My journey though paper, glue and lots of bling!

Jul 20, 2011

Deployment Survival Kit

My friend Ciera's husband deployed on Monday for 6 months.
(Aren't they just cute?!)
We all know how sucky deployments are regardless if your military or not. To cheer her up (and apparently make her cry) I made her this Deployment Survival Kit. I made the card out of The Greeting Farm military guy stamp and some camo paper from my scrap box. The can I made more patriotic with red, white and blue.
Here's the can with the stuff in it. I've posted the contents below and what each item was for.
Paperclip to help you hold it all together
Flashlight to remind you that there is light at the end of the tunnel
Stationary for all the letters you’ll be writing
Pens to sign your X’s and O’s
Envelopes to be sealed with a kiss
Hershey Kisses to remind you of your soldiers kisses
Marbles for when you’ve lost yours
Worry Stone to take your worries away
Life Savers to remind you that you are one
Laffy Taffy to remind you laugh
Mounds Bar to remind you of the “mounds” of love and support you have from family and friends
Kleenex to wipe away the tears
Sucker because deployments suck


I also added this cool poem I found here

The Silent Ranks

I never wore the uniform,
no medals on my chest
The band, it doesn't play for me,
I am not among the Best.
I do not march in cadence,
I do not rate salute.
I stand among the silent ranks,
our devotion absolute.

If you've not worn my shoes,
you do not know my story.
I live a life of sacrifice,
my reward a private glory.
I've wept many silent nights away,
I've kept the home fires burning.
I've worried and I've waited,
as world events were churning.

I've moved more times than you could fathom,
left more people than you known.
I've planted gardens round the world-
very few that I've seen grown.
I've grieved with new-made widows,
and had my share of scares-
when a ship or plane or man was down-
and all I had were prayers.

I am not asking for your sympathy.
(although appreciation would be nice)
I did it quite on purpose though-
I chose to sacrifice.
I'll tell you a secret now,
one you'd never guess.
About the glory that is mine,
it's just enough, no more, no less.

When you and I stand together
as our national anthem plays.
I'll fill with reminiscences
of how I spent those days.
I'll know the pain and joys again,
I'll know freedom isn't free
I'll know I've helped to pay the price
and that the anthem plays for me.

- Elizabeth Soutter Schwarzer
Wife of a United Stated Marine

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

My dad served twenty years, and my sister is marrying into the Air Force in two months. Thank you for posting this wonderful poem. I am luckily not a wife to worry, but I worried over my dad and will for my new brother--in-law among my other friends. I am sure that your friend appreciated your kindness. I do, and I don't even know you. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

I'm 18, and my brother is a Captain in the U.S. Army. He was deployed to Afghanistan in January for 9-12 months. They are in an area where the people have nothing, and our troops don't have much more. My family and I are doing everything we can to help send care packages out to my brother and his company to help them through their journey, and words can't even begin to describe how much it means to my family and I that we have friends standing behind us. Your poem is extremely heartfelt, and is just a reminder of how proud I am to call myself an Army Sister. This was truly amazing of you to stand by your friend and support her and her family through this time, and I am sure it was greatly appreciated. Thank you! :)

Anonymous said...

I love this idea. What size bucket did you use?

BlairTR said...

I've been looking for a blog like this. I am in the military and so is my boyfriend. We've been together for a long. We have talked about marriage, but since we never get to be together long and haven't been able to live together, we haven't progressed into the next step. however, if we don't get married, we can't put in for a co-location. it's hard, it's a lot of waiting, and a lot of flying. my boyfriend will be coming off of active duty in april, but then i will be on deployment for a long time. it's hard, but it's good to see that people don't give up. I've seen a lot of good men and women lose their partner due to deployments.

Anonymous said...

Would you mind if I took this idea and did it for a few friends? I love it!

Anonymous said...

I would love to use this as well, if you don't mind..??
I am a military daughter, wife, and mother.

Amy said...

This is simply adorable. I'm going to make one for my friend! Thanks so much.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful idea! I am a Navy Ombudsman and this would be perfect to pass out when our members deploy! Thank you for sharing!

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