Americans support the troops with food, soap, DVDs

Care packages sent through AnySoldier.com, and a host of other organizations, include anything from snacks to toilet paper to books about Islam.

"The most common thing that we've seen in care packages recently and in previous deployments I've participated in has been snack items, small hygiene products, reading material, writing material, cards and letters, those kinds of things," says Edwards.

A number of people like to send candy, but service members ask that people please consider the nutritional value of what they're sending. "A little [candy] is fine, just not a lot," wrote hospital corpsman 3rd class Adam Shepherd in an e-mail from Al Taqaddum, Iraq. More popular is beef jerky and low-carb snacks.

For nonfood items, soldiers say they appreciate foot powder, high-quality toilet paper, baby wipes and old DVDs. More complete lists can be found on donation websites. Army Pvt. Tyler Moore, from the 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment in Baghdad, enjoys the support packages. "It builds morale for the soldier just to receive something from back home," he says. "The soldiers want to know that someone else other than their family supports them."

Operation Quiet Comfort is one of several organizations that specifically helps wounded soldiers. Among other things, volunteers make quilts from old blue jeans to keep injured soldiers warm on long flights home on cold cargo plans. Each quilt takes 20 hours to make.

"It's not what is sent that makes us appreciate the packages. It's just knowing that people are thinking of us that matters," says Specialist Adam Lamberson in an e-mail from Scania, Iraq.

An unfortunate side effect of the apparent continued goodwill toward US soldiers has been unethical entrepreneurs seeking to profit from people's desire to support the troops.

AnySoldier.com is taking legal action against four organizations that took the address of soldiers for free from their website and then sold them to other people trying to donate items to soldiers.

Other companies selling premade care packages reportedly use only a small percentage of donations for soldiers and make a healthy profit from the business.

To avoid scams, soldier aid organizations recommend going through established channels. Aside from dodging groups with dubious intents, Marian Watt, public relations chairperson for Operation Quiet Comfort, warns, "If you try to go out on your own to do something, you're not going to get very far. There's a lot of red tape."

Charles Moskos, noted military sociologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., questions whether genuine, widespread support for troops exists.

"What I think characterizes America today is what I term 'patriotism light'," he explains. "It's more symbolic, rather than true support."

Not all care packages come from Americans who support the war, but many soldiers don't seem to mind.

"I would still accept it," says Pvt. David Bounds from the 610 Brigade Support Battalion in Baghdad. "They may not support the reasons why we are here, but it's good that they still care in some aspect."

• Correspondent Sam Dagher contributed reporting from Baghdad.

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