DUNCANSVILLE - Robert Glass retired from the U.S. Army 25 years ago, but the Duncansville man still supports the troops.
Glass, a Korean War veteran and his wife, Barbara, spent Tuesday evening assembling care packages for Operation Support Our Soldiers.
"They're getting something we never got," Glass said. "We never got anything like this. I was stationed in Germany, and it was like we were forgotten. If you didn't get a letter from home, that was it."
More than 150 volunteers turned out at Smith Furniture in Duncansville, forming an assembly line to box up everything from Ramen noodles to hygiene products to send to the troops.
Project coordinator Gary Clare said 350 boxes would be mailed to Iraq on Saturday. A total of 475 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division and 96th Sustainment Brigade will receive the items.
"It's well over 10 tons of merchandise," Clare said.
This is the sixth year Operation S.O.S. has sent care packages to the troops, and Clare said the project gets bigger each year.
In addition to care package items, Operation S.O.S. also accepts monetary donations to cover shipping costs, which Clare said will be about $7,500 this year.
The boxes are mailed from the Duncansville post office and take about one week to arrive in Iraq.
"We can't thank the military enough," he said. "We sat and watched football on Thanksgiving and ate turkey on Thanksgiving, and we couldn't do that without the military. We're eating turkey while they're over there eating sand."
Volunteer Brett Shaw of East Freedom knows all too well the sacrifices soldiers make. He served in the U.S. Army and received a care package from Operation S.O.S. four years ago when he was stationed in Iraq. He said it was "pretty amazing" and a little emotional to watch the volunteers pack boxes for the troops.
"When you're over there, you just don't know if the people over here are thinking of you," Shaw said. "The thoughts and prayers and care packages do mean a lot, more than [people] realize."
The care packages were a comforting sight for Katie DeArmitt of Bellwood, whose husband, Cory, is stationed in Iraq and won't make it home for Christmas. Cory DeArmitt will receive 200 of the boxes in Iraq and help distribute the items to the soldiers.
"It's a little piece of home for all of them," she said. "You can really feel the Christmas spirit in here."
Mirror Staff Writer Ashley Gurbal is at 946-7435.
