Last summer (Summer 2003) when I started Spirit of America I had the great fortune to come in contact with two Marines serving in Iraq. LtCol Al Burghard and LtCol David Couvillon (“Couv”). As it turns out, Mrs. Smash was the one who helped us connect (thanks again, Mrs. Smash). Al and Couv emailed me asking for dental supplies and soccer jerseys for Iraqis in their areas. We raised money, bought the goods, shipped them over with help from FedEx. You can read about the results of Al with the dental supplies and Couv with the soccer jerseys. My experience with them was outstanding. The kind of thing that makes you truly glad and proud to have them representing you and your country — they were focused, committed and had a sincere desire to help and “do the right thing” in Iraq. They had more humanitarian instincts than many aid and charity workers I’ve met and yet they’d just finished fighting a war. They took initiative and got things done that no one asked them do. They just did it. We finally met in mid September ’03 at Camp Pendleton after they returned from their deployment. Several beers were shared at the end of the day. Cool and satisfying.

In the fall I emailed Major General James Mattis — the Commanding General of the 1st Marine Division to compliment him on his Marines and to let him know Spirit of America was there to help again. He replied with some kind words about our support during the summer and an offer to meet. A little while later it was announced that the 1st Marines would be redeploying to Iraq so a meeting took on more urgency.

I met with MajGen Mattis’ staff — about 12 people — on December 22. Mattis was in Iraq at the time. The meeting was organized by his Chief of Staff — Colonel Joe Dunford. Col Dunford and team had been researching what items would be most useful to building better relations with Iraqis. They had identified school supplies, medical equipment and supplies and, surprisingly, frisbees. The “need” for Frisbees speaks volumes about the Marines philosophy and approach to building relations with Iraqis. They wanted Frisbees more than soccer balls because Frisbees would involve more interaction between Marines and Iraqi kids. While the Marines couldn't teach them much about soccer they would need to show them how to throw a Frisbee. And, people always seem to laugh when they throw a Frisbee and it takes off in some random direction. The whole idea was to break down barriers through person-to-person interaction.

The Big Gulp came when I asked when they needed the goods in time for their ships going to Iraq. The answer: sometime between January 15 and 20. Trying not to discourage the Marines I wanted to set expectations that with the holidays it might be hard to get things going by then.

We put together the page describing the needs the Marines had identified and kicked off fundraising on January 6th. And that’s when the blogosphere kicked into gear.

It was beautiful. Bee Yoo Tee Full! Instapundit, Hugh Hewitt, Cori Dauber at Ranting Profs, Armed Liberal at Winds of Change and Steven Den Beste all got the word out. I can’t begin to thank them for their trust and support. (I’m sure I’m missing some very helpful people, please let me know if I left you out) It was huge. It was all aided by the fortunate timing of a great story on Spirit of America in the Weekly Standard.

Then, as things were slowing down, Bill Whittle at Eject!Eject!Eject! made an impassioned appeal and jump-started a new round of donations. Amaaaaazzzzzing. Thank you Bill!

All the while we were trying to match our estimated expenses with our projected donations, line up vendors, etc. The first order placed was for 15,000 custom flying discs. Oddly enough, the Frisbees were the last to arrive. With a half dozen Marines we unloaded the Frisbee truck at 8pm on Tuesday night (Jan. 20).