Friday, February 26, 2010

KIndle for Soldiers

I have an idea that I am so excited about that I had to share with you all. Each Soldier stationed in Afghanistan or Iraq has about one cubic foot in their supply packs for personal items......they LOVE reading books in their downtime, but pack space is a huge problem. Each soldier can carry one maybe two paperbacks with them, and according to guys in the field, these are passed around and sometimes re-read 5 or 6 times.

An Amazon Kindle is thinner than a paperback and weighs less then a pound...each one can hold 1,500 books. Imagine giving a soldier this! These guys are going through hell for all of us while I get to relax on my 800 thread count egyptian cotton sheets reading whatever I want on my Kindle....This is the absolute least that we can do. I am in contact with Amazon about this, I want to get at least 10 Kindles out in the field, loaded with books for our guys. I am coordinating with existing care package groups and trying to get requests of what kind of books the soldiers would want....There are companies like "Medge" that make hard plastic waterproof cases, and the Kindle can go for a week on a single battery charge.

Amazon sells the Kindle off it's website for $259.......stay tuned....for updates here and for a new website all coming soon

6 comments:

Brett said...

Gar,

This is a great idea. We have four people from our church stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan... okay three stationed and one who just goes and does missions and can't tell us about it... but that's another story.

They are living on iPhones, iPod Touches and one got a kindle before he left and loaded it up... plus he can just download anything instantly through USB whenever he wants now.

Keep us posted.

Oh... PS.... you have to love this one... I am about to submit this comment and the word verification for my comment on kindles is 'cronicle' :)

Let Freedom Ring said...

AWESOME idea Garrett. The men and women in our military are the best of the best. They deserve not only our thanks and respect but also anything that we can do to make their day a bit more comfortable. Count me in. Will be anxious to hear any and all updates on your efforts to make the Kindle a reality for our soldiers.

Love ya, Susan

Paula said...

LOVE this idea, Garrett! Our church has about 40 Marines that just were deployed to Afganistan. It's so important to support them. Let me know what happens with this great idea.
Love you, Mom

dole2obama said...

Great idea Goot! Please keep us posted on how we can move this idea forward.

Grandma Dee said...

Such an awesome idea Garrett. Yep, once again I am crying. Geez, see what happens when a great mind gets to thinking.Combining what can I do for others that matters and your love of reading and gadgets and this is what you come up with. I would love to support you in any way I can. Just let me know what you develop and I will get the word out to my friends for donations. And, of course, you can count on me and Dad for support, too. Love you and am proud of you,
Denise

Anonymous said...

hi there, i am a soldier stationed in afghanistan, I would love a kindle =\ I would just post my address here but I cant post it on open forums, if there is some way you nice folks can help me out please shoot an email to me at supersj4goku@aol.com

Thank you
PFC David