The phrase “adopting a solider” is not what it looks like. You’re obviously not physically adopting a solider, but a nonprofit organization called “adoptaplatoon” encourages people to sign up to either be a “pen pal” for a solider, or “adopt” one.
Let me explain futher. When you’re a “pen pal”, you obviously have to write letters to your assigned solider. These letters have to be sent every week, and a majority of the time you don’t get a response because the soliders are working hard and have very little time to do other activities. Although you may not get a response, soldiers absolutely LOVE getting letters. It makes them remember exactly what they’re fighting for. They may be feeling lonely, stressed, out of place, etc, and receiving a letter is a great way to rid them of these negative emotions. You can talk about your life, ask them questions about theirs, and develop a really nice connection with them. They also assign you soldiers that are around your age so you don’t feel “creeped” out or anything of that sort. Writing to soldiers is an amazing thing because they may not have any family and you are literally their only connection outside of the war.
If you “adopt” a solider, not only do you write them letters every week, but you are obligated to send them care packages every month. The solider can write to you and tell you exactly what things he may want or need, or you can just send cute or comforting things that you think he might like. Maybe his favorite cookies, a movie or tv series he might love, a new toothbrush, etc. I can’t stress how much they adore getting packages. You can even pack enough of a certain item so that they can share it with their comrades, mainly so they don’t get jealous :]
If you are interesting in being a pen pal or adopting a solider, you can sign up at http://adoptaplatoon.org/site/! I really encourage this! Please consider it. 🙂
This is a great program and one that I’ll definitely be lookin into. My uncle was in the Air Force for over twenty years, and was deployed to Afganistan, Kuwait, and Qutar several times. He always talked about how much he loved mail and care packages. This sounds like such a great way to give back to the people who risk their lives for us. I will definitely be checking out that link. Thanks for the info!
This sounds like a really interesting group. I can imagine that when you’re over there, you begin to feel very lonely, and I’m actually seriously considering signing up now. Thanks for sharing about this group, because I’d never heard of it before, and I just might join!
I’m sure you can arrange a meeting with your solider afterwards if you live close enough to each other. I’m glad that I could make you consider this. It’s really an awesome experience!
That’s really awesome and you have made me consider being a pen pal. I never thought about how much of an impact a letter a week could have on a soldier until I read this. Especially like you said, If they have no family then the letters become that much more important to them. I’m curious, do you get to meet your soldier once their deployment is over?