Mailing Instructions: It's Easy!

Is the thought of sending humanitarian supplies to Afghanistan intimidating? No worries! It's easy.

When you send our troops supplies for the Afghan people, you will need to fill out a customs form, which will be available at the post office:

The cost of shipping isn't prohibitive. The package I mailed weighed 11 pounds, 10.8 ounces. The cost for regular mail was $14.46, and for Priority Mail was $17.20.

So next time you are making a run to mail Christmas packages, put together a package for Afghanistan, too. You will be helping to make a difference for our troops as well as for the Afghan people.

Here are the main requests:

Winter clothes, gloves, scarves, toboggans, and coats.

Also any medical supplies; gloves, medications, diapers, baby powder and formula and any over the counter meds.

And once again, the address:

Michael Larkin or Mark Roper

41 BCT HHC 1-180 SECFOR

Camp Phoenix, AF

APO, AE 09320

Send Donations to Afghanistan

Are you wondering how you can do your part to secure peace in Afghanistan? Oklahoma's National Guard troops are serving in Afghanistan and could use your help in their humanitarian relief mission. You can mail supplies directly to Michael Larkin or Mark Roper at the address at the end of this post. I am also trying to identify organizations that would be willing to sponsor donation drives and pay shipping costs, and I would appreciate any suggestions.

Here are excerpts from a letter from Corporal Larkin (pictured above), an Oklahoma National Guardsman serving in Afghanistan [emphasis added here and there by me]:

Our entire mission is to help the people of Afghanistan with schools and clinics and all the missions we can supply for the Kabul area. We love doing this and love it when people from back home are willing to help out a country so far away. You are a great person to donate your time and money to the unfortunate people here in Afghanistan, a lot of people don’t realize that not only are they helping the people here but you are also helping us build a better relationship with the people and in the long run as unbelievable as it may sound, you are saving American Soldiers lives.

It is up to you what you want to send here is just a little suggestion:
School will be out here in 2 weeks and will not start back till March so if you would like to send school supplies I would suggest the end of February.

Winter clothes, gloves, scarves, toboggans, and coats. These items will be the best for right now.

Also any medical supplies; gloves, medications, diapers, baby powder and formula and any over the counter meds.

Anything you are willing to send it’s up to you, these are just some suggestions and anything will help out.

Also anything you send I will write stories and send back to you and local newspapers and make sure you and who ever helps you out are thanked graciously for helping out your troops and a country that needs A LOT of help. I will also personally make sure you receive plenty of pictures of your items being handed out and donated.

Thanks again for your help if you need anything else let me know and I will get back to you.

Here is our mailing information and a website we use for the deployment. I am also attaching some pictures of other humanitarian missions so you can see just what its like over here and what we do.

www.taskforcewarrior.org (deployment website)
http://taskforcephoenix5.blogspot.com/ (my personal BLOG about Afghanistan )
[These sites are posted in this blog's link list.]

Mailing INFO:

Michael Larkin or Mark Roper
41 BCT HHC 1-180 SECFOR
Camp Phoenix, AF
APO, AE 09320

Time to Get Involved

It has been over 5 years since the terrorist attacks of September, 2001. Our military and their families have been carrying the burden of our nation's response, and for too long the rest of us have done little other than express verbally and with flags and ribbons our support for the troops.

We, the citizens of the United States, need to stop waiting for someone to tell us what to do to help. We need to do more than go on with our lives. It's time we took personal responsibility for winning the peace.