Operation HOT prepares care packages for troops
By Brent Yarina
Staff Reporter

American soldiers may be fighting thousands of miles away but, at TCU, students are pitching in with an Air Force ROTC project to help the nation’s troops overseas.

Jessica Waddle, liaison officer of Arnold Air Society, said Operation HOT (Help Our Troops) is a campus-wide service project which sends care packages to troops in Iraq. It was created March 27 to show the university’s support for American soldiers, she said.

She said participants are to drop off their completed care packages at Worth Hills from 4:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday.

“I’m really excited about this project and it’s exceeding my wildest expectations,” she said. “We wanted as many people to participate as possible and we’re very excited with the university’s response.”

Waddle said she expects the service project to ship anywhere from 95 to 115 boxes to Iraq. The soldiers, she said, are expected to receive the boxes by the end of April.

She said the project has also received a great response because it was opened up to the entire Fort Worth community in an attempt to allow a greater number of people to participate in the program.

“I’m ecstatic if more people want to participate,” Waddle said. “The more people we have, the better.”

Cadet Wing Cmdr. Josh Hawkins said many factors are responsible for Operation HOT’s great success, including stuffing student mailboxes with fliers, advertising on TCU Announce and holding a publicity campaign on campus.

“We have been overwhelmed with positive responses to this project,” Hawkins said. “We’re having to work a lot harder than we thought we would because of the great response on campus.”

Waddle said this is Arnold Air Society’s second service project devoted to supporting American troops. She said a similar service project was created following Sept. 11 for the troops at Diego Garcia, but the number of participants was much lower because it was restricted to the Air Force.

In addition to opening the program up to both the TCU and Fort Worth community, Waddle said, she has also increased its popularity by going to all of the university’s fraternities, sororities and deans’ offices asking for their support.

Brett Johnston, a sophomore business major, said he first heard about Operation HOT at one of his fraternity meetings. He said he plans to contribute because the program is a wonderful idea.

“To me, this effort is the least that we should do to show our respect and appreciation for our troops’ sacrifices and bravery,” Johnston said. “This simple task will go a far way and I hope everyone at TCU realizes how much we can help our troops with such an act.”

Waddle said each organization will construct as many care packages as they wish, using their own creativity and resources. She said each box should include a letter to the troops, a token of the organization and gifts that will not insult a host country, endanger U.S. relations or place our troops in a compromising situation. Waddle also said she recommends each organization decorates their box.

However, she said, no box will be accepted if they are sealed because Arnold Air Society has to inspect the contents to insure that they meet the U.S. Air Force guidelines.

Since the boxes the program provides are very large, individuals who wish to participate on their own and do not want to be responsible for filling an entire box are allowed to fill a shoe box, she said.

Waddle said the organization or individual who creates the best box will receive a prize for their work. She said the prize is an American flag and a TCU flag that Operation HOT will ask the troops to place in a bomber plane and return to the university after an air attack.

Brent Yarina