Boxes on the way to our Marines at Camp Leatherneck
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: April 16, 2012
Here’s the second group of boxes full of ACU field pillows being shipped to our Marines in the Helmand province (totalling well over 500; lots but not nearly enough).
To our wonderful Marines; I apologize in advance, ACU is all we have. But please take one of our field pillows and use it, knowing that folks back home care about you and want you to come home.
May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.
SEMPER FI
Calling all sewers in southeastern Virginia
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: March 18, 2012
With the outpouring of requests from folks who read Jennifer Caprioli’s article and passed it along to their Facebook friends, we have way more requests for our ACU field pillows than we have folks who work on them.
If you’ve offered to help, wonderful! If you’re local to the Tidewater area, or know someone who is, and would like to volunteer to help us make pillows, we’d love to have you. If you’ve emailed me and asked me to send pillows to your Soldier’s unit, judging from the requests, it may take us awhile for us to get to your troop.
If you’d like to begin your own pillow project, great! I’ve been telling folks to look for ACU fabric online; you won’t find it in any retail store. And there’s a good reason we choose the same ACU that our troops wear; it’s tough, strong, dense, and durable. That stuff wears like iron — and that’s just what our troops need.
Our field pillows are travel size, about 10″ x 12″. We use only premium polyfil by the Fairfield Processing Corporation; you can find it in any WalMart. Don’t even try to hand sew this stuff; save your hand sewing for the fleece pillows we send to Landstuhl. Just machine sew them shut after stuffing. Don’t even think about getting the cheap stuff; in this case, you most definably get what you pay for. A 50 oz. bag of stuffing will fill 18-20 of our pillows.
If you’re not sure about starting your own pillow project, but want to show your support, contact a chaplain at the nearest post, and ask how you can help. Contact your nearest USO, contact Soldiers’ Angels.
Speaking of which…
Do you know anyone who lives in Germany, near Landstuhl? My contact with Soldiers’ Angels there says they have a really hard time finding volunteers to help unpack boxes of goodies that have been sent for our wounded (including boxes of our pillows). If you know someone who lives near the hospital, and would be willing to become an Angel, please tell them to wander on over and sign up.
Our troops need all the Angels they can get.
FT Drum write about our ACU field pillows
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: March 17, 2012
http://www.army.mil/article/75704/Mother_sews_love_for_troops/
It’s not always easy to contact folks up at FT Drum. And sometimes it does get old explaining again and again about our project, trying to verify that I really am who I say I am, yes, I really am a 10th Mountain mom, and asking for personal information about our troops; things would be a whole lot easier if I were physically in NY, and could just walk in and introduce myself. So I was pleased and surprised when I contacted the PAO (Public Affairs Office) at FT Drum, and my contact there, Jennifer Caprioli, referred me to the folks at Division for help with coordination. Since Jenn is a writer, she also suggested writing an article about Operation PFP, and that might help spread the word about the project.
I found Jenn’s article online, and thought I’d share. She did a wonderful job and I love the photos she used. And it certainly did spread the word. I’ve spent all day answering emails and reading comments from folks around the country.
Unfortunately, it’s really hard for folks to join us at one of our sew-ins when they live 1,000 miles away 
I do have several suggestions for folks though; if you have a troop deployed: don’t forget to write to your soldier at least once a week, send him photos of your family, newspaper clippings, magazines, anything that helps him stay connected. If you don’t have a loved one deployed, find one of your own. Contact a Chaplain at the nearest post or base. Ask how you can adopt a troop. And devote some time at least once every day to your troop; keep a care package going and add to it when you find goodies you think he or she might like; always include a letter asking if anything special is needed or wanted, send a drawing the kids made in school, remind your troop that folks back home care and want him or her to come home safely.
If you are outside Virginia, and want to start a pillow project of your own — great! Find the appropriate fabric for your sailor, soldier, marine or airman online. Gather up some funds, buy the fabric and premium polyester polyfil (we only use Fairfield stuffing), decide on the pillow size (we like 10″ x 12″), cut your fabric and make some pillows. Again, contact a local post Chaplain or USO, and ask for help getting your pillows to our troops.
Our friends at Soldiers’ Angels can always use help, and they have chapters all over the U.S. Or visit the Soldiers’ Angels website. They always have ongoing projects that folks across the world can participate in, whether you want to adopt a troop or make a blanket for a wounded soldier. Spread the word to your friends, co-workers and the folks at church.
Together, we will continue to let our troops know that they are not forgotten. And we won’t stop til they all come home.
Making ACU labels is a piece of cake (sort of)
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: March 10, 2012
Someone’s always doing something at my house with ACU; making strips into key chains, cutting pillows, stuffing, packing, writing out those pesky customs forms…
When Nick visited us on his way to FT Gordon for training, he brought his sweetheart (and my beautiful new daughter-in-law) Christine. No visit to our house is ever complete without a few fresh baked chocolate chips cookies — along with a little cutting or stuffing
Our latest Sew-In
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: November 9, 2011
We held a smaller sew-in at the Beazley Senior Center yesterday, and yet still managed to complete nearly 200 ACU field pillows. Along with hundreds more, this group of pocket field pillows will be headed to Afghanistan shortly.
Resurrection Church in Portsmouth is sponsoring the sew-in next Tuesday, and they gener0usly offered me a booth at their Fall Festival to promote Operation PFP this past weekend. I brought all the small ACU key fobs with me, set up a booth with Nick’s picture on it (I swear, my Soldier is SO handsome!) and some info about the project. Folks stopped by all day long to either buy a key chain, drop a few dollars in the pot, or tell me about their own troop.
So, now we have a little more money for shipping, and we might even snag a few volunteers from that booth. Thank you, Eleanor!
Until Tuesday then…HOOAH!!!
The 12,000th ACU Field Pillow is shipped to FOB Sarkari Karez
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: October 24, 2011
The last of 13 boxes of ACU Pocket Field Pillows is headed to a CAV regiment at FOB Sarkari Karez in southern Afghanistan. This regiment, part of the 10th Mountain Division, belongs to a BCT that will start to redeploy back home in several months.
One of the boxes contains the 12,000th PFP we’ve made and shipped; kinda sounds like alot — until I remember that we have about 100,000 American troops still in Afghanistan, and as they return home, replacements are sent to take their places.
The current administration is talking about withdrawal sometime in ’14…not soon enough for me.
In the meantime, we will continue working to let these young men and women know that we will not forget them.
We hear from Guardsmen in Iraq
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: October 2, 2011
I received an email this morning from a Soldier with the 2-183CAV. The Soldiers in this regiment, all from Virginia, deployed to Iraq, COS Kalsu (Contingency Operating Station), just south of Baghdad.
Several weeks ago, we shipped several hundred field pillows to this regiment, and we couldn’t have done it without the support of the Churchland Lions Club.
Hello Operation Field Pillow!
Attached is a picture of me. What you can’t see is the fact that I am sitting on one of your fine pillows. You see, the seats in a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle are not too comfy and the pillow is perfect for taking the edge off. Several Soldiers use it for the same reason. We also take them on our overnight trips driving all over Iraq for when it is time to hit the hay. So, on behalf of my unit, I wanted to thank you for your hard work that went into making all of those. I know it wasn’t
easy…just please know that the guys got a kick out of them, they were distributed to Soldiers, and that they are being used. You’re great Americans!CPT BRIAN M GALLAVAN
Thanks so much, Brian, for taking your time to write! Your friends and families miss you all; and please know that you are not forgotten.
ACU Field Pillows headed to Iraq for the VNG, 2-183 CAV
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: September 11, 2011
I’ve been coordinating this effort for the VNG troops with Pam Korsen, the Task Force 183 Squadron Family Readiness Coordinator. The 2-183rd CAV deployed, along with their supporting units, hundreds and hundreds of troops all from Virginia to Iraq. And we’ve made ACU field pillows for all of them.
The first wave of boxes has been shipped, and more will be on the way as soon as we know where to send them. The small box you see on the top is headed to Afghanistan, to our adopted Soldier, Daniel Pena (he’s in Kandahar with the 4th Infantry Division). I heard from a Chaplain with the 3-71 CAV that there were lots and lots of Soldiers who could use a little support from home. He sent me a list of 11 young troops, and I sent the list out to all the PFP volunteers; before 24 hours passed, each of those troops had someone back home to stand up for him.
If you’d like to adopt a Soldier, please just drop me an email or leave a comment.
Ready to send to Kandahar, Germany and Iraq
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: August 12, 2011
Here are almost 800 field and hospital pillows ready to be shipped. Fifty fleece pillows are headed to the Role 3 MMU in Kandahar, 75 are headed to Landstuhl, and almost 900 ACU field pillows will be shipped to soldiers from Virginia.
I spoke to the Churchland Lions Club a few weeks back, and had the chance to talk to a Virginia National Guard dad. He told me his son, along with nearly 1,000 of his closest buddies, is headed to Iraq for a year, and asked if Operation PFP would ship the Guardsmen field pillows. Of course we will!
During the latest sew-ins at Church of the Resurrection and the Beazley Senior Center (both in Portsmouth) we made nearly enough field pillows for every Guardsman from Virginia. The next sew-in is scheduled in 2 weeks, and there won’t be any problem at all finishing enough for all these soldiers.
Excellent job by the folks at the Beazley Senior Center!
Posted by: Carol Armstrong on: June 16, 2011
Earlier this week, members and friends of the Beazley Senior Center in Portsmouth gathered for their monthly sew-in for Operation PFP. In just a few short hours, aided by coffee, OJ, doughnuts and fruit (and not a little gossip), together we finished enough field pillows for 2 entire Infantry Companies. These volunteers cut fabric, sewed, stuffed, bagged – and I think I can safely say we all had a wonderful time sharing our friendship, while working together for the benefit of our soldiers so far away from home.
Here are eight boxes, tightly packed with hundreds of field pillows, ready for pickup — a total of 121.6 pounds. All the boxes are headed for companies with the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd BCT, 10th Mountain Division.
Great job, friends! Can’t wait for the next sew-in!!!
