Being an English major, I love to write. I could gladly write stories or essays all day. This, however, is only writing that I've done for me. I decided that I wanted to write something to help others. So I did a quick Google search and found that I can write letters to soldiers that hardly get any mail during their deployment. A hand-written letter, not e-mail. It turns out that there are a lot of soldiers that never get mail during their deployment. Imagine how lonely that must be. Maybe they don't have family back home or they only had a boyfriend or girlfriend and they broke up before they got deployed. Whatever the case, they really want to have their name called when they get letters at the end of the day. So if you have the time, why not send a letter to a soldier telling them how much they are appreciated?

Now I know what you're thinking, "But where do I send these letters?" That's where anysoldier.com comes in. Here, you can search for people that need to have letters mailed to them. They have a whole database of soldiers, marines, coast guardsmen, airmen, and sailors that have requested to have letters sent to them. You can search by what branch of the army you want to send a letter to or what country they are stationed in. While you can only request one address to send a letter to a day, you can always get some of your friends together and get more addresses and write letters to multiple people.

It is also important to note, if you decide to send a care package to the person you're writing to you need to know what you can and can't send. They prefer that you keep the packages small. A full list of suggested items to send and what not to send can be found here.

Now what should you include in your letter? First, thank them for all that they are doing, acknowledge that you understand what they are doing for our country. Next, write to them like you would a friend. Maybe ask what it's like where they're stationed, what does the landscape look like there versus where they live when they're not deployed? If you want them to write back to you, consider sending a pre addressed envelope with a stamp and a pen and paper. This will increase the chances that you will get a reply back.

How long has it been since you've last sent an old fashioned letter? Pick up your pens and send letters to soldiers or marines or airmen or coast guardsmen or sailor and make their day! Who knows? You might be the first person to send them a letter since they've left the country.