To bolster troops: ribbons, rallies, and pink slippers
From her ground-floor apartment in suburban Orlando, Fla., Ellen Harpin commands a nationwide army of knitters. Their mission: Getting hats, slippers, and headbands to US troops.
Her project, which began in the wake of Sept. 11 when a sailor asked Ms. Harpin to knit her a pair of slippers, has snowballed into a daily deluge of requests and an Internet-connected corps, mostly women, clicking their needles to keep up. To date, Harpin has forwarded 38,548 items to the troops, costing some $30,000 in postage alone.
Her effort is one symbol of the nation's traditional rallying around its troops in wartime. Yet it's also about something more: Seven days into the war, some of the most vocal opinions are coming from those who disagree with it. Harpin's knitting project - and the myriad of other support-the-troops efforts that have sprung up in recent weeks - are a sign that growing numbers are working hard to counter that dissent, and to make sure troops don't feel abandoned or criticized amid all the debate.
"I don't want anybody treated like our Vietnam kids were," says Harpin, a mother of seven who tries to limit the amount of time she spends on the project to "84 hours a week."
Others are showing support through rallies, ribbons, or care packages.
From Sioux Falls, S.D., to Millington, Tenn., rallies to boost the troops are popping up fast, often in reaction to the many antiwar rallies across the country. In St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday, some 17,000 people attended a "Rally for America" outside the Capitol. Not far away, about 4,500 protesters took part in an antiwar march. The two groups never crossed paths.
Yellow ribbons are also making a comeback, as people across the country tack the traditional sign of troop support onto everything from fence posts to mail boxes to coat lapels.
And a myriad of websites, including www.anyservicemember.org, have sprung up to enable family, friends, and strangers to write messages of support to troops.
Other efforts focus on the families left behind. In Bellingham, Mass., for instance, the American Legion is passing out 8- by-14-inch Blue Star Banners for families of troops overseas to put in their windows - signaling, in part, a need for extra support while their family member is deployed.
Meanwhile, Ellen Harpin isn't the only one shipping care packages. In Florida, two homegrown "Operation Shoebox" groups - one in Tampa, one in Belleview - forward boxes full of everything from beef jerky to lip balm. In San Jose, Calif., Operation Yellow Ribbon is gearing up again after sending some 11.5 million tons of care packages to troops during the first Gulf War. In nearby Santa Clara, Calif., one mother has reportedly started "Operation Condiment" to help spice up the military's bland rations.
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