Toys for Tots but not for Marines?

Army Life

When I was a Buck Private in the Army, I earned $89 per month. Just beer and cigarette money we called it. Everything else was provided: Food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, etc. Obviously, we couldn't support a wife and family on such a pittance, but we were told that if the Army/Marine Corp/Air Force/Navy wanted us to have a wife, they would have issued one to us. That was in the days of conscription.

Please give generously

With the advent of the All-Volunteer Military, all service members were promised a living wage and many privates and corporals married and some have children. However, the promises haven't been kept. It's become so bad that many on welfare feed better at the government trough than those charged with protecting our nation and its Constitution and people.

Ultimately, it is ironic seeing US Marines leading the charge to collect Toys for Tots. Don't get me wrong. It's a worthy cause. I love children. I have four of my own and six grandchildren. I recommend parenthood highly and believe that no child should suffer want of any kind. Life is hard enough as an adult that everyone should have an enjoyable childhood to look back on when the going gets really tough. I hope you all continue to support Toys for Tots. It's just sad, really sad. when I see those Marines working so hard for everybody else's children while theirs suffer the same want, some even greater want. At least most children of the poor suffer in the company of their parents. Military children often suffer alone while their parents are fighting on a distant battlefield.

That's why the members of my post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of America, individually and as a group, have agreed to help an anonymous effort to collect toys for the children of Marines currently stationed at bases in Southern California, especially those Marine families whose parents are deployed to war zones during this Christmas Season. This program was inspired by a Marine commander who lost several men in an ambush in Afghanistan on a Christmas Day a few years ago. Collecting toys for the children of Marines is a form of therapy to help him cope with the survivor's guilt as well as PTSD. We're trying to help him make Christmas a little better for children whose moms and dads are serving in harm's way far from home while their fellow Marines are collecting and distributing toys for other peoples' children.

This blog posting is not an appeal for donations. My intent is to make you aware of a need. Your prayers and best wishes are enough. However, if you want to help, I don't think anyone will object. Make your checks payable to VFW Post 6024 and mail it to PO Box 4457, Mission Viejo, CA 92690-4457, US. Indicate Toys for Marines (Not Toys for Tots) in the check's memo. This is not an official request. I am not asking for the organization, but rather on behalf of the children.

Yes, I know that almost half of my followers are outside the United States and may hesitate to help a US service member's family. However, remember how many of you might be bowing to a tyrant but for the sacrifice of a US soldier, Marine, airman, or sailor.