5 Ways to Help Your Hometown Soldiers

Employers, supervisors, co-workers and friends can
all help soldiers by relieving concerns about
what's going on at home. Intense training and the
hazards of combat generate high levels of stress,
and a gentle touch from family and friends helps
bring sanity into this environment of constant
crisis.

Here are five easy ways to help reduce the stress
of combat and help win the battle.

1. Cards and Letters

Send handwritten cards and letters on a regular
schedule. There's something very reassuring about
hearing your name announced at mail call and
walking away with a card or letter that you can
read and re-read -- far better than e-mail.

Schedule letter writing, and write often. Don't
expect prompt replies because the fast pace of
combat duty and daily fatigue prevent such a
luxury.

Write about the weather. Tell about business
routines and extraordinary achievements. Give the
town gossip. Keep them up to date on their
favorite television show. Talk about customers
and suppliers. Pass along break room jokes and
news about employees they know.

Your GI friends are hungry for a touch from home -
even if it is in an envelope. Frequent letters
can reduce stress significantly.

2. Phone calls

With today's technology you can talk with soldiers
at war. You can get a pin number for inexpensive
international calling cards on web sites such as
http://www.noblecom.com. Call your soldier friends in
Afghanistan or Iraq for about thirty cents a
minute. Calls to some countries cost as little as
a penny a minute.

Not every soldier has access to a phone. Ask if
they can get to a land line or cell phone, and ask
about the time difference. They'll tell you the
best time to call.

No matter how dangerous the work, a voice of a
good friend alleviates stress. Your calls will be
remembered for years.

3. Gifts and packages

The gifts you send aren't as important as the

frequency. Your soldiers will tell you what they
need, but they might not tell you what they want.

Send packages often. Infantry soldiers cannot
carry a lot of stuff at any given time. They
already have 40-60 pounds of weapons and
ammunition. But send enough goodies for them to
share with buddies on the front line. You might be
the only friend who sends enough for them to share
with GIs who never receive anything from the home
front.

Send favorite foods, snacks, and homemade goodies.
Send a product that's new on the market. Find out
whether they need AA batteries.

When I was an infantry company commander in
Vietnam, my wife once sent a whole case of popcorn
that could be popped over a campfire. After months
of jungle patrols and tasty C-rations, the popcorn
was a touch of home for everyone in the company.
Who would have guessed that popcorn could relieve
stress?

4. Pictures

Take pictures of all company activities, customer
functions, and industry happenings. All of these
things are important when you're away from home.

Send pictures of co-workers and company events.
Include shots of funny things. Instead of
throwing away those goofy faces, put them in an
envelope. These are the people your soldiers know
-- and miss!

If they can't get disposable cameras from the post
exchange, send a couple of the one-use cameras
that cost under ten bucks. Trading pictures helps
you understand their work and the way they live,
and the snapshots help reduce stress for the
troops.

5. News clippings

Stuff newspaper clippings into those envelopes.

GIs want to know what's going on in sports,
politics, Hollywood, and society. They know that
the world continues to turn while their time is
frozen in combat. News clippings help them
remember what it's like in civilized life.

Send industry news and editorials. News about the
war won't damage morale. Seeing war news in print
helps soldiers understand how accurate or how
misguided their efforts are represented. Write
your own notes right on the article. Tell them
what you think about the news. Ask for their
thoughts.

Gather news about their other friends. Knowing
that others continue with daily routines will be
encouraging to those doing the hard work. The
reality of things helps reduce the stress of not
being in touch.

There you have it - five easy ways to stay in
touch and reduce stress for soldier friends.
You'll be a part of the war on terror.

If you also want to help control stress in your
workplace, send e-mail to get a free article about
controlling the top ten workplace stressors -
MailTo:toptenstressors@couragebuilders.com.



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