Stryker Brigade News

WASHINGTON, July 13, 2004 -- Nine years ago, while her husband was deployed, Arlyn McClaughry started an online newsletter as a way to bring service members and military families information on the Web. She and other spouses also began mailing packages and letters to deployed troops.

Today, Operation Military Pride is a full-time job for McClaughry and several volunteers who lend a helping hand.

The site provides information on several programs, including how to "adopt" a service member.

WASHINGTON, July 14, 2004 -- A family's show of support for their deployed son has evolved into a nationwide drive that a commander deployed to Afghanistan said "epitomizes all that is good in the American people."

Recognizing that their son, Army Sgt. Brian Horn, a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, was living under very harsh conditions after parachuting into Iraq last March, retired Army Sgt. 1st Class Marty Horn and his wife, Sue, began sending him care packages as often as they could.

Horn requested additional packages for his fellow soldiers who weren't getting any, and soon his parents were asking their friends and neighbors in LaPlata, Md., to send packages to their son, too. Horn agreed to distribute them to soldiers who weren't getting mail.

The "overwhelming and nearly monumental" show of support "has provided the simple reminder that any one of us would proudly die for a grateful nation in our ongoing fight against terrorism," said Horn, who has redeployed from Iraq to his unit headquarters in Vicenza, Italy. There, he and his fellow soldiers are preparing for another deployment after the Christmas holidays — this time to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Meanwhile, Any Soldier Inc. continues to grow. By early June, organization had more than 100 volunteer contact soldiers, and requests for packages continue to pour in from units throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.