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Operation Booty Beauty sends comforts of home to soldiers abroad

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By CLOE CABRERA
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: July 3, 2008

You’re hot, exhausted and dusty. The temperature is a blazing 120 degrees. You’ve been in full gear all day - body armor, uniform, helmet, combat boots, utility belt and rifle. And you’d give just about anything to lather up with your favorite cherry blossom shower gel, slather on some scented lotion and paint your toenails pale pink.

When you’re a female soldier, though, these small indulgences are hard to come by. Women in the military say those things are among the comforts of home they miss most.

Pvt. Amanda E. Abeyta, who has spent the last two months stationed in Iraq, says lotions, shampoos, shower gels and nail polishes fly off the shelves of the small Post Exchange that serves most of the troops at her small base. So the soldiers must depend on the kindness of strangers to get their hands on the products they yearn for.

YOU CAN HELP

You can send care packages to soldiers through several Web sites. Here are a few:

“These women are in uniform all the time. They want to feel like girls,“ says Sue Horn, co-founder of anysoldier.com, an Indiana-based Web site that has been collecting goods for soldiers overseas for almost five years. She says the site has served more than 1 million soldiers since it launched; 200,000 of them have been women. There are about 26,000 female troops deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries supporting the “war on terror,“ according to statistics from the Department of Defense. The Army provides the bare necessities for the soldiers, Horn says, but it isn’t “the good stuff.“ And the products sold at military commissaries and PXes are wiped out as soon as they are stocked, soldiers say. Abeyta asked anysoldier.com for body wash, shampoos, hair ties (black), powder and tampons. “We could use just about anything,“ she wrote in her request. “We are grateful for anything you can spare our way. May God Bless.“ Sgt. 1st Class Debra Weir’s wish list includes liquid body soap, baby wipes, feminine hygiene items, African-American hair products, combs and razors. “Anything anyone would send would be a blessing to us,“ she wrote the Web site. “Thank you for thinking about us.“ Horn and her husband, Marty, founded anysoldier.com in August 2003, when their son, Brian, was deployed to Iraq as a member of the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade. They regularly sent care packages to their son. He always asked for more. “When we spoke to him, he told us they weren’t for him. They were for his guys in his brigade who don’t get any mail,“ says Marty Horn, a 20-year Army veteran. “Over that one telephone call, we came up with the plan to do this.“ Brian Horn is home now, but his sister, Svetlana, is with the Army in Iraq. All Branches Eligible Anysoldier.com allows users to select soldiers from all branches of the military from a “Where to Send” page. The site also has a list of various personal care items, food, reading materials and other goods in short supply in various units. If you know what you want to send, you can enter that item in the search box, and you will get a list of soldiers who have specifically requested it. Enter the word “shampoo,“ for example, and in seconds you’ll get a list of 683 military contacts who want shampoo. The word “lotion” will pull up 569 requests, while “personal hygiene” yields 303. Another feature allows soldiers to e-mail messages that are then posted for anyone to read. The messages are heartfelt and enlightening. Specialist Kimberly Trapp posted this e-mail on June 20: “It has been six long months and we are halfway to finishing. This deployment has been a life-changing experience in every aspect. A lot of families are becoming unsupportive of the soldiers, and it is making it hard, but the support provided through anysoldier is a big morale booster for soldiers without the support of their families. My soldiers really appreciate everything ... we are in need of shower gel, hygiene products such as toothpaste and toothbrush, lotion (cocoa butter), deodorant (Secret/Degree), facial cleanser (Clean and Clear) and panty liners (Always). Thanks again for all your support.“ Along with the e-mail, Trapp posted a picture of herself and a fellow soldier in Iraq. Letters Bring Tears The Horns send out care packages to soldiers every day - and they provide a lot of the items themselves. Sue Horn says she cleaned out her local Bath and Body Works during a recent sale, and those goodies will soon be on their way to her daughter’s unit. “Every time we read a new letter or hear how you made someone’s day, we cry,“ says Sue Horn, who worked as a military police officer in the Army. “We shed a lot of tears. It never gets old.“ She says that when anysoldier.com began, many people mistook the family’s mission as support for the war. She has seen that reaction change. “It’s hard for people who have no one in the military to understand sometimes,“ she says. “They soldiers live just like we do. They’re keeping the fight out of my backyard. If I can send them some comfort items, that’s what I’m going to do.“ U.S. Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb says receiving a package with coveted items is a great morale booster for soldiers. “It’s not so much what’s in the box,“ says Edgecomb, who served in Kuwait. “It’s that someone took the time to put it together and send it. That means so much.“

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