My son, Royce (RP) will be deployed to Iraq on Thursday, June 29th. He will celebrate his 21st birthday the day before deployment--June 28th! He lands in Prague for a 3 hour layover, lands in Kuwait, and then will drive his FMTV(?), accompanied by a Stryker unit to Mossul, via Baghdad. Please keep him and his entire Stryker Brigade--3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division out of Ft Lewis, WA-- in your prayers. Please keep me in your prayers also--I'm a very nervous mother! Any information you can give me is much appreciated. Thank you!

God Bless Our Troops!

Nancy

Avon and USO

Are you aware that AVON has a yellow ribbon pin that sells for $3? The proceeds for the pin goes to the USO
Vicki
[from Betsy - my husband, Joe, is a great supporter of the USO. He often used their facilities at airports when he was on active duty! You might tell your sons and daughters to look for the USO in the airport. They usually have a place to rest and recreate and food. They can also help with any problems. Better than sitting in airport waiting.]

Questions about deployment to Iraq

I hate to admit it, but........ I have no idea what a blog is!!! But if it is a way to keep in touch with other family members of our service members, I would be interested. My son Steven will get to come home from July 1st through July 11th before he deploys. He is coming home now (while he is on block leave, instead of in September, because I work at a school and am off during the summer as is his brother and sister). He will be deploying to Iraq on October 16th. Please keep him in your prayers. Do you have any idea of how long it takes to get mail to Iraq? Do the servicemen have access to phones or e-mail? I guess allot depends where they are. I think Steven is going to Halla(?) I think it is about 30 miles from Baghdad. Do you know of any other families who have or have had anyone there? Thanks for your help. Rosie

Sunrise Greetings

Sunrise Greetings in Bloomington, IN, gave the Hoosier Hills Armed Forces Families Association two boxes of cards today to send to deployed service members so that they have cards to send home. We asked for some more birthday cards now that we are going to send birthday greetings to any local service man or woman. (Don't forget to send Betsy the birthdate! Jessica and Nancy have volunteered to send the cards.)

Sunrise has been very generous to us - and the service men and women appreciate it. So do the family members who get their beautiful cards!

We have some cards that are more suitable for family to send. Just get in touch with Betsy and come pick up some cards to send.

Mother asks prayers

On Saturday my Son Sean's Brigade had one Soldier
killed and 2 kidnapped.

Please pray for the safe return of these two young
soldiers and for my son and all his comrades that they
all come home soon and safe to all their families.

Thanks for all your prayers.
Norma

Announcement - July 4th Parade

HHAFFA will have a 'We Support Our Troops' walking unit in the Limestone Heritage Festival Parade. We have signs available that you can add your service man or woman's name to (whole name or just first name) or you can make a home made sign to carry. If you don't want to walk, you can recruit someone young who would be willing to carry your sign. Unit # and parade line up will be added later.

Announcement - Candle Ceremony

As part of the Limestone Heritage Festival, there will be a Candle Ceremony at 9 pm on Saturday, July 1, 2006, on the west side of the Lawrence County Courthouse Square to honor those from this area who are serving our country on active duty in the US Armed Forces. There will be a 'We Support Our Troops' display in the Regions Bank window during the week of July 1 to July 8 honoring the US Army (and the Indiana National Guard), US Marine, US Navy, US Air Force, US Coast Guard.

Hoosier Hills Armed Forces Families Association

The Hoosier Hills Armed Forces Families Association (HHAFFA) was started by the American Red Cross in April, 2003. We are independent of the American Red Cross, but they give support to any community based military families group. HHAFFA is pronounced like “halfa cuppa coffee” or “halfa family” when the spouse deploys.

The purpose of the HHAFFA is to provide fellowship and practical help to spouses and other family members of active duty members of the Armed Forces and to show community support for our Armed Forces through various activities. These activities include whatever families want to do. We have “Letters of Support” that can be taken to community gatherings for people to sign; we march in parades; send packages to deployed areas. On Mother’s Day we give a red, white, and blue corsage to all mothers, grandmothers, and wives of active duty service men. We keep in touch with one another through a phone tree and email and now this Blog.

HHAFFA is similar to the “All Spouses” groups on a military base. Each unit has its own group, but sometimes they all come together for fellowship and projects. In the civilian community, often there is only one family member representing a unit so an ‘All Families Group’ is all they have for fellowship and information.

Contact Information: Betsy Henley 812.275.5162, bhenley@hhredcross.org