My husband is a United States sailor on the USS Makin Island and  left on deployment about 2 weeks ago. Him and his fellow sailors and marines work from about 7 AM to 8 PM and some even longer. The sailors are just embarking on 7 months of being away from their families, long work days, and not seeing the sun. The marines will endure not only the few months it takes to get to their destination but the months they will spend working hard and being away from their families while they are in training after they have arrived at their destination. Morale can at times be low after a 13 hour day of crappy food, delayed email messages to family, and being couped up inside. My husband has the idea that if you send the ship a package (I cannot tell you where they are located as even I don’t know, but there is an address for the ship) they will distribute them to people  who either need things they don’t have, or are wanting a pick me up! Every person who sends a sailor or marine a package will receive a postcard from a sailor or marine from their next port visit and get a big thanks! A lot of organizations exist out there that do these things but for the first time we are putting it in the hands of the actual men and women of the US services! I encourage all of you to send a package to the ship, and reblog this so that other’s will to. Your package could brighten up an otherwise cloudy day!

Things the sailors and marines woud love to have:

Xbox, Wii, and PS3 games (you can get them on ebay or amazon for cheap)

dried fruit or vegetables

not perishable food or snacks

movies

toiletries 

work out supplements

cards, notes, or trinkets

Anything at ALL helps and could change someones day around.

Here is the address:

YN2 Elijah Ford

Exec/X-1 Div

USS Makin Island LHD 8

FPO AP 96672-1601

Here is the ship’s facebook if you wanna follow their progress: 

http://www.facebook.com/ussmakinisland

Thank you so much!