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Foam going to Iraq after string of delays

Spraying Silly String from a can, Marcelle Shriver stands next to cans stored in the garage of her Stratford, N.J., home. American troops use the substance to detect trip wires around bombs. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Rebecca Santana Associated Press
Spraying Silly String from a can, Marcelle Shriver stands next to cans stored in the garage of her Stratford, N.J., home. American troops use the substance to detect trip wires around bombs. Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

TRENTON, N.J. – After months of frustration, a mother of a soldier in Iraq has found someone to ship about 80,000 cans of Silly String to the troops, who use the foamy substance to detect trip wires on bombs.

“I’m just thrilled,” said the woman, Marcelle Shriver.

The thousands of cans of Silly String are boxed and addressed to individual servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq. But since the string comes in aerosol cans, it is considered a hazardous material, and only certain companies can ship it.

Thom Campbell, a founder of Capacity LLC, a New Jersey-based shipping company experienced in hazardous materials, heard about Shriver’s problem and decided to help out. “It seemed like the right thing to do,” Campbell said. “We’re quite lucky to have an opportunity to help her.”

The boxes were to be picked up Monday in Deptford Township, where Shriver has been storing them. They will be inspected by the company and then delivered to the United States Postal Service for transport with other letters and packages bound for Iraq.

Shriver’s Silly String campaign began after her son, Todd, a soldier in Ramadi slated to leave Iraq in November, asked his parents to send cans of the product.

Soldiers can shoot the substance, which travels about 10 to 12 feet, across a room before entering. If it hangs in the air, that indicates a possible trip wire.

Shriver got one shipment of 40,000 cans out in January through the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove in Pennsylvania, but officials told Shriver they didn’t know when they’d have more flights headed to Iraq and didn’t have space to store the boxes.