Ok, I know what your thinking...
"What the devil are you up to Albert? Yo-Yos???"
As it turns out, that's exactly what I am thinking. Yo-Yo's.
I was just walking down the side of the camp road when I spyed something green in the dirt. After a couple of hard learned lessons, you tend to stop and carefully canvas the surrounding area for anything else out of place. After a pretty thorough investigation I came to the conclusion that it was safe to investigate more closely. I had happened upon a broken Duncan Butterfly yo-yo. The side was off, and the axle was loose. As it so happens, I travel prepared. I brought some gel crazy glue with me, along with assorted a sundry other items that make your life tolerable in Afghanistan. (See my post: What You Need to Bring Overseas as a Contractor.) A few minutes later I had a perfectly serviceable yo-yo again.
I remember that sometime around 1970-71 there was a Yo-Yo craze; at least there was in my neighborhood! We all had to have Yo-Yos and many of us learned tricks like "walk the dog," "around the world," and "rock the cradle."
So, I was outside the tent in our compound, Yo-Yoing away the afternoon. Boy what fun it is to have something to do while the interminable hours drift by.
A couple of the other fellows whose brains had yet to be baked in their skulls stopped by, so I offered the Yo-Yo to each in turn so they could have some fun with it. We must have spent a couple of hours out there, getting the hang of it, laughing, telling tall tales, and forgetting we were hot, dirty, and far from home.
As a parent, you know the tell tale signs of boredom, frustration, anger, and fear in your children. I see it in our young military folks all too often. I can't tell you how many of these kids I have seen that are dangerously close to the breaking point. All they need is something to distract them from their daily drudgery.
Therein lies my idea.
I would like for you to forward a Yo-Yo or two to me, so that I may distribute them to the young men and women that are out here sucking up dust and dodging bullets. If you have never sent anything to a deployed service member before, let me tell you that it is a one of their greatest pleasures to receive a gift from the states from someone they don't know. It just makes their day!
I hope many of you will be inclined to take a moment out of your day and box one up. I'll let you know who received it and take a picture or two and post it on TROC. Make sure you put a slip of paper inside with your name and email so I can let you know it has arrived, and so the service member can thank you too! It's a little thing, a Yo-Yo is, but it can mean the world sometimes.
My address is:
Albert A Rasch
AEW 451st ECES/FP
APO AE 09355
This is the corrected address please double check!
One more thing if you don't mind. I want to ask all of my fellow bloggers to please link to this post, or even better, email me and I will send you the html of this post for a guest post on your blog! I sure would appreciate it!
I want to thank you in advance for giving this some thought. And for those of you that will forward a YoYo, I can't thank you enough for the kindness you are exhibiting. Believe you me, you will make a service member's day!
Rick Kratzke of Whitetail Woods has graciously published this post on his blog! Not only that, but he has offered to send a Yo-Yo to the troops! And will now be flying the banner too! Well done my friend! Guest Post from Afghanistan
Troutrageous! has also committed to forwarding a YoYo, and check out what he has done on the right side of his blog! He has created a banner! And he posted too: YoYos: They're not Just for Kids Anymore! He is another true supporter of our troops!!!
Okie Redneck is going to help out too! She's going to fly the banner, and allow me the privilege of guest posting on her blog! Now there is a great troop supporter! PS: I love the header on your blog!
Hippo on the Lawn's own literary ExPat has emailed me from Angola! If I may quote him: "When I first read your post I was beginning to think you'd gone stir crazy but then I remembered when I was doing bomb disposal tours and being on call all the time. It really was, as they say, long periods of boredom interspersed with short periods of real fear. Anything we received that helped take our minds off the job and pass the time was gratefully received." Even in Angola, our friends are going to help us out! Thanks Tom! The links are on their way. His hilarious post on the matter is here!
KC of DiaperBagWrangler.com is going to do her part to help support the troops! She will be forwarding a Yo-Yo too! Huh... will you look at that... She's got a blog too! DiaperBagWrangler.Blogspot Boy have I got a lot to learn about stuff still... Thank You Ma'am!
Deer Passion in Kansas is going to send some Yo-Yos too! Her post, Yo-Yos for the Troops, is lovely, and she is flying the banner too! She says,"...finding a broken yo-yo, he is on a mission to bring smiles, a little bit of hope and alot of fun to our men and women serving overseas." On a mission, I like that!
I Don't Wear Pink Camo to the Woods is Kari's blog on all things outdoors in Wisconsin. She bumped into Ricks post on YoYos for the Troops and is sending some my way to distribute. BTW if you're interested in bear hunting, Kari's your gal!
Another Falconry Blog has been very kind to blog about the Campaign, and has posted and linked to the YoYos for Troops! The momentum is building!
Big Mike S is flying the banner! He is also a huge fan of linking to posts so stop and see what he finds most interesting on the net!
Please email me if you would be willing to place the banner that Mike Troutrageous! has so graciously designed for the Yo-Yos for the Troops campaign. I would be very appreciative of all of you that would do so. TheRaschOutdoorChronicles(at)msn(dot)com
With regards, your friend,
Albert A Rasch
Member: Kandahar Tent Club
The Hunt Continues...
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