Go Team Navy? What the?

OK. Now you are really wondering if I am completely off the rocker? I have no connection whatsoever to any branch of the U.S. Military, and only one to the Canadian Military. I am not sure of the exact numbers, but I believe there are approximately 3,000 Canadian troops in Afghanistan and 80,000 or 90,000 U.S. (and some still in Iraq... ). I believe there are 9,000 British and numbers from Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Poland, Denmark, and many other countries over there. There are plans for troop withdrawals in 2011, ten years after the war was started, but who knows?

Pardon me I'm going to be blunt here. Maybe every once in a while you catch the news and hear about a soldier from some such country being killed. Maybe you pay attention, maybe you don't. You very rarely hear about the two or three guys next to him who didn't die but were wounded. There is a reason why you don't hear about them right away, but this is also why we tend to forget about them. I have read a fair bit about Soldiers Angels and the great things they do. When I read about Project VALOUR IT the other day, I figured "why not."  The next question was, do I just put a little button saying "learn more" or "give now"? or something a little more "in your face"? So, I determined to read more and ponder on it.  When I decided I would go the "in your face" route, I then had to decide Team Army or Team Marines? The thought of the Air Force or Navy never even crossed my mind, until I looked at the number of bloggers on each team and the money they had already raised. The Navy Team only had three blogs listed at the time and had raised only $425. Then I clicked on a couple of the blogs to check them out, and the one that turned my vote to Team Navy was Boston Maggie. I have other reasons, but I'll get to that in a sec.

I know I have very few visitors here, but if I can get even one person to donate in order to enable some wounded warrior to communicate with his or her loved ones, to diarize his or her thoughts, or even blog like the man himself (read more here),  then I have at least accomplished something, however small it may be. I know I can't afford to donate myself, but I hope to help in some way. So to the five people that visit here, please do read a bit more or just go for it (donate) and then let someone else know about it. Also, I would be extremely pleased IF you do donate, please drop me an email or comment to let me know (sign in anonymous if you wish), not how much, just that you did, and it will make my day.

I had been thinking about my other reasons for going with Team Navy. I like water? The colour of their campaign thermometer widget thing matches my blog? They live in cramped quarters and hardly get out? (Who does that sound like?) I like the ocean? Navy SEALs? I went canoeing once? They seem to be overlooked? One of my grandpas (the one that didn't talk) was a fisherman with a boat before WWII?  Done deal. Go Team Navy.

There you have it.  I have gone soooooo far outside myself agaaaaiiiiinnnnn.... please help make Team Navy at least respectable. (Put your hands on your hips, throw your head back and laugh.)

Come on people of BC! ...and the four people from Ontario, if you ever come back, and anyone else that stumbles over here.