A good tale at Christmas. For once. :)

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=18679&archive=true

This man, "Daniel", heard about soldiers spending their own money to buy hydration systems so he organized a buy and paid for 1000 of them, with the company kicking in 500 more, shipping them free. Good read.

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"The donor of the Christmas shipment, who asked to be known only as “Daniel,” said he was inspired to send the CamelBaks after reading a July article in The New York Times that mentioned soldiers were spending their own money to purchase the devices.

“We all know soldiers aren’t generously paid,” Daniel said in a Friday telephone interview. So after reading the article, “I checked the Web site, saw what they cost, and said, ‘I can do something about this.’”

Daniel contacted the company and told them he intended to make a large purchase to donate to soldiers. CamelBak proved to be an enthusiastic partner. “They kept lowering the price, so I could keep upping the number” of units he could purchase until it reached 1,000, Daniel said. Not only did CamelBak officials give Daniel a special discount on the devices, they also decided to donate another 500 units, Hunter, who is a former Navy fighter pilot, said.

And really getting into the spirit of the matter, the executives also decided to pay the cost of shipping. All told, the gift to soldiers is worth about $100,000, Osmundsen said. Daniel said he made the donation because has strong feelings about the work U.S. servicemembers do, in Iraq and elsewhere."

to send packets to the troops

Yes this was yesterday on Lou Dobbs and it disgusted me.