PROGRAMS: GRANTS: Significant Projects: Operation: Stay Safe

From 68th CSSB

The Illinois AMVETS Service Foundation has mailed out 4,500 of the 5.11 Tactical Series flame-retardant shirts. As the year moves forward, another 4,500 will be distributed. Here’s what some of the service men and women are saying about the shirts:

"I want to thank you again for your very generous donation of shirts for our troopers. Let me relay a true story from yesterday. Last night, one of our patrols got hit. We medivacked one soldier to the field hospital. The insurgents have begun to place accelerants (i.e. gasoline) around the IEDs in order to cause further harm. Because our soldier wore one of your shirts, he was not badly burned. His gunner, as he was surveying the damage done, shone his flashlight down at me and asked if I had any more of those shirts. The TC (Tank Commander) was wearing one of the flame retardant AMVET shirts that night, and it probably saved him from some significant injuries due to burns."
­Chaplain Kevin Wainwright

"These T-shirts are probably one of the most functional and thoughtful gifts I or any of my troops have received during this deployment. It is a finely crafted garment that will prove very useful as we patrol the open desert of Iraq."
­CPT Jason Toth

"It was exciting to receive such an unexpected treasure from your team, and it is extra special coming from the Illinois AMVETS…Thank you so much for your generosity and encouragement."
--CH Brandon Moore

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