Toast to the troops

By Julia LeDoux

Published: April 23, 2008

QUANTICO — Stuffing 10,000 boxes with personal care items Saturday was the perfect way for Marine Staff Sgt. Matthew Carman and more than 200 other volunteers to say thank you to troops serving overseas.

“I just wanted to help out the troops,” Carman, of Stafford, said during a brief break in the action at Quantico Marine Corps base, where Jack Daniels Distillery hosted its “Toast to the Troops” care package-stuffing party in conjunction with the United Services Organization.

“They worked hard and fast,” Jack Daniels’ public relations manager Elizabeth Conway said of the volunteers. “In the care packages there’s everything from toiletry items to playing cards to “Readers Digest” — things the troops have requested.”

Former Army Sgt. Michael Cain, who lost his right leg below the knee when his vehicle was hit by an anti-tank mine in Tikrit, Iraq on Aug. 7, 2003, traveled to Quantico to help back the boxes along with other outpatients from Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

“I know exactly what they need over there, and the stuff that I saw that was in the bags, it was like perfect,” Cain, who is medically retired, said.

Jack Daniels and the USO have held six of the stuffing parties at military installations around the country, Conway said.

“Inside each care package is a personalized post card with a little message to the troops that we call a ‘toast to the troops,’” she said.

Country music star Craig Morgan, an Army veteran with 11 years active-duty service and another six years reserve duty, helped pack boxes before he took to the stage for a free 90-minute concert at Little Hall, where he performed such hits as “That’s What I Love About Sunday,” “Redneck Yacht Club,” “Tough” and his current single, “International Harvester.”

“We’ve been doing this for four years,” said Morgan. “They’d probably like another artist, but I won’t let anybody else come in and do it…I have a great deal of respect for what the men and women in the armed forces are going through these days,” he said.

“Thank you” was Morgan’s message to those serving in America’s armed forces.

“Hold your heads up high, regardless of what you read or see,” he continued. “Know that what you are doing is truly beneficial to the security of this nation,” he said.

Morgan has also entertained service members in Iraq on the USO’s holiday tour.

“I’m humbled by the presence of the men and women we meet and see,” continued Morgan. “We’ve talked to some Marines from Bethesda, some soldiers here tonight from Walter Reed. I’m humbled by their presence and the pride they take in their ability to carry on as if nothing’s happened. I don’t know how you can talk to these guys and not be motivated to do more.”

In addition to the concert, Jack Daniels also provided a barbecue luncheon to the volunteers as a thank you for their hard work.

Julia LeDoux is a staff writer for Media General’s Potomac News in Woodbridge. The Armed Forces Press Service contributed to this report.