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Supporting those active-duty troops and their families is what drives the 82nd Airborne Division Association.
With about 30,000 members, the national nonprofit group is the largest paratrooper association in the world. The association was designed to further the bond between former and active paratroopers who served in the 82nd Airborne Division or in any other branch of the military on either jump or glider status and to maintain the history of Airborne forces of the U.S. military.
The Ben Vandervoort Chapter of the association -- named after a local resident who was a famous 82nd Airborne paratrooper known as the best battalion-level commander of World War II -- serves airborne troopers in the Savannah, Hilton Head Island and Beaufort areas.
Chartered in 2006, the local group started with about 40 members and has since soared to new heights with a membership of 117.
Chapter chairman Jim Andrews said the group is made up of about two-thirds veterans and one-third active-duty paratroopers.
"The mission of the whole association is to create and maintain the bond between the active-duty soldiers and the former soldiers -- the retired veterans -- and to keep that bond strong," he said.
Andrews and his fellow chapter members help take care of the men and women serving overseas by sending them care packages as often as they can.
He said his chapter probably sends between 300 and 400 packages a year.
Andrews says the troops seem to appreciate the paratroopers' generosity and they have the letters to prove it.
Here is an edited version of an e-mail Andrews received last month from a lieutenant colonel stationed in Baghdad:
Jim,
Wanted to send a short note to you and all the members of the Ben Vandervoort Chapter. Most of the battalion left Kuwait shortly after the new year, and after numerous CH-47 flights, closed on our new home, (Forward Operating Base) Falcon. FOB Falcon is located in the southwest section of Baghdad.
I received your package two days ago and took a few pictures I thought you would enjoy. The first sergeant of my distribution company (A Company) is an 82nd Airborne Association member and has served in combat with the division. I thought it was only proper to present her and another 82nd combat soldier in my (supply) shop with the first care package. I also gave her your newsletter. She had a huge smile on her face and really appreciated the package. I think the contents of the package were right on the money. Not for sure if you have any additional copies of Hook Up (the chapter's quarterly newsletter), but if you do, it would be great for the soldiers to read and get to know the great Americans that are supporting them back home.
As I close I want to let you know we appreciate what you do every day, and we appreciate the support, thoughts and prayers by all the members of the Ben Vandervoort Chapter.
Take care,
Lt. Col. Johnney Matthews, based at FOB Falcon in Baghdad
In addition to sending deployed troops the usual goodies -- candy, gum and toiletries -- the local Airborne chapter recently started sending them homemade helmet liners. The wife of a local member started making the wool helmet liners for the troops, who often get cold at night in the mountains of Afghanistan and in the deserts of Iraq. The local group now is looking for volunteers to help make the helmet liners.
The Vandervoort chapter also stays involved with family resource support groups. It's another way the chapter helps keep the bond strong between veterans and current soldiers.
"There's kind of a long continuity ... between the generations, and the bond that holds them all together" Andrews said of paratroopers. "We all have been paratroopers, and there's an ethos about that. Paratroopers are all volunteers, so there's kind of an extra special feeling of commitment."
