DVDs for U.S. Troops in Iraq

[Pete C]

This came about as a response somebody made to my friend's Craig's List ad about her stoop sale. He mentions that he's trying to get DVD donations for U.S. troops in Iraq who are sorely in need of distraction. If you're interested you can either contact Jason by email, or find some other way to get donations over there. Jason's contact info is (reformatted to prevent spamming)

jgratliff @ gmail dot com.

Here's his message:

> Hi there,
>
> I have a bit of an odd request/proposal regarding the DVDs listed in
> this ad. It's out of left field, admittedly, but I hope you'll give
> it some consideration.
>
> I, like most folks in these parts, am not very happy about this war
> going on in Iraq. I'm no jingoist, to be sure. And I don't have any
> personal ties to anyone who has anything to do with the war, but I do
> have a very good friend whose brother (and best friend), a
> second-generation West Point grad, is serving a surprise tour of duty
> in Iraq after being relocated from his usual post in Korea. He is in
> the 2nd Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team in Ramadi. His unit has
> lost 40 lives over the past
> several months since being deployed and he reports that they "are all
> in terrible spirits, with no end in sight from the daily clashes
> against the well trained rebels."
>
> The reason that I'm writing to you is because when I inquired as to
> what the soldiers might appreciate in a care package, my friend said
> that his brother told him that DVDs are "probably the only mental
> escape they have from literally daily firefights." I have already
> submitted proposals to Netflix and Blockbuster, requesting that they
> provide an allotment of DVDs to troops serving in Iraq, but there's a
> lot of red tape to work around, and I'm not getting my hopes up about
> an affirmative reply from them. So I'm basically doing a little
grass
> roots work to see if I can round up some DVDs for these people. I
> have no idea how many DVDs you have, or how much you're planning on
> selling them for, but I'd like to ask that you consider donating some
> or all of them to the troops in Iraq.
>
> If you're interested, I can either a) provide you with the address of
> this particular unit so you can send them on your own (I'll include
> the address below), or b) pick them up from you and send them myself
> (I'm in Park Slope).
>
> I realize that you don't know me from Adam, and for all you know,
this
> could be despicable scam to pad my own personal DVD collection. But
I
> promise you, I have no intention of any personal gain here. In fact,
> I have only two DVDs to my name -- a Simpson's Christmas DVD that I
> was given as a gift and a Gladiator DVD, which I honestly have no
idea
> how I got.
>
> Feel free to write or call if you have any questions, comments,
> suggestions or complaints. And thanks again for your consideration.
>
> Jason Ratliff

Originally Posted by Pete C

He is in
> the 2nd Infantry, 2nd Brigade Combat Team in Ramadi. His unit has
> lost 40 lives over the past
> several months since being deployed

Whoa, that's a huge figure. Could somebody who has more familiarity with these things explain to me how big a "unit" is? I'm unclear as to the difference between a "division," "company," "team," "unit" etc.

If a "unit" is as small as the term intuitively suggests, then 40 losses for a single one would be a pretty big number, no? You don't get that sense from the American news media, which seems to pass over casualty figures with equanimity, without indicating what they suggest about the situation.