Text a Message of Support to the Troops

[thedrifter]

Text a Message of Support to the Troops
Posted By Blackfive


This holiday season, America Supports You is giving you a new way to send your thanks to the troops - by text message! When you send your message of thanks to 89279 (TXASY) between November 17th and 22nd, you'll receive a special thanks in return. Also, we'll be displaying those messages on our ASY Thanks widget far and wide across the internet. Just another way that you can support our brave military men and women around the world.

www.americasupportsyou.mil/AmericaSupportsYou/Thanks/

Ellie

[thedrifter]

48,000 send Thanksgiving text messages to troops
By Jeff Schogol, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, November 22, 2007

ARLINGTON, Va. — More than 48,000 people have sent text messages since Saturday as part of an effort to show their support for U.S. troops this Thanksgiving, said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for internal communications and public liaison.

The effort is run by America Supports You, a Defense Department program that gives publicity to nonprofit groups that support U.S. troops, which falls under Barber’s purview.

Under the “Giving Thanks” campaign, people can send their text messages thanking the troops by texting 89279, she said.

The messages will be tallied on the America Supports You Web site and shown on a crawl on the Pentagon Channel on Thanksgiving, Barber said.

Beginning on Thanksgiving and running through the Monday football games, American Forces Network also will run commercials saying how many text messages have been sent, she said.

The program is not a joint effort with Stars and Stripes, but it is covered under an America Supports You contract that is held by Stars and Stripes.

The Defense Department Inspector General’s Office is conducting an audit of Stripes expenditures for America Supports You.

The newspaper was not involved with funding the “Giving Thanks” campaign, Barber said Tuesday.

Ellie