March 23, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Over Christmas break our team became involved with an organization called Soldiers' Angels. This organization was started after a soldier wrote to his mother expressing his sympathy for his fellow soldiers who have little to no family at home to exchange letters with. These soldiers expressed the want and need for letters and care packages to help lift their spirits. The mother was touched by her son's concerns and decided to make a difference. She created Soldiers' Angels and it has grown tremendously over the past few years.

It is easy for anyone to get involved; simply sign up on the website (www.soldiersangels.org), which takes only a few minutes, and then a soldier will be assigned to you. Our team split up into four groups based on our living situations and each adopted a soldier. What is great about participating in this organization is that whether individuals believe in the war or not, everyone still supports our troops and wants them to come home safely. The following are accounts of the 4 soldiers our team has adopted.

The first group's soldier is a 37-year old married man with 2 kids. While he does have a family at home, he has voiced the morale boost he gets when he sees first hand the support he is getting from home. He is an aircraft mechanic stationed in Somalia, Africa. He is already half-way through his deployment and just has a few more months to go. It is hard for him to get online and he cannot respond as frequently as he would like.

Another group, comprised of primarily upperclassmen, is having great success in corresponding with their soldier. They e-mail every week and have sent him numerous packages. He is a 30-year-old man from Illinois stationed in Iraq. He enjoys playing soccer and has many other hobbies in common with the girls. He is very open and has even sent the group his myspace.com webpage. He too, has expressed the enjoyment he receives from knowing he is getting support from home.

Two group's soldiers have not responded. Three e-mails and one letter have been sent from the sophomore class to their soldier and still no response. We do not know what could keep him from writing, but we are sure he is very busy. Internet access is a rare commodity so we are looking forward to hearing from him. The freshman group is waiting to hear from their soldier as well. They are currently writing him a letter hoping they have better luck reaching him that way as opposed to an email.

Most deployments last on average anywhere from 6-10 months. This means that for those long months these soldiers are away, they know they can count on at least our team to help get them through this stressful time. By showing our love and devotion in our emails, letters, and packages; the University of Maryland women's soccer team hopes to bring a little sunshine into the heroic and challenging lives of these soldiers.

Aimee Bresani
University of Maryland
Women's Soccer