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thedrifter
05-17-06, 02:26 PM
America Supports You: Troops Get More Than A Ton of Gourmet Coffee
By Paul X. Rutz
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2006 – For the past six months, troops overseas have been getting a high dose of caffeine thanks to a partnership between a group dedicated to supporting combat troops and a family-owned coffee company.

In December, Lindsey Coffee Company, in Phoenix teamed up with "Packages From Home," an Arizona nonprofit group, to send over 1,500 pounds of coffee to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then, the two groups have teamed up twice more, sending more than 3,000 pounds in total.

"They stepped up to the plate and did something the major coffee companies aren't doing," said David Whitten, director of marketing and media relations for Packages From Home.

The partnership began after Whitten appeared on a local radio show to talk about the troop-support efforts Packages From Home has made since its inception in March 2004, he said. The nonprofit group was sending an average of 1,500 care packages per month to deployed troops, but good coffee donations were hard to come by. Dave Lindsey, the Lindsey Coffee Company's owner, and Josh Parrott, its vice president, heard about the broadcast and got in touch with Packages From Home founder Kathleen Lewis, offering a large supply.

"Then in February, they contacted us again and said, 'Well, it's time to ship some more coffee, Dave,' so they made another big donation," Whitten said. "We went to their plant and packed it up."

The Pentagon Channel filmed the latest packing party in March, in which more than 700 pounds of coffee were boxed up in two hours. Whitten said he appreciates the volunteers who have worked on the project and become coffee-packing pros. State and nationwide connections have helped the effort as well.

Packages From Home is part of "America Supports You," a Defense Department program highlighting grassroots and corporate support for the nation's troops and their families.

Local military members also play a big role in the group's efforts. "Our local Marine Corps Reserve unit is just absolutely awesome," Whitten said of the 6th Engineer Support Battalion, Bulk Fuel Company C, based in Phoenix.

"Whenever we need somebody in uniform, the Marines are always there," he said. "Whenever we need a color guard presentation for an event, they're always there."

To date, the group has shipped over 26,000 packages to combat troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. "Anybody that's in an area of combat operations and signs up on our Web site, we'll see that they get care packages," Whitten said. He added that the group provides pen pals and answers e-mails too.

"Receiving packages out here is like gold," said Marine Lance Cpl. Brandy Wilson, an administration clerk responsible for distributing mail to the Marines with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force on Camp Fallujah, Iraq. "To get little goodies and hygiene products and special things from complete strangers feels like a million bucks."

Wilson said she was amazed when the coffee shipments started arriving to her unit, not only at the volume of coffee, but at how her fellow Marines reacted. "People were coming in with their coffee cups and canisters begging for it. It was hilarious!" she said.

To spread the wealth, Wilson said her unit plans to send several boxes out to Marines on the Iraqi borders and other areas that have little chance at such coffee conveniences.

"I can't thank the American people enough," she said. "It's awesome, & truly amazing to know we have people out there supporting us."

Ellie

thedrifter
05-17-06, 02:42 PM
Making coffee on the front lines gets easier

By: DENISE LAVOIE - Associated Press

NATICK, Mass. -- Soldiers thirsting for a cup of coffee on the front lines of World War II could quickly heat up the beverage inside their "steel pot" helmets that served as both head protection and a handy container for campfire cooking.

That isn't an option for modern-day soldiers, whose Kevlar-fiber helmets can defend against bullets but don't work so well for fixing food.

So researchers at the Defense Department's Combat Feeding program in Natick cooked up another way for troops to make a hot cup of joe: A thick, resealable polyethelyene bag that can be used anywhere.

Soldiers mix instant coffee with water in the bag, then slide it into the flameless ration heater bags troops use to warm their meals. A magnesium and iron oxide pad within the flameless ration bag transfers heat to the water in the hot beverage bag. Within minutes, the coffee is steaming hot.

Soldiers slip the bag into an envelope-like cardboard carton, which can be used like a cup to drink the coffee and protect their hands from the heat.

Barbara Daley, a food technologist at the Combat Feeding program, said many soldiers on the front lines were going without coffee because there was no easy way to make it. The researchers at the program based at the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center spent about two years developing the Hot Beverage Bag, or HBB, as it is known in military speak.

"There are coffee lovers out there and they wanted a way to make a hot cup of coffee. We found a simple, dependable, inexpensive way to do it," said Daley, who helped develop the bag.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Rick Haddad, who spent two months in Afghanistan last year, said the lightweight, easy-to-use bag was a big hit with the soldiers in his platoon, who previously often went without coffee.

"It's a morale thing," Haddad said. "Any time in a cold weather environment, if you can have something hot once a day, that definitely improves morale, especially if you are pulling guard duty for 12 hours a night with no sunlight."

Still, the instant coffee won't be mistaken for Starbucks.

The bags were first introduced to troops last year and are now being included in every meal pack, known as Meal, Ready-to-Eat, or MRE. They cost about 6 cents each to produce.

World War II veteran Tom Blakey said the hot beverage bag would have come in handy while he was serving in the 82nd Airborne Division. Although helmets were a popular way to cook coffee or meals for a group of soldiers, that could only be done when they were sure the enemy wasn't close enough to see or smell smoke from the campfire.

"You had to have the proper circumstances ... because of the fire situation and the proximity of the Germans," he said. "When we found a fire they were building, we bombed it, just like they did to us."

David Stieghan, U.S. Army Infantry Branch historian at Fort Benning, Ga., said soldiers have used a variety of military-issued utensils as well as their own ingenuity to find ways to make coffee during wartime.

In the Civil War, Union soldiers were issued unroasted and ungrounded coffee beans, along with a one-quart tin-plated steel cup. Soldiers would roast a few coffee beans at the bottom of their cups or in a small frying pan, then use their bayonet socket to crush the beans. They would then pour water into the cup and boil it on a campfire, Stieghan said.

In recent years, front-line soldiers have used gelatinous fuel tabs to heat up coffee in their canteen cups, but that system wasn't always practical. Neither the fuel tabs nor canteen cups were always readily available, and soldiers had to use matches to light the tabs, so making coffee or other hot beverages that way could be messy.

"When it comes to coffee, soldiers have always done whatever it takes," Stieghan said, "just for the pick-me-up or the feeling of having something warm in their hands."