Photo by Craig Roberts

By National Commander David K. Rehbein

Last December, American Legion Auxiliary National President Desiree´ Stoy, Sons of the American Legion National Commander Tommie Cisna and I issued you a challenge. We asked that you donate $50,000 so we could purchase comfort items by the holidays for our wounded heroes recovering in places like Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and the many other U.S. military hospitals around the globe.

This challenge was no small feat considering Christmas was a mere three weeks away. The American Legion family and its friends responded big time. By Christmas, more than $80,000 was raised. By New Years, it was $100,000 - double our goal.

I am proud of our American Legion family, but the war goes on. Operation Comfort Warriors has now received more than $115,000 and we have already spent more than 70 percent of it on our wounded heroes. Don't worry about the other 30 percent - it will be spent shortly. In fact, not a single penny of donated funds is spent on administrative costs or fundraising. Those expenses are paid from our headquarters budget.

Your donations purchased items such as hooded sweat shirts and pants, which are especially needed by amputees and other wounded heroes because of the warmth and flexibility that they provide. The military does a superb job of treating these heroes, but many "comfort items" don't show up on budget-lines of government spreadsheets.

Operation Comfort Warriors has provided DVDs, puzzles, iPods, portable electronics and gifts that provide welcome distractions to the tediousness that often comes with prolonged hospital stays. Operation Comfort Warriors donations purchased a bio-feedback system which will benefit troops with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injuries and other war-related injuries at the Madigan Army Hospital in Fort Lewis, Wash.

As national commander, I visit hospitalized troops often. While some may visit these wards intending to lift the spirits of the patients, I find the reverse. They inspire me. It is not uncommon to find troops expressing the desire to re-join their units in combat even after they lost a limb. Their thoughts are not about their own disabilities but about the safety of their buddies and whether they are allowed to accomplish the missions that America sent them to do.

Operation Comfort Warriors will continue. It must continue. But we need you.
You can donate online at www.legion.org/ocw or you can mail a check to Operation Comfort Warriors, PO Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206.

Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently said of our wounded troops, "We are a wealthy enough country, even in these financially difficult times, to make sure they are taken care of and their needs are met for the rest of their lives."

The American Legion couldn't agree more.