U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Whoop back at MSC LEAD

Each fall for the past six years MSC LEAD, the Memorial Student Center’s sophomore leadership organization, has conducted Whoop! For Troops, a care package and greeting card donation drive to benefit U.S. troops serving overseas.  Local schoolchildren once again created thousands of greeting cards, and thousands of Texas A&M students signed them with expressions of good wishes and gratitude for the sacrifices U.S. soldiers make throughout the year.  For several weeks in November and December LEAD members once again collected donations of shirts, toiletries, non-perishable food, calling cards, and other care package items.

According to Taylor Smith ‘15, Director of MSC LEAD’s Community Service subcommittee, which led Whoop! For Troops, this year’s efforts resulted in a record amount of donations.  In early December the group was excited to discover that they had collected over $5,000 of donations—over 120 boxes of merchandise and over 2,000 greeting cards—to send to Support Our Troops, a national non-profit organization that coordinates care package shipments overseas.  “It was the biggest shipment we’ve ever made,” said Smith.

She attributes the group’s success, at least in part, to some new collaborations the group was able to form this year.  “The biggest difference for us this year was in our outreach to vendors,” Smith said.  “Aggieland Outfitters especially helped us by donating a lot of t-shirts,” she says, also noting that Aggie Moms clubs also made significant contributions to Whoop! For Troops.  The group also experienced great success when they informally teamed up with the student chapter of Patriot PAWS, an organization that trains and provides service dogs for American veterans.  According to Smith, “having the service dogs with us at our resource tables attracted a lot of attention. Everyone wanted to pet the dogs, so while people were waiting, we could ask them to sign a card and make a donation for the troops.  It helped Patriot PAWS let people know about their organization too.”

Even more exciting than collecting a record amount of donations was the response those donations generated.  Shortly after the care packages were shipped, MSC LEAD received a handful of thank you messages from the 831st DDST and the 2nd Anglico Marines stationed at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan.  The full text of those thank you messages are included below.

In reaction to those letters Smith says, “I can’t believe we got this response for something we put on.  It’s just mind blowing.” She also enjoys the fact that several troops serving in Afghanistan will now be proudly sporting Texas A&M football jerseys.

According to Smith the gratitude expressed in the messages “made everything worth it.”  Not only was everyone on the subcommittee moved by the letters, they were also inspired to reach for even greater heights.  “To see their (the sophomores on the Community Service subcommittee) work have an impact drives them even more,” she says. “They begin to get confidence in their ideas after they get feedback like this.”  Smith says that the group is already turning the inspiration into results.  They recently filled a full day’s worth of volunteer slots to assist the Veteran’s Career Fair, the committee is launching a new program called Aggies Serve this spring, and next November MSC LEAD likely will be trying to set a new record for packages shipped by Whoop! For Troops.

Thank You Letters Received by MSC LEAD:

Hello! I am speaking on behalf of the 831st DDST (LNK DET) and 2nd Anglico Marines, and we want to thank you for the care packages. Everybody here loved them and I believe we have found a use for pretty much everything (The Aggie apparel has become somewhat of an unofficial PT uniform around here). I want everybody that donated their time, money, and effort to know that we are truly thankful to have folks like you looking out for us.

Happy Holidays and God bless!

V/r

SGT Joshua DuBois
831st DDST (LNK DET)
Operations NCO
“ABOVE THE REST!”

Hello,

WOOOOOOOW all of these packages are AMAZING...

That was just the morale booster that we needed here at the Unit.  Rest assure that because of YOU GUYS, I will be having a HAPPY HOLIDAY.

It feels good to know that we have the support back home to do what we have to do. 

For this I can't thank you enough!!!!

Michael Muse
831st DDST,
Camp Leatherneck

GIG EM GOT EM  HOOOOAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MSC-LEAD,

I wanted to thank your organization for the care packages you have been putting together to send to the troops forward deployed.   We are a Marine Unit based out of Camp Lejeune, NC that is sharing a compound with an Army Unit and they shared 21 of your packages with us and it was most appreciated.    I will tell you a little bit about our unit and how we fit in here.  Our unit name is Supporting Arms Liaison Team Charlie (SALT C for short), 2d Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO).  Our Mission is to provide Marine Air Ground Task Force Commanders a liaison capability with foreign area expertise to plan, coordinate, employ and conduct terminal control of fires in support of joint, allied and coalition forces.

Translation:

Our teams provide direct support to the various Joint, Allied, Coalition and Special Operations forces working within Marine Corps battlespace and conduct the coordination and deconfliction required in order for their commanders to access Marine Corps close air support, artillery, rockets and naval gunfire.

So we are assigned to our Allied forces here in theater for example the Afghanistan National Army, British Army, Australian Army, Danish Army, and The US Army. Our area of operation is in the Southern part of Afghanistan.

Also if you would pass our thanks on to the elementary school students for the donation of their time creating the Christmas Cards and Aggieland Outfitter for their donation of the T-Shirts.  They were all well received.

Well again I thank you for your efforts supporting the troops forward.  

Semper Fi,
Maj James "Ranger" Williamson
2d ANGLICO (FWD)
Detachment OIC


Dear MSC LEAD,

My name is SGT Anthony Petrelli, and I am writing to give you a heads up on the great day we had yesterday 4 Dec, 2013. I am both the S-4, (supply) & S-6 (technology) NCOIC here at the 831st DDST, Leatherneck Detachment, Helmand Province Afghanistan. Our mission is to bring the troops home. (SDDC) Surface Deployment & Distribution Command, is responsible for getting all the gear back home. The job is one that has a two edged sword, and most times then not we are extra serious here.

Our soldiers, sailors, marines, and coastguardsmen, have been waiting for mail from home, but there has not been any mail as of late. After two weeks of waiting for something to come our mail clerk came into the building excited and asking this morning. To our complete surprise we received 97 care packages from Texas A&M. For this we are eternally grateful, and that gesture has changed our mood from depressed to elation.

We took turns reading each note, card, and letter to one another. To be quite honest you had all of us choked up, and laughing at the same time. I have never seen so many troops so excited to be in the same room together in a long while. We have been joking and laughing all morning, and for a moment we forgot that we all are in a combat zone.

There were a few packages left over so I took them over to the CAS Extended Stay for redistribution to other troops who have been injured in battle. They were so very thankful for your kindness, and the love you sent.

The theme of the letters was come home soon. Unfortunately the job here is not even close to completed, and as much as we want to come home we can’t. It will be about six months before we (SDDC) can leave this place.

Please give the folks that participated in collecting, boxing, writing, and sending us the care packages a hug from all of us. We look forward to your continued support, and correspondence. We have decided to take a photograph of our team wearing your College T-shirts, and hope that you will hang it up in your student union. Please let us know if we can do anything for your student leadership.
Again, from all of us here at the 831st DDST, Leatherneck Detachment, we thank you and may God Bless you all for the happiness you all have brought to us this 4th day of December 2013.

Respectfully,
SGT Anthony Vincent Petrelli
NCOIC S-4, S-6 Sections
831st DDST, LNK DET
Camp Leatherneck,  AFG