R&R If You Can Afford It

from the operation hero miles website:

In September 2003, the Pentagon started giving soldiers stationed in Iraq two-week leaves in the largest R & R program since the Vietnam War. Soldiers on R & R or Emergency Leave are flown by the military to Germany or three airports in the United States, Baltimore/Washington, (BWI), Dallas/FortWorth, (DFW), or Atlanta, (ATL ) for free.

The soldiers have been responsible for flights the rest of the way in the U.S. to their destinations, until Congress provided funding for this purpose on November 3, 2003. However, this funding is not yet available and may not be sufficient for all the troops or troops on "Emergency Leave".

i got an email this morning from moveon.org about a program created by congressman dutch ruppersberger (D-MD) called "operation hero miles." this program accepts donations of unused frequent flyer miles and transfers them to soldiers who have been given leave but no way to get home. twelve airlines are currently participating, and many have made large miles donations to get things started.

i have thousands of miles lying around on airlines that i travel on infrequently, and they are useless to me as i never accumulate enough to score any award travel. i called this morning to donate 10,000 miles from my american airlines advantage account, and the woman on the phone said that she had just processed 12 tickets for soldiers this morning using the hero miles program. that made me feel better than any gift i have given so far this year.

Monday 22-Dec-03