A BIG CHILL

A cold front is moving through Iraq, and temperatures are falling a bit, with highs now only in the 80's. Remember Operation Air Conditioner? (if not read here and here) Here, from Stars and Stripes, is the latest:

ARLINGTON, Va. ? Frankie Mayo is running both hot and cold these days.

The intrepid mom from Delaware, founder of ?Operation Air Conditioner,? has branched out for the winter months, switching her focus from AC units to free shipments of space heaters and top-of-the-line combat boots to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mayo said she wants all of the servicemembers who will spend the Christmas holidays far from home ?to know you have not been forgotten.

?Anything you need, just let me know, and I?ll get it to you,? Mayo said in a Thursday telephone interview.

Mayo launched Operation AC back in June, after her son, Cpl. Chris Tomlinson of the Army?s 300th Military Police Co, e-mailed her from Iraq:

?Hey mom, yeah i am OK it is hot as hell here. last week the temp reached 143 my platoon said they would be very grateful if you guys sent us air conditioners.?

Mayo not only sent Chris the unit he craved, she decided to send more to his buddies ? the entire deployed Army, to be precise.

In addition to thousands of air conditioners, Mayo has sent troops everything from medical supplies to toilet seats ? over $500,000 worth of supplies, she said.

The funds to purchase the supplies came from corporate sponsors, particularly Home Depot ? which gave her 600 air conditioners and $25,000 ? and more than 10,000 people who have sent everything from 50 cents to $5,000, Mayo said.

Most of the money was generated in July, when Mayo received a spate of media attention that included appearances on ?Good Morning America,? Fox News, CNN, and numerous other outlets.

With Iraq on the verge of winter, and snow already on the mountaintops of Afghanistan, Mayo has switched her focus to space heaters and boots.

She has also started a new ?adopt a soldier? program, which links American families with a deployed member. Already, Mayo has ?placed? 2,000 servicemembers with families who want to offer special holiday cheer to someone in the military, sending ?care packages,? letters and cards.

Mayo is also getting ready to start shipping ?predecorated Christmas trees? to units that would like to add some Yuletide cheer to their quarters.

Mayo is using the U.S. Postal Service to send the heaters, boots and other items. But after shipping 1,450 AC units, the Post Office stopped accepting the air conditioners, because they contain potentially hazardous substances that are not legal to ship.

In early September, the Army and the military?s Air Mobility Command helped by airlifting a shipment of 560 air conditioners to Iraq from Dover, Del.

But Mayo had to send a second shipment of 540 units through DHL-Danzis Air & Ocean, at a cost of $71,900, after the Army balked at using military transport.

The reason Mayo was given was that Pentagon lawyers found a policy prohibiting servicemembers from accepting gifts worth more than $20.

Okay, emphasis in last line added by yours truly. It really looks like the military is just struggling to avoid shipping these units, and perhaps given the immediate demands of airlift they are justified. But why the Pentagon always seems to need to fabricate some outrageous "extra reason" to justify their actions is beyond me. Guess I'll never achieve the highest ranks, I'm just not a top-caliber kind of guy.

I would expect the decorated Christmas trees to meet some resistance too. If I'm not mistaken such things are unfit for public display in America and may offend certain elements in Baghdad. Not to mention it's got to be tough to find one fully decorated for under 20 bucks too. Stay tuned.

Frankie Mayo has been working with great determination against this obviously well organized resistance movement for some time now, and her efforts are worthy of support. With a little help (hint hint) I'm sure Operation Air Conditioner (or Heater or Christmas Tree) will bring a small bit of yuletide cheer to the folks deployed far from their families. Here's their home page.

And here's the Baghdad forecast.