15,000 was collected to help outfit this Air Cav unit with pistol and rifle magazines, socks, bore snakes, dip, beef jerky, Leatherman multi-tools, etc.

We were also able to provide Nomex jackets to an EOD unit over there. Something as simple as fire protection left out of their TO&E. They ask, and we make sure they receive. So can you, if you hit the donate button on the toolbar.Just because we don't hear about it on the news as often doesn't mean the soldiers aren't still fighting in a foreign land. They need our help and support.


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