Soldier support

Spokane resident Lisa Nystuen thinks about the war in Iraq several times a day.

In fact, she says, “There’s not a moment when I’m not thinking about it.”

She has good reason to. Her son, 25-year-old Army 2nd Lt. Bradley Holsinger, has been serving in Iraq with the combat engineers since March.

“My son has wanted to do this since he was 2 years old,” Nystuen says of the Central Valley High School and Washington State University graduate. “It’s always been his dream, to serve in the Army. It’s hard for me. But I know he’s doing what his heart is telling him to do.”

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Here’s a news flash for the rest of us: There’s a war going on.

No, not the war that takes place on a moment-by-moment basis, in media of all sizes and shapes, between America’s polarized political factions.

The war – or, more accurately, wars – referred to here involves actual conflicts that put U.S. troops in a state of continual risk and often a literal line of fire. They involve places bearing names such as Baghdad and Tikrit, Kabul and Jalalabad.

It’s not as if we (the media) ignore either struggle. Each earns a regular headline or 11 p.m. report – especially when there’s a photo or footage to share.

But as we (America) creep toward Year Five of the Iraq War, which began on March 20, 2003, it’s clear that the continual struggle waged by our troops doesn’t affect the rest of us the way events did during World War II, Korea, Vietnam or even the 43-day-long Gulf War.

In an interview with CBS News, online entrepreneur/Gulf War veteran Dan Caulfield pointed out that in 1945, nearly one in 10 Americans served in the military.

“That meant that everybody knew somebody in the military,” Caulfield said. “Now, it’s one out of 175, which means that if you’re not in the military, you don’t know anyone in the military.”

And if something doesn’t affect you personally, it’s that much easier to ignore.

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That many Americans might disagree with 2nd Lt. Holsinger’s philosophical stance doesn’t matter. He and thousands of other members of the U.S. military are sacrificing for their beliefs.

Living in a tent with five other men, as Holsinger does, isn’t easy. Especially when that tent sits in the middle of the desert some 40 miles from Baghdad, where summer temperatures approach 140 degrees Fahrenheit and sandy grit finer than moon dust seeps into everything you own.

And when you get a day off, there’s not a hell of a lot to do. No place to go.

So his mother, like any good military family member, fills care packages with the things Holsinger says he needs. Baby wipes, for example. Q-tips to help keep his weapon clean. Magazines and paperback books, hard candy and trail mix. ChapStick with an SPF rating of at least 30.

“He even asked me for an espresso machine, which was kind of funny,” Nystuen says. “Apparently they can plug them in and have espresso in the desert.”

Nystuen knows the tricks of packing for her son because she works for the U.S. Postal Service. As customer relations coordinator for the Spokane Postmaster’s Office, Nystuen offers the following budget-smart suggestion: flat-rate priority shipping. (See accompanying story for other postal information.)

“It’s one low price, and domestic rates apply to the APO/FPO addresses,” she says, referring to the military postal designations. “That’s the only way that I send things to my son, because for $8.95 I can stuff a good 10 to 15 pounds of stuff in a box.”

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Marine Sgt. Jonathan Hoekstra experienced the difficulties of life in the Middle East during his short deployment to Kuwait in 1999.

“We got hit with golf-ball-size hail in February,” he said.

The weather reports he gets from Iraq now are no different.

“It’s actually been getting down to the 20s, and I’ve had some guys tell me about rain,” Hoekstra said. “So it’s a pretty harsh, drastic environment.”

Hoekstra, who works as a Marine recruiter in Pullman, recalls how good he felt overseas when he heard his name at mail call.

“I was surprised, half the time,” Hoekstra said. ” ‘Oh, wow, cool!’ “

He said what he appreciated most when hearing from his parents and little brother was simply the voices of normalcy – “probably just that everything was still going on, not that life has completely stopped because I wasn’t there.”

But he appreciated treats, too. And he can say with confidence that today’s troops devour a wide range of reading material.

“You’ve got the guys who want to read four-wheel-drive magazines,” he said. “You’ve even got the guys who are from the more urbanite areas who are reading GQ and stuff like that.”

And, he added, especially valued are “all kinds of books, from Stephen King to whatever you can imagine.”

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There was a time when sending cards, letters and care packages to troops serving overseas was a simple matter. All you had to do was slap an APO or FPO address and scrawl in “To Any Soldier.”

The events of Sept. 11, 2001, changed all that. For security reasons, packages now have to be addressed to a specific person.

Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense, says that’s one reason why, three years ago, the Department of Defense created what it calls America Supports You ( www.americasupportsyou.mil).

“Part of the benefit is that it connects individuals to nonprofit groups that are sending cards and letters and care packages to our troops serving overseas,” she said.

American Supports You does more than that, though. The 320 or so nonprofit groups that constitute the organization boast a range of services from offering free laptops to wounded veterans to providing jobs after military separations to sending dependent children to camp.

“We really were challenged by people who kept saying, ‘We want to do more,’ ” Barber said.

“We used to say at the Department of Defense, ‘If you see somebody in uniform, say “thank you.” ‘ And the American people said, ‘Are you kidding me? So we thank our mailman and our Starbucks person and our grocery clerk. There’s got to be more that we can do to support our troops.’ “

Barber isn’t just another faceless bureaucrat talking about policy. Her own husband survived a year in Iraq with the help of a second-grade boy he had never met.

Her husband, a U.S. Army lawyer who taught troops the rules of engagement, belonged to a unit that was adopted by an elementary school.

“I actually came across a photo last night of this school child who sent an e-mail to my husband, saying, you know, ‘Be careful over there,’ ” Barber said. “That really meant a lot to him.”

She added: “It’s interesting how much support, from people you don’t even know, is meaningful.”

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Shawn Mayo understands the need for such support.

Mayo, banquets and events sale representative for Northern Quest Casino, is chairman of a committee called Operation Spokane Heroes that was created under the auspices of Greater Spokane Inc. (formerly the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce).

Operation Spokane Heroes holds support-the-troops rallies and will sponsor a holiday party Nov. 30 at the Riverfront Park Carrousel for the children of military deployed overseas.

It recently hosted a dinner and Las Vegas show at the casino for 52 military spouses, and raised enough money to provide a water-misting system for members of the Washington Air National Guard stationed in Iraq.

Yet, Mayo stressed, “Our primary focus is the families of those deployed. The spouses are over there, they’re focused and we want them to stay focused. We want them to know that there’s a group here that will look after their family.

“You know,” she added, “it’s very important, that support system.”

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Of course support is important.

It’s exactly what was missing during the Vietnam War, a conflict famous for how troops often were scapegoated for serving in an unpopular war.

Secretary Barber said one of the reasons for America Supports You was to avoid exactly that scenario.

“We’re giving a platform and a voice to people who want to support the troops,” she said, “and they realize that they can have political-policy discussions in other venues. Let’s not take out our differences in policy on the troops.”

Let’s save those for the media – and, ultimately, voting booth – where they belong.