Shipping Out

Memorial Day 2008

According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, the word memorial is defined as “serving to preserve remembrance; of or relating to memory.”

We do remember.  We should remember.  All of us should.
 
Those of us that are old enough to vividly recall the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, the conflict in Somalia, and certainly the war in Iraq can conjure up memories of their beginnings and the sacrifices we have seen made by those that served in these places.

But there are those that are too young to have been aware of these events.  They don’t have friends their age in the military.  They likely have not known firsthand a loss to the tragedies of war.
 
Through Shipping Out, we have found many young people that have taken it upon themselves to learn about these past sacrifices in service of our country.  They take seriously the responsibility to discover the past and value its lessons, even as they remember and support those soldiers currently in service across the globe through their gifts, cards, posters and prayers.

As we all take today to breathe a quiet breath in solace reflect upon this day, let’s take to heart the lessons we impart to our children.  Let’s recall the history that we’ve lived and explore the stories of past battles on honor of this country.  Let’s remind ourselves of the opportunity to celebrate our soldiers, not only on Memorial Day, but every day, both in act and spirit – as they serve us each day in both body and soul.

To those that serve.

Godspeed.

More Than Words

Back in May, we posted a story about a group of enthusiastic music fans and friends that banded together to show their support for our soldiers through Shipping Out.

Initially, it was simply the desire of Brenda Varga (on one knee in brown, far right) to give a little back; she then considered that some of her friends might feel the same and choose to join her. 

Join her they did.  Brenda and her cohorts hurriedly worked to ship out a little love from St. Paul, Minnesota.  News of their efforts quickly caught fire, and, in only a few days, a small army of contributors had come together in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to send even more packages to our soldiers overseas.

We published their story.  We posted their pictures.  We now share some of their own personal insights, in their own words, to show why they chose to accompany Brenda in this stellar show of solidarity for our fighting men and women across the globe.

From other states and other countries…they say it better than we ever could.
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It felt wonderful knowing how big the smile would be on the soldiers’ faces when they opened our packages and knew someone back home was thinking about them. (Brenda from Wisconsin)

I fear that they think too many of us over here in safety don’t care about them. I try to help out wherever and whenever I can to show them otherwise. (Carole from Massachusetts)

It made me feel like I could give back just a little bit for what [the troops] all do for me – and us – and let them know they aren't forgotten.  Even though I don't know them each "personally,” I love them like they're my own! (Georgia from Washington)

Even though I'm from England, the soldiers overseas are helping us all, and it was nice to be able to do something small in return. (Jo from ENGLAND)

Thank you for ALL you do for us!  We truly appreciate it! (Julie from Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

I feel my small donation isn't much compared to all the courage, strength and patriotism you give to all of us! (Kristie from Iron Mountain, Minnesota)

I'm a Belgian woman of forty-five, and my dearest and most longtime friends I've met through the Tim McGraw fan club.  When I was kindly invited to donate to the troops via Brenda, a fan club member, it felt good to give back to all you guys and girls defending our freedom & protecting our civilized world.

From the European continent, I am saying THANK YOU, and I'm praying every single day for all of you to go home safe and sound. (Marleen from Dilbeek, BELGIUM)

Thank you for taking the time to reach out to our heroic and dignified servicemen and women. Our involvement provided an excellent opportunity for me to teach my son, Danny Boy, the significance of how selflessly these brave and honorable individuals give of themselves each and every day so that we as Americans are able to enjoy the lives that are so often taken for granted. I hope they know that, by their example, we we are teaching our young ones about truth, honor, courage and dignity. (Nancy from California)

Being Canadian, I was honoured to be a part of such a great cause; I admire what [the U.S. soldiers] do for their country! (Sherry from CANADA)

It was an honor to be included in the gift-gifting to our troops, considering what they are doing for me and our country; all of my love and prayers to our heroes. (Tammie from Virginia)

Memorial Day 2007

Everyone associated with Shipping Out would like to take a moment to thank each and everyone of our soldiers, both past and present, as well as their families for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make on behalf of the rest of us.

Thank you also to everyone that chooses to support them in their varied duties across the globe with their gifts and correspondences. Those that we have been privileged to offer here in Shipping Out are only a few of the heartfelt acts of appreciation that happen every day in memory of our fighting men and women...

...and we are honored to share them as our own act of appreciation.

On this Memorial Day...and every day...thank you.

Shipping Out Catches Fire in Milwaukee

Shipping Out supporter and music fan Brenda Varga almost couldn’t believe it.

Less than a week before, she had posted a note on a music fan message board requesting contributions for our soldiers overseas.  She immediately found a few anxious to participate, so arrangements were made to meet at the Tim McGraw concert in St. Paul.  There, the group assembled their care packages to be sent to Iraq.

Brenda shipped them out upon returning home, making it clear that there would be more to come.  As she herself stated: “For me, it’s a given.”

For her, it was…and she wasn’t alone.  Even as she and her small crew were enjoying the evening concert in St. Paul, others were surfing the Web, reading her messages, and getting busy.  More “Zoners” – the most loyal of fans of country singer Tim McGraw and his band, the Dancehall Doctors – were gathering funds and supplies in response to her call to support the troops, even as Brenda was enjoying song after song from her seat at the show.

Following the show, Varga received numerous emails sharing her sentiments and offering support from across the globe.  Checks were on their way from other countries; packages were en route from other states.  Packages and money were already in motion from across the United States and from as far away as Canada, England, and Belgium.

The word was out; Shipping Out was again underway.

Many Zoners were eagerly anticipating an upcoming McGraw show in Milwaukee, so a plan was formed to converge outside the arena before the show.  Here, these motivated music fans could share their collective show of support to our men and women overseas.

Meet they did – and together shared an evening of good friends, good music, and good feelings, knowing that soon their care packages would be received.

And more importantly, our troops would know…they are remembered.

Troop Support a “Given” for Wisconsin Woman

Brenda Varga (third from left) was anxious to get to the concert.  She loves the music – knows all the songs.  She’s made many friends of her fellow “Zoners,” the self-proclaimed title for those ever-supportive and unfailing fans of country superstar Tim McGraw and his band, the Dancehall Doctors.

It was at their show this past spring in Madison, Wisconsin that she first heard the story of Shipping Out.  How it got started, who it served, and in what way she might participate.   

“I was so excited to help in any way,” said Varga, a member of the staff at Plover/Whiting Elementary School in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  “It was the first time I was able to personally purchase a few things for the soldiers, and it felt wonderful knowing how big the smile would be on the soldiers’ faces when they opened our packages and knew someone back home was thinking about them.”

Driving home after the show, she couldn’t wait to leap onto the Internet and share her excitement with a few friends.  They were all scheduled to meet two days later for another concert in St. Paul, Minnesota, some having traveled as far as Belgium to attend, and Vargas wanted to get them all involved.

“I knew I had to go to the [message] boards and ask for donations from the heart; they are all so giving of themselves,” she said of her friends and fellow fans.  In just those two days, the group assembled a care package of snacks, magazines, and portable thumb drives (pocket-sized disk drives that soldiers can use in transmitting email back home) for shipping to the soldiers stationed in Iraq.

And that was just the beginning.  “It has become so important to me,” said Varga, “to reach those so far away from their homes and their family and let them know that someone they don't even know cares enough to send them a few comfort items.”

So are more donations in the future?  “For me,” she said, “it’s a given.”

The Needs of the One

Shipping Out supporter Vicki Leeper Meyer had sent things to Iraq before.  She considered Major Dave Bingham a friend, and she enjoyed sending away care packages and sharing Bingham’s photos and notes of appreciation with her friends and family. 

She knew he had a great sense of humor, a soft spot for dogs, and a commanding loyalty to his men.  After sharing some of her own recordings with him, she also learned he had a special place in his heart for a particular song.

“You wouldn’t have ever recorded [the song] ‘Here I Am, Lord,’ have you?” asked Major Bingham via email.  “The chorus has the lines ‘whom shall I send.’  I love that song, but I have never heard a decent recording of it.  All the ones I have heard sound like a funeral dirge.”

Upon receiving this message, Vicki knew it had to happen.  “Major Dave is always making sure his troops are well taken care of,” she said.  “But I wanted to do something that would be especially meaningful to him personally, to show him how much we support the role he is playing in keeping our freedoms secure.” 

She did already know the song, having performed it at church, and called upon a couple of friends to help her.  Jeff McMahon, a college friend and now keyboardist for country singer Tim McGraw, worked with Meyer on an original piano arrangement.  Then her friend and boss of twenty years, Don Zimmers, wrote and recorded additional orchestrations.  With the addition of Meyer’s vocal, the recording was complete.

Some weeks later, Bingham received the recording.  The gift of something so personal, something created specifically for him, had quite an impact on the officer.

“Wow, I am almost at a loss for words.  That was beautiful,” wrote Bingham.  “This is one of the nicest [gifts] and certainly the most memorable gift I have ever received.  We sang this song at my father’s funeral, and the lyrics “whom shall I send/ here I am” speak to me deeply on both a religious level and with what I am doing in the Army.  If someone needs to go, send me.  Thank you ever so much.”

Meyer put it simply:  “It was important.  Dave always puts his men first.  Shares everything, puts them ahead of himself.  So I wanted to do this…for him.”

Then she added, as if he could hear her: “No sir…thank YOU.”

(Vicki Leeper Meyer can be heard delivering “The Star-Spangled Banner” for the Shipping Out video titled “To Those Who Serve.”  Click here to watch.)

Bigger Things

We’re told, and we say, that there are bigger things than how many presents we buy or how many lights we hang.  We shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger things, we say, like the importance of friends and family. 

At such times, many of us direct our attention to our fighting men and women.  We acknowledge the insignificance of daily minutia like shopping and party planning as compared to the conflict, attacks, gunfire, and threat of war confronting our military at every waking hour.

We recognize that we are blessed to celebrate the holidays at home with our families – even as we celebrate the soldiers that cannot.

With Christmas approaching, we would like to share the message below sent prior to the launching of “Shipping Out” by Major Dave Bingham.  This poignant message, sent in April of 2006, shows that even for those in the midst of war, there can be…

...bigger things.

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Happy Easter, everyone -

After much too little sleep, I got up and went to a sunrise Easter Service at a monastery that was founded around 500 AD.  It was an active monastery all the way up until Saddam shut it down.  Several chaplains spoke, and a group of soldiers did an outstanding job singing a cappella. It was a very moving service, and the location certainly made it one I won't forget.

Interesting to think that Christians celebrated the Lord's resurrection at that same location 1,500 years ago.  Hope everyone has a blessed Easter.

Dave

The Military and the Mouse

Some things, it seems, are always the same.

The stretch of a still-hot chocolate chip cookie.   The echoing crack of a home run.  The perpetual optimism of Mickey Mouse.  Wilford Brimley’s moustache.

The pursuit of liberty…and the inevitability of evil.

But even as these things remain unchanged, those that answer the call to serve in defense of freedom and oppression come from new generations - influenced by drastically different times - than those that came just before them.

It can take some getting used to, as Major Bingham explained in this note to Shipping Out below.
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Greetings all...

It is interesting how the army has changed in just my time in.

When I came in, my first units were all males and the stereotypical cussing and spitting type.  I was walking back from the chow hall the other night, and I was listening to a conversation between a few young female soldiers - hearing the giggling and “young people” talk that my old ears only understand about every third word of - and I felt like I was walking in any mall in America, minus the fact that they were all carrying rifles and light machine guns.

The same thought of “my, how the army has changed” crossed my mind as we were standing on the tarmac getting ready to load onto a C-130 and fly across "bad guy territory" - helmets, bullet proof vests with protective ceramic plates, weapons all ready to go - and I look back, and there's a soldier carrying a Mickey Mouse doll.

Just had to shake my head, do the slow count to ten and laugh.

Thanks for all the emails, packages and notes from home. It's always a morale builder to hear from home.

Take care…

Dave
   

A Taste of Home

Different things can remind you of home.

A snow cone stand tastes like going to the fair as a kid. A mechanic’s garage smells like holding the flashlight while Dad changed the oil. A song from years ago sounds like your high school prom.

Mom’s favorite meatloaf recipe…reminds you of Mom.

When the girls from Girl Scout Troop 1954 sent their care packages – boxes full of cookies, notes of encouragement, handmade paper cranes and the spirit of support - to our soldiers overseas, their hope was to provide a “taste of home” for those making tremendous sacrifices and serving so far away.

Boy, did they. Below are a few words sent by Major Dave Bingham from Iraq to these industrious and patriotic young women.
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Got two large boxes of Girl Scout cookies yesterday. Thanks! The cranes
were incredible, too. I had to separate a few strands because multiple people
wanted them. Quite some talent in that troop; I think we all will have to
run an extra few miles after taking one to many.

A nice taste of home.

Thanks for all the good wishes and prayers. I know they are working. We
had a helicopter take several rounds this week and one of the control rods
was shot 95% through…but the crew came back without a scratch.

Thanks again…

Dave

The Promise of the Japanese Crane

As the impassioned young ladies of Girl Scout Troop 1954 eagerly prepared to ship their “taste of home” cookie care packages to Iraq, they were equally intent on sending their sentiments along with the sweets for the men and women stationed in Iraq.

A carefully chosen card bearing the image of a bald eagle, the American national emblem, was passed around and signed by each girl.  Beyond the encouragement to “enjoy the cookies” were some other heartfelt missives. 

“Thank you for fighting for our country; I appreciate you caring for everyone,” wrote one.  “Thank you for helping our country,” offered another.  One shared an inspired quote by Henry David Thoreau: “In their daily life, all are braver than they know.”

Still, one imaginative and motivated young lady deserves particular note for her gift of support and faithfulness.  Her name is Mariko.  Beyond the cookies and the cards, she offered something a bit more personal.

Skilled in origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes and figures, Mariko took it upon herself to craft, individually and by hand, over two hundred origami cranes and string them together for the soldiers.  Her artistry, while beautiful and impressive, holds more than simply a stylish relevance.

In Japanese culture, the crane represents peace, honor, and long life.  Dating back to the 18th century, legend has held that if one folds one thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant their greatest wish. 

Mariko shared her wish in the letter below, included in their care package.
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Dear Soldiers,

Every day we hear about the news in Iraq.  And every day we are thankful to have people like you.  So thank you so much.  We are so obliged that you would do this.  The origami that we sent you with the cookies are…

…that’s Japanese for the word senbazuru). Senbazuru is a string of folded cranes.  The crane is a symbol of longevity.  There is a tale that if you make a senbazuru, then you would get a wish.  So we thought and thought of what this wish should be, and we decided this.

We fold these cranes for you with our wish – the wish of your secure and early return.  Enjoy the “taste of home” (cookies).

From Troop 1954 and Mariko