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SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., April 2, 2008 - Less than six months ago, Army Pfc. Michael Dinkel had his leg destroyed by a roadside bomb while he was deployed to Afghanistan with the Fort Riley, Kan.-based 70th Engineer Battalion. Today, still a patient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Dinkel is shimmying down the slopes of Snowmass Mountain, refusing to let a disability stand in the way of a good time — or a full, productive life.“I’m having a blast!” exclaimed 27-year-old Dinkel as he took a break after another run down the mountainside. “This is something I dreamed about!”

Dinkel is among several active-duty troops who have joined nearly 400 disabled veterans here for the 22nd National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic. Together, they’re experiencing what event organizers describe as “Miracles on the Mountainside” as they try their hands at Alpine and Nordic skiing, rock climbing, scuba diving, trapshooting, snowmobiling, sled hockey, curling, fencing and a host of other activities.

In doing so, they’re demonstrating that an amputation, spinal cord injury, visual impairment or other severe disability doesn’t have to stop them in their tracks, explained Sandy Trombetta, who came up with the concept of the winter sports clinic and serves as its national director.

Dinkel never took much convincing that an amputation didn’t have to keep him from his longtime love of skiing. “Three months after I got blown up, I went skiing,” said Dinkel, recalling a trip to Windham Mountain, N.Y., organized through Walter Reed. His next ski trip was to Liberty Mountain ski resort in Pennsylvania, where he continued to fine-tune his technique with adaptive skis.

Here at Snowmass Mountain, Dinkel is a world away from the surgeries still ahead of him at Walter Reed over the next six to seven months before he’s able to return to his native Cincinnati, Ohio.

But in reality, the six-day winter sports clinic is a big part of Dinkel’s and other disabled veterans’ rehabilitation, said Lisette Mondello, assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs for public and intergovernmental affairs.

“This is a rehabilitative event. It’s not about a week of camaraderie and ski lessons,” she said. “It’s about taking someone who’s had a catastrophic injury and saying, ‘Now is the time to move on. Your life isn’t over. It’s time to start again.’”

Edward Hartman, Disabled American Veterans’ national director for voluntary services, agreed that the clinic is a valuable first step toward disabled veterans’ moving forward with their lives. “This is just an introduction to what they can do and what the possibilities are for them,” he said. “This event helps make them realize that their life doesn’t end with their disability.”

Vance Pease, a recreational therapist at the VA center in Seattle who specializes in spinal cord injuries, said he’s witnessed firsthand the benefits the clinic has brought to the disabled veterans he works with. “This can open so many doors and show the veterans that there are so many opportunities out there for them,” he said. “It’s showing to these veterans that life goes on. The challenge, the thrill, the adventure, the risk — all of it is still there for them if they want it.”

Not everyone arrives at the winter sports clinic quite as mentally prepared as Dinkel for the challenges, thrills, adventure and risk they’ll face here. Harry Williamson, a Vietnam-era Marine Corps veteran suffering from multiple sclerosis, admitted he had some trepidation about his first time down the slope in an adaptive sit-ski.

“I’m nervous,” said the Long Beach, Calif., native. “But I’m going to give it a try. I’m going to see if I can do it, to see if I can master it. And if I do, that’s another challenge I tried and I conquered.”

Conquering challenges on the mountainside is a metaphor for conquering life challenges with a disability, clinic organizers explained. For about one-third of the veterans here for the first time, the clinic offers an opportunity to push themselves in ways many never thought imaginable.

Marine Cpl. Steve Schulz was serving his second tour in Iraq in April 2005 when an improvised explosive device in Fallujah left him blind in his right eye and suffering a traumatic brain injury.

Three years and 17 surgeries later, 23-year-old Schulz said he’s attending his first winter sports clinic to recapture some of the thrill the roadside bomb stripped from his life. “I like going fast,” said Schulz, lamenting that his brain injury has left him unable to drive.

So as volunteers at the winter sports clinic strapped him into a sit-ski for his first whirl down Snowmass Mountain, Schulz was looking forward to feeling the wind in his face and the blur of spectators’ faces as they cheered him down the mountain.

Darol Kubacz, a 33-year-old Army veteran rendered a paraplegic 15 years ago during a training accident at Fort Knox, Ky., said he remembers being in Schultz’ shoes when he attended his first clinic a year after his injury.

Kubacz skied for the first time here and fell so in love with the sport that he moved to Vail, Colo., and ultimately became an adaptive ski instructor. “It changed my life,” he said.

But Kubacz said the clinic gave him something far more powerful than just a new activity to pursue — and it’s kept him coming back year after year, 13 times. “There’s so much that goes on here, on so many levels,” he said. “It’s about brotherhood. It’s about great people. It’s about great physical and emotional experiences.

“But most of all, it’s about positive mental attitude,” he said. “That’s what they’re teaching people here. Because, when it comes down to it, the only way we are going to succeed and have fun in life is to have a positive mental attitude.”

Kubacz said he gains much from sharing with fellow veterans at the clinic. As they meet at sporting activities, during meals, or at social events throughout the week, they swap stories about everything from the latest adaptive equipment to advice for navigating the VA benefits system, he said. “We educate each other on so many things on so many levels,” he said.

Just as disabled Vietnam veterans guided him when he was first injured, Kubacz said, he hopes to help guide younger veterans with new disabilities suffered in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I’m here for the new guys,” he said. “I’m here to listen to them, to support them and to share motivation with them.”

Hope Cooper, an Air Force veteran who was medically retired in 1989, said she, too, hopes to share the life-changing impact the clinic had on her own life with newly wounded veterans.

Cooper said she attended her first clinic in 1991 as a withdrawn and sometimes suicidal woman struggling to come to terms with the disease that left her wheelchair-bound. But she left a new woman, with a new outlook on life that she’s embraced for the past 17 years.

“Coming to this clinic made me realize that no matter what I may have lost, I didn’t lose me,” she said. “The core of me is still there.”

Cooper said she’s sharing that discovery with the newly wounded veterans attending this year’s clinic. “I go around to them and let them know we’re here for them,” she said. “We’ve been through it, and what we tell these young folks is that it’s not over. It’s just a new program for them, and a way for them to triumph over adversity.”

CAMP BUEHRING, April 1, 2008 - Troops passing through Camp Buehring on the way to deployment in Iraq can find a little piece of home at the camp’s recreation center, “The Oasis.”The comfortable feeling certainly is not a result of the commercial decor. The center sports school-like tile floors, and tables and chairs that likely could be found in many lunchrooms. Stacks of board games and books grace the shelves near the front desk.

Only one thing can give The Oasis the homey feel not even the game table, TVs and air conditioning can convey. That would be Violet Kelly, better known as “Big Momma” to the troops.

“They sort of view me as their mother — an older figure, a grandmother, mother, whichever way,” she said. “I do think of them that way, as my own children.”

Big Momma, a recreation lead for Morale, Welfare and Recreation, knows all her children, too.

She knows, for example, what a simple DVD of a favorite movie, or sometimes any movie, can mean to a soldier moving forward. That’s why she spent time one day calling out titles and making sure everyone who wanted a DVD got one.

“To me it was just fun calling out the (titles) and seeing everyone interact with them and which one they wanted, which one they didn’t want,” Kelly said. “They just joined right in, ‘Big Momma this. Big Momma that.’”

And like a parent, she tries to treat all her children equally, which means it doesn’t matter what military someone is serving. If they’re in Big Momma’s house when she’s handing out care package goodies, they get some too.

She makes sure they mind their Ps and Qs, as well.

“What do we say to the folks who donated those videos?” she asked when the DVDS were all distributed.

She got the usual reply, a hearty “Hooah!” That’s also how she’s greeted when she walks into the room and asks, “How’s everybody today?” She doesn’t let them off the hook easily, either. If the “Hooah!” isn’t loud or enthusiastic enough, she’ll ask again until everyone catches on, including any civilians who happen to be lingering.

It’s always been that way at Big Momma’s house, she said, adding that nobody gives Big Momma any trouble.

“I’ve not had anyone to give me a hard time due to the fact that if someone gives Big Momma a hard time, somebody else will take hold of them,” she said. “I must say, if I ask them to clean up behind themselves, that’s not a problem. They do it.

“I always tell them, ‘The maid’s going home. This maid ain’t picking up behind nobody!” she added, laughing.

Sometimes the troops do give her a little bit of a hard time, though.

“They always tease me, ‘Big Momma got her lipstick on. Big Momma always putting her lipstick on,’” she laughed. “When you get up in your age, you got to do something! You got to keep your nails done up. You got to keep a little lipstick on.”

Though she’ll gladly tell anyone who asks her age, she often gets disbelieving looks.

“Some of them say, ‘Big Momma, you just don’t look 60!’” she said through a deep, throaty laugh. “I’ve been telling them 60 for three years now!”

Whether her birthday cake would have glowed with 60 or 63 candles on March 13 is of no significance; the troops love her and she loves them.

“You kind of get attached to them, even if when they come in and only stay a week,” she said. “Every troop that comes through here is important to me.”

Kelly has had nearly three years to solidify her role as the troops’ “mom away from mom.” With that role comes the same heartache some mothers on the home front have felt.

“Every time I turn around, somebody will come back and say there was an accident,” she said solemnly. “Some of them I do know. I’ve attended a few of the services for them.”

Kelly’s had plenty of time to get used to the trials and tribulations of military life, however. Her husband is retired from the Navy, which means she’s lived a good portion of her life overseas.

With just two exceptions, she always worked for MWR. Only Australia and Hong Kong didn’t have MWR programs.

“I’ve been working for (MWR) for so many years, until it’s just a part of me,” she said. “It’s hard to give up.”

So when her husband accepted a position with a defense contractor that took him to Kuwait, she found a position with MWR and followed right along. It was another chance to experience a new culture, something she’d loved about being married to the military.

She figures her children loved that part, too. Her daughter, Patricia, must have. She joined the Air Force and is stationed in Korea. Her son lives in California.

For her boisterous nature, Kelly is quiet about one thing from her family’s four-year stay in Bahrain. There they met Marla, who watched Kelly’s daughter, and her husband. “I really don’t like to talk about it much, but I’m very proud of our Sri Lankan family that we have sponsored,” she said. “I’m very, very proud … that they have come from having nothing to having something now.”

Kelly said that even her children send money to help support Marla, her husband and their four children.

“It’s better to give than to receive,” Kelly said. “You know it doesn’t take very much.”

That’s a lesson Big Momma models every day for her “children” in combat uniforms.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is proud of its bond with the military, its chairman and chief executive officer said before last night’s opening show here.

“It’s a relationship that we at Ringling Brothers treasure,” Kenneth Feld said. “We salute the armed forces before every performance and right before we sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’”

The circus began a relationship with the Fisher House Foundation eight years ago. The organization builds homes away from home for family members who want to stay near loved ones recovering at military or Veterans Affairs medical facilities across the country.

Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said honoring that relationship was perhaps the most important part of last night’s performance.

“I think the most important thing is that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has made recognition of the Fisher House a big deal to them,” Myers said. “Every night they recognize this relationship. I think it recognizes the importance of families to our troops.”

The circus took it a step further last night, proclaiming the Fisher House Foundation a “Lifetime Circus Celebrity.” The proclamation was presented to Myers and his wife, Mary Jo, who both sit on the Fisher House Foundation’s board of trustees, in the center ring just before the start of the “Greatest Show on Earth.”

The night was extra special for about 100 wounded servicemembers and their families or caregivers. Ringling Bros. presented them with free tickets to the show. The tickets were distributed to the Warrior Transition Brigade, Veterans Affairs and the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.

One of the recipients who attended the program with his wife and 2-year-old son said the gesture was good for morale.

“Whenever they’re able to do programs like this, for a lot of soldiers, it’s really something good,” said Army Spc. Tim Turpin, who works in medical logistics at Walter Reed Army Medical Center here. “It gets them away from the monotony of being at the hospital all the time and having to do the routines of everyday life.”

Fisher House Foundation is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is a corporate supporter of the Defense Department program.

SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo., March 31, 2008 - As disabled veterans test their mettle this week during the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, they’re finding motivation not just on the slopes, but also in each other.Four hundred disabled veterans, 67 of them wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, said coming together for the six-day clinic is helping them push themselves even harder to achieve things they never thought possible.

As they heed the advice of Deputy Veterans Affairs Secretary Gordon H. Mansfield, a disabled veteran himself who opened the clinic last night urging them to reach out to each other, the veterans said they’re finding a special brand of camaraderie that’s driving them on.

Among them is retired Marine Cpl. Jason Poole, who was on a patrol near Iraq’s border with Syria in June 2004 when a massive bomb killed three of his fellow Marines and sent him into a coma. Poole awoke two months later deaf in his left ear, blind in his left eye, riddled with shrapnel and suffering a traumatic brain injury.

Poole admits he was “very scared” to come to the winter sports clinic the first time in 2006, but quickly got over his trepidations. “I had a blast!” he said.

Now back for his third clinic, 25-year-old Poole savors every opportunity the clinic has to offer. “I love it here!” he exclaimed. “This is 110 percent the most fun, craziest, most beautiful time ever!”

What makes the clinic so special, he said, is the chance to spend time with other disabled veterans who understand him and what he’s gone through. “It’s really fantastic coming together with all these different military members. What we share is why everyone has so much fun.”

Now-retired Army Pfc. Adam Lewis was serving in Baghdad with 3rd Infantry Division when a land mine claimed both his legs in July 2003. What scared him the most about his circumstances, he said, was the prospect of never being able to do the things he once loved.

Motivated by his daughter, who was born during his deployment, Lewis became an active athlete, earning top honors in the Wheelchair Games in several categories and returning here for his third winter sports clinic.

“I try to compete in everything,” 27-year-old Lewis said. “But this is about more than the competition. It’s about the people you’re around.”

Now considering himself “a seasoned veteran,” Lewis said he tries to help more recently wounded veterans adjust to their new situations. “I try to listen and see where they’re coming from,” he said. “If they ask for advice, I’m happy to give it.”

Lewis said disabled veterans, regardless of when they served or which uniform they wore, share a common bond. “A soldier is a soldier always,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter who you are or what your rank (is). All of us share the same mixed emotions. The wiser the veteran I become, the more I realize that everyone is pretty much the same.”

This time last year, Angel Gomez had just been medically retired from the Marine Corps and had to wear a helmet around the clock to protect his skull following surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.

Gomez was driving a 7-ton truck during a night mission in Ramadi, Iraq, in April 2005 when an improvised explosive device hit his vehicle and sent him into a coma. He awoke two weeks later to find the right side of his body paralyzed, a tube holding his windpipe open and his brain damaged by a traumatic injury.

Even as he struggled to recover, with grueling hours developed to regaining his ability to walk and talk, the Mountain View, Calif., native said he felt so self-conscious about his appearance that he withdrew into himself. He turned down opportunities to go on outings that provided a respite from the hospital, hating the way people stared at his helmet, his cane and the pipe sticking out of this throat after his tracheostomy.

Coming to the winter sports clinic last year, where he learned how to snowboard, proved to be a huge boost in Gomez’ recovery. “I got motivated going out there,” he said. “It was a big step for me.”

This year, Gomez is back again, his helmet now gone, and ready to take mono-skiing so he can ski even faster than last year. But he said he’s equally excited about the chance to spend time with his fellow veterans.

“There’s a big benefit of coming here, because you meet people on the slopes, at the concerts, dancing and at meals,” he said. “You spend time together and talk, and it really means a lot.”

Marine Corps Reservist Jared Smith was mobilized at Camp Pendleton, Calif., in June when a spinal cord injury from running with a combat rucksack left him in a wheelchair with little hope of ever walking again. Less than nine months later, he’s walking with one crutch and planning to try out an adaptive mono-ski here at Snowmass Mountain.

Looking forward to returning to the slopes, 22-year-old Smith said he’s confident he can tackle the mountain and return to the skiing level he’d built since he first picked up skiing 10 years ago. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned since this injury, it’s that you can do everything you did before,” he said. “You just have to do it in an adaptive way.”

Now medically retired as a corporal, Smith said he’s also excited about the opportunity to meet and mingle with other disabled veterans. “When I look around here, I can see that we all have something in common. That’s just not something you find in your hometown,” he said. “So just being here and getting to talk with them is pretty amazing.”

Alfred Clarke, an Army Gulf War veteran who was medically retired from the Army due to an eye disease, returned this year for his fourth winter sports clinic to ski and snowmobile and spend time with fellow veterans.

“This place gives me motivation,” said the Tampa, Fla., native. “It’s someplace where I can talk with and hang out with some of the guys. There’s a lot of spirit here.”

CAMP BUEHRING, March 10, 2008 - Like devoted fans, about 100 servicemembers anxiously awaited Clyde’s arrival here on March 7. And, like a true celebrity, Clyde was fashionably late.

“I wanted to take a picture with the camel, but where is the camel?” asked Army Sgt. 1st Class Darlene Brent, with the 106th Financial Management Company out of Bamberg, Germany. “You got all these people standing out here and there’s no camel.”

Clyde the camel was an hour past due for his gig giving brief rides to troops transiting through Camp Buehring into Iraq. There was wild speculation that he’d been stopped at the front gate because he’d forgotten his identification card.

“It’s 3:45 now,” Brent said. “The camel’s supposed to have been here at 3:00.”

Clyde and handler, Kadry, trotted up about 4 p.m. Both were in good spirits as the servicemembers, mostly soldiers, snapped pictures, fed the furry celeb walnuts and dates, and climbed a ladder for their ride atop the dromedary.

Regardless of his tardiness, Clyde provides a big morale boost for the troops, said Army Reserve Lt. Col. Sean Clark of the 2145th Garrison Support Unit out of Nashville, Tenn. The camel’s services are provided by the camp’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation services.

“MWR offers the soldiers, sailors and people who are here on Camp Buehring the opportunity to come out and ride a camel; get a little desert experience up close and personal,” Clark said.

The novelty allows the troops to give family and friends a glimpse of their life during deployment, Clark added, noting that troops can’t share many details or images with families back home for security reasons.

Clark said being able to share photos and stories of Clyde is “good because it shows them that we’re not in constant danger all the time; (that) there are fun and exciting things that we can do, and a little on the humorous side.”

Letting loved ones in on that side of deployment helps relieve their stress about what’s happening to deployed servicemembers, Clark added.

Camel rides are a monthly occurrence on the base, said Michelle Larsen, an employee of the base Morale, Welfare and Recreation office, which organizes the popular event.

“Not too many people get to ride camels,” she said. “It’s something that the troops all really like to participate in, mostly for photo ops, and just an opportunity to ride a camel.”

Judging by the troops’ reactions to riding atop the trotting Clyde, or having him nibble snacks out of their hands, the experience was worth the long wait in the nearly 90 degree weather.

In fact, the camel’s fame has spread internationally, it seems. A handful of those waiting up to two hours for a ride after Clyde showed up included some of the about 500 British soldiers on the base.

Clyde’s next appearance will be at the beginning of April. Until then, transiting troops will have to make do with myriad other MWR programs including sporting and fitness events and karaoke nights.

WASHINGTON, March 3, 2008 - A memorial in Oklahoma City will honor servicemembers who paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom while serving Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Military memorials … remind us of the great sacrifices that have been made for this country and the world,” said Jason Savage, president of “Freedom Memorials,” A nonprofit group dedicated to planning and raising money for the memorial. “It’s important to honor those sacrifices today.”

That’s a tall order if the desired location is on National Park Service land in the National Capital Region, Savage discovered.

“The Commemorative Works Act of 1986, which deals with land areas administered by the National Park Service and the General Services Administration, states in part, ‘An event or individual cannot be memorialized prior to the 25th anniversary of the event or the death of the individual,’” Savage said.

For wars, that waiting period begins at the conclusion of the fighting.

“Given those circumstances, we began a site search (and) were presented with the wonderful opportunity to have his memorial located adjacent to one of the nation’s finest military museums,” Savage said. “The parents, relatives, and friends of those lost today should be able to visit (a memorial).”

The memorial will be located in Oklahoma City’s Thunderbird Park, which is next to the 45th Infantry Division Museum. It will be the first of its kind, with photos of each fallen servicemember and a personal tribute etched into black stainless steel, Savage said.

“This memorial will bring a reality to this nation’s losses like no other, an everlasting history to these brave individuals, the sacrifices that were made and the families who will never forget,” he said.

Savage, who never served in the military himself, feels a strong tie to the community. During World War II, his father served in the Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor to today’s CIA. His mother was a stenographer at the Nuremberg war crimes trials, and he grew up in Charleston, S.C., when the Navy base there was in full operation.

“Now I live close to Fort Bragg, N.C., and run road races on the base with the soldiers,” he said. “I have great respect for what they are doing for our country, (and) I wanted to do something special to honor them and the families of the fallen.”

More information about and renderings of the National Afghanistan and Iraq War Memorial are available on the Freedom Memorials Web site.

Editor’s Note: To find out about more individuals, groups and organizations that are helping support the troops, visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil. America Supports You directly connects military members to the support of the America people and offers a tool to the general public in their quest to find meaningful ways to support the military community.

A troop-support group in a small southern Michigan town is working to raise public awareness and appreciation for troops and their families.

“‘Operation Never Forgotten’ bridges the gap between our military and civilian worlds by creating nonpartisan national awareness advertising for our troops, veterans and their families,” Linda Kelly, the group’s president and founder, said. “(The organization) has rolled out over 500 billboards across America on highways and in airports from Times Square to L.A.”

The billboards display an unmistakable military theme with phrases encouraging viewers to remember and support the military and their families and the sacrifices they’re making. For example, one shows an American soldier with the phrase “Heroes Not From Movies.”

The group avoids espousing opinions about the war.

“Operation Never Forgotten separates the war from the warrior,” Kelly said, adding that the group’s campaigns stimulate volunteerism for all military support organizations helping deployed troops and wounded warriors, as well as those honoring our fallen heroes.

The organization is working to expand its advertising to media outlets beyond highway billboards. It’s focusing on other outlets where its message will be seen, including transit systems, shopping malls, sports facilities, and more traditional advertising venues like newspapers, magazines and radio.

Operation Never Forgotten recently became a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2008 - Late last month my wife, Deborah, and I christened a Navy destroyer in Pascagoula, Miss. As we watched the champagne bottle break across the bow of this sleek new warship, some 25 miles away in the Alabama town of Irvington, more than 100 well-wishers gathered for a christening of their own.

They were breaking ground on a new house for former U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Greg Edwards and his family. Edwards, 25, lost both legs and shattered his left hand in an explosion while on patrol in Ramadi last October. Now, thanks to the Taunton, Mass.-based nonprofit organization Homes for Our Troops, Edwards, his wife, and their two young daughters will soon have a new place to call home.

“I’m excited and appreciative for all that’s been done for me,” said Edwards. Modest though he is, Edwards might well have been speaking for the tens of thousands of his fellow service members who have likewise benefited from the generosity of this nation.

The truth is, Americans deserve a lot more credit for supporting the troops than they often get. It goes well beyond the ribbons and the posters. All over this country - in all sorts of ways - people are rolling up their sleeves and doing great things for the men and women who serve in the armed forces.

During this National Tribute to Hospitalized Veterans Week, I thought it would be a good idea to point some of these things out. There’s the National Military Family Association (NMFA), for example. They instituted something called Operation Purple Camps, day camps especially designed for the children of deployed parents. Last year there were 34 camps in 26 states, designed to provide positive outlets for the kids to express their feelings. More than 9,000 military children applied last year, and this year, NMFA plans to have even more camps to meet that need.

Or how about the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, begun in 2000 under the auspices of the Intrepid Museum Foundation. Since its inception, the fund has provided close to $60 million in support for the families of military personnel lost in service to the nation, and for severely wounded military personnel and veterans. Organizers are proud to tell you these efforts are funded entirely through public donations, and hundreds of thousands of people have chipped in.

Or consider the Angels of Mercy, a group led by Marian Chirichella and her husband, Jay Edwards, a retired naval officer. Chirichella and Edwards started Angels of Mercy back in 2003 to provide supplemental support to troops recuperating at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. They visit patients, see to the needs of families, raise money, and support the Fisher Houses as well - doing whatever they can to make the stay at Walter Reed more comfortable.

This good work has earned Angels of Mercy national awards and recognition, including a 2004 “Newman’s Own” award as the best program in the nation for “Supporting Active Duty Military and Their Families.”

But that’s not why they do it.

“It’s a human thing,” Jay Edwards told a reporter. “It’s gratifying to know you’re helping, to see the results of what you do.”

Many other Americans do that “human thing,” too, reaching out on an individual basis. Shauna Fleming of Orange, Calif., founded “A Million Thanks.” She worked with her school and community to ensure that all 2.6 million members of the military received a thank you letter from citizens across the country. Lizzy Lulu, a young girl from Lancaster, Calif., together with her mother, launched a campaign to collect more than 100,000 “AA” batteries to send to overseas troops.

And in Nevada, the Girl Scouts of Frontier Council donated 11,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Indeed, over the holidays, our troops received everything from Christmas trees to holiday care packages to a special compilation CD featuring music from Five For Fighting, Billy Joel, Josh Groban, Brooks & Dunn, and Gary Sinise & The LT Dan Band.

For our part, Deborah and I were delighted to host this year’s USO Holiday Tour, which brought A-list celebrities Robin Williams, Kid Rock, Lance Armstrong, Lewis Black, Ronan Tynan and Miss USA to perform shows in Iraq, Afghanistan and five other countries.

And these are but a few examples. The boxes, bags, cookies and cards just keep coming. I used to get asked all the time by deployed men and women if Americans still support them. It was typically the first thing on their minds. Nowadays, it doesn’t come up as much.

More and more of them seem to know you care. They know you don’t have to send gift packages and greeting cards, or donate to the USO, visit hospitals or look in on their families. But they know you do all these things and more. And they know most of the time you never tell a soul.

As one soldier wrote in a letter to the people of Midland, Texas, after he received one of more than 1,400 holiday care packages that city sent overseas, “Sometimes it seems as though a lot of people don’t care about what we do for our country. These past few months have shown me that people are supportive and understand the hardships soldiers go through.”

Like the Angels of Mercy, you’re not in it for the credit. You’re in it for the troops. The Rev. Floyd Nelson, who pastors a church not far from where Sgt. Edward’s house is being built in Alabama, put it this way: “We should look out for those who look out for us.”

On behalf of all those soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen - as well as their families - I just want to say thanks. We feel exactly the same way.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2008 - Veterans pursuing higher education through DeVry University may be eligible for scholarships up to $1,000, but the deadline to apply is quickly approaching.

Applications for 2008 AMVETS/DeVry University scholarships are due Feb. 15. Veterans and their family members are encouraged to apply for one of 10 scholarships being offered for 2008 spring semester.

The scholarships of up to $1,000 may be applied to undergraduate and graduate programs at both DeVry and its Keller Graduate School of Management for online and on-site programs, AMVETS officials said in a recent news release. Applicants are eligible for scholarships every semester of enrollment, up to $9,000 throughout the course of a degree plan.

Those wishing to apply must submit an essay, a copy of a valid DD 214, a resume, a letter of recommendation and their most recent completed tax return. A full listing of eligibility rules and an application form can be found on the AMVETS Web site, www.amvets.org.

AMVETS partnered with DeVry and its school of management last year to provide up to 30 scholarships per year at a value of up to $1,000 each.

DeVry, which offers programs in 25 states and Canada, as well as online, started the program as a way to honor veterans and their families, officials said.

AMVETS is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and companies with servicemembers and their families serving at home and abroad. The service organization is a longtime proponent of higher education, offering a variety of scholarship programs to veterans and their family members.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2008 - A recent study that estimates nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night has spurred Operation Homefront, a national troop-support group, to action.

The study, titled “Vital Mission: Ending Homelessness Among Veterans,” estimated that on any given night in 2006, 195,827 veterans were homeless. The number represents nearly 25 percent of the nation’s homeless population.

Operation Homefront provides emergency assistance and promotes morale for troops and their families. The organization is connecting wounded veterans, who can face financial trials during recovery, with home builders and mortgage lenders to make home ownership easier.

The group is a supporter of America Supports You, a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

“When the statistics came out about one in four homeless is a veteran, that was when we said, ‘That’s it,’” said Meredith Leyva, founder of Operation Homefront. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen to our guys if we don’t have a long-term vision here and implement it now.

“(We are working with) … home builders to basically sell their excess inventory to wounded warriors,” Leyva said, explaining that her organization’s role is to make connections and help negotiate the best deals possible. “These are good homes, and (the builders) are dropping the price by $30,000 to $50,000.”

The goal is to sell entire swaths of neighborhoods, ideally near Veterans Affairs medical facilities, to wounded warriors, she said. This creates an understanding community.

“It’s a community that’s going to look out for each other,” Leyva said. “And even in the worst of times, they’ve still got their house.”

To sweeten the deal further, Operation Homefront is working with mortgage lenders to negotiate lower interest rates on 30-year home loans.

The group also is asking lenders for a little compassion if a new homeowner should miss mortgage payments because of medical issues, Leyva said. That would require a statement from the doctor and a repayment plan, however, and there is no guarantee that the original lender won’t sell the loan to another company who might not be so understanding.

As excited as Operation Homefront is about the program, its officials are realistic about how long it will take to get up a head of steam.

“This is going to take months, because people just can’t make a commitment of hundreds of thousands of dollars on either the builders’ or the lenders’ side without some serious thought as to how they’re going to do it,” she said. “It’ll take a good three to six months to build up some really solid commitments from builders and lenders.”

Home builders in Arizona, as well as the Houston Housing Authority in Texas, have given the program a good start by committing a number of homes, Leyva said.