16.10.07

Iraq: Más noticias dese el abismo: La madre de un soldado manda aerosol de fiesta para ayudar a los soldados a detectar minas


Es una costumbre estadounidense deshacerse de los hijos. Una tradición es el campamento de verano en el cual despachan a los mocosos por unos meses a una asentamiento idílico en un bosque cerca de un lago. La otra es que ya a los 17 años los que se van a la universidad se van de casa de una vez por todas.

Los latinos dirían que es el reflejo de una cultura fría y áspera en cuanto los afectos. Pero no es necesariamente así. Es preferible, en muchos casos, de tolerar que un hijo de 30 años --y más aun-- siga viviendo en la casa de mamá.

Todo esto para decir que una de las costumbres asociadas a este fenómeno son los Care Packages de las madres que se han quedado sin hijos. Mandan “encargos de amor” lleno de galletas, juguetes, cartas y otras cositas para que sus crías se acuerdan de casa con afecto.

Yahoo news publica una noticia que me parece que es del fondo de un abismo. Una madre, intentando a ayudar a los soldados, ha mandado mandando 80.000 de latas de aerosol de espuma, de los tipos que se usan en las fiestas. Los soldados lo usarán para identificar las trampas-bomba que se hacen con una tira sobre un camino. Tiran la espuma u si cae sobre una cuerda la identifican.

Dijo Marcelle Shriver de Nueva Jersey, tras meses de frustraciones en el envío de su care package: “Estoy tan contenta ahora que estoy temblando. Es asombroso. Estoy tan feliz que por fin se hace el envío” (estaba demorado porque ninguna empresa quiso transportar el encargo por ser potencialmente explosivo.)



Esto es para el archivo. Eventualmente será un pie de página en una larga historia sobre la decadencia del imperio.



Imagen: AP, fuente, fuente

1 comentario:

Andrés Hax dijo...

Soldier's mom finds Silly String shipper By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 15, 9:43 PM ET



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 am so happy right now, I am shaking. I just think it's awesome that it's finally going," Marcelle Shriver said as boxes were loaded into a truck Monday afternoon.

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

Thom Campbell, one of the founders of Capacity LLC, a New Jersey-based shipping company experienced in hazardous materials, heard about Shriver's problem and decided to help out.

Shriver and Campbell communicated for weeks by phone and e-mail but met for the first time Monday when the boxes were picked up. Each praised the other for making the shipment a reality.

"The determination that she's shown over a year ... deserves to be honored," Campbell said. "Mine is not a glamorous industry nor is it the kind of industry you get a lot of opportunities to do something like this."

Shriver had been storing the boxes in this community across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. 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 late last year 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 10-12 feet, across a room before entering. If it hangs in the air, that indicates a possible trip wire.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a military spokesman in Iraq, said recently that Shriver's efforts are appreciated, but that commanders decide which items troops need. He said the spray was used heavily in the early stages of the conflict but is not as widely needed today.

"If commanders on the ground are screaming that we need this stuff, we'll get it to them," Garver said.

Shriver, 58, 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. McGuire Air Force Base declined to take the shipment.

Despite her frustrations, Shriver said the Silly String campaign was worth it.

"If this saves one life, I'm happy," Shriver said.




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