{"id":218481,"date":"2009-12-14T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.usa.gov\/roller\/govgab\/entry\/thank_the_troops_or_a"},"modified":"2009-12-14T05:52:30","modified_gmt":"2009-12-14T10:52:30","slug":"thank-the-troops-or-a-vet-this-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/218481","title":{"rendered":"Thank the Troops or a Vet This Holiday Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px\" alt=\"wrapped presents in a shopping bag\" hspace=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.usa.gov\/roller\/govgab\/resource\/images\/s-thanktroops.jpg\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" \/>It could be my response to one of those icebreaker games: <em>People don\u2019t know that I&#8230;<\/em>am a proud member of the <a title=\"Disabled American Veterans\" href=\"http:\/\/answers.usa.gov\/cgi-bin\/gsa_ict.cfg\/php\/enduser\/std_adp.php?p_faqid=8255\">Disabled American Vets<\/a> Auxiliary. I&#8217;m a member because of one night during <a title=\"World War II history\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nps.gov\/wwii\/historyculture\/stories.htm\">WWII<\/a> when my dad\u2019s lungs and leg were burned from <a title=\"mustard gas\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mustard_gas\">mustard gas<\/a> that leaked from the train he was guarding as a <a title=\"U.S. Army\" href=\"http:\/\/www.army.mil\/\">U.S. Army<\/a> soldier. Dad sustained permanent scars because he didn&#8217;t abandon his post. Like a lot of members of the military, my dad doesn\u2019t think anything he did during his years of service warrants \u201cthanking.\u201d \u201cI was just doing my job,\u201d he always says. <\/p>\n<p>But especially this time of year, many people want to show support for the men and women who are serving or who served in the U.S. military. Want to help? The <a title=\"U.S. Department of Defense\" href=\"http:\/\/www.defense.gov\/\">U.S. Department of Defense<\/a> offers a list of organizations that can <a title=\"organizations that send your care packages\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmilitary.mil\/send_packages.shtml\">send your care package<\/a>, <a title=\"organizations that send your card or letters to the troops\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmilitary.mil\/letters_messages.shtml\">card, or letter<\/a> to troops. Or <a title=\"e-mail the troops\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmilitary.mil\/Message.aspx?SectionID=5\">e-mail<\/a> the troops a holiday greeting and thank you. Some of the nearly 255,000 <a title=\"read messages\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmilitary.mil\/MessageList.aspx?SectionID=5f\">e-mail messages sent so far<\/a> are particularly heartwarming to read. And be sure to check out the <a title=\"video messages from troops\" href=\"http:\/\/www.afneurope.net\/FacesofFreedom\/tabid\/893\/Default.aspx\">video messages<\/a> from service members deployed around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Veterans also should be remembered during the holidays. You could visit vets at your <a title=\"find local VA hospitals\" href=\"http:\/\/www2.va.gov\/directory\/guide\/division_flsh.asp?dnum=1\">local VA hospital<\/a> or <a title=\"find local nursing homes\" href=\"http:\/\/www.medicare.gov\/NHCompare\/Include\/DataSection\/Questions\/ProximitySearch.asp\">nursing home<\/a>, or simply mail a holiday greeting to local VA hospital patients or local <a title=\"find a local Veterans of Foreign Wars post\" href=\"http:\/\/emem.vfw.org\/findpost.aspx\">VFW<\/a> or <a title=\"find a local American Legion post\" href=\"http:\/\/www.legion.org\/posts\">American Legion<\/a> members. If you know any veterans, you might show your appreciation by offering to get them some groceries, mailing or <a title=\"E-mail thanks to a vet\" href=\"http:\/\/www.e-cards.com\/catalog\/cat-selection.pl?group=AmLegion&amp;db=AmLegion&amp;cat=Thank%20a%20Veteran\">e-mailing<\/a> them holiday cards, inviting them over for a holiday meal, or even just shoveling their walk. <\/p>\n<p>Need more ideas? Visit <a title=\"U.S. Department of Defense Community Relations\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ourmilitary.mil\/help.shtml\">DoD community relations<\/a> or <a title=\"article on 101 Ways to Thank a Veteran\" href=\"http:\/\/militaryblog.militaryavenue.com\/2009\/11\/101-ways-to-thank-veteran.html\">\u201c101 Ways to Thank a Veteran.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Have you thanked a military member or veteran this holiday season? I\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It could be my response to one of those icebreaker games: People don\u2019t know that I&#8230;am a proud member of the Disabled American Vets Auxiliary. I&#8217;m a member because of one night during WWII when my dad\u2019s lungs and leg were burned from mustard gas that leaked from the train he was guarding as a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218481\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}