Prissy Mag loves a hero, especially a living hero. We define our living hero as someone who strives to impact the world in a positive way, has a certain nobility of purpose. As with artists, we believe that heroes have no boundaries so we look for them and accept them wherever we find them, be it Paris, Portland, or Peking. We hope you'll think they're heroes too.
Close-Ups Living Heroes Any Soldier: Still on Active Duty
| Any Soldier: Still on Active Duty |
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| Written by Priscilla Lalisse-Jespersen | |
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 I had just come back from a trip to the U.S. back in 2004 when I first learned about Any Soldier. I had noticed many servicemen walking around in dessert-color fatigues, headed for Iraq or Afghanistan. When I found myself face to face with soldiers at the airport, I wanted to go up and ask how I could support them, and let them know that Americans everywhere cared about them...but I didn?t know where to begin. Finally, after arriving back in France, I decided to go online. This is what I found: Any Soldier and years later, I still can't stop singing its praises.
Marty Horn and his wife Sue started Any Soldier with their son, Sgt. Brian Horn who was an Army Infantry Soldier with the 173rd Airborne Brigade then. They're now heading up an organization that supports hundreds of thousands of military personnel. Any Soldier has become one of the leading efforts in making sure the men and women who've been deployed for the war are cared for, via letters and packages from "home." In other words, it's our link to them, and their link to us, no matter where we are in the world.
PM: How is Any Soldier doing now? Are people still sending as many packages?MH: Any Soldier has matured and grown, and is continuing to do so. As you know, there is no middleman in this effort so we really have no idea how many packages have been sent, but we know it must be in the millions. Of the over 700,000 troops we have helped, it is rare that they didn't get way more support then they ever dreamed. Interesting page for you here: http://anysoldier.com/Stuff/Press/index.cfm?popup=Yes (which was built by your inspiration by the way). PM: How does your son feel about having been such a significant factor in starting this? Is he still involved with Any Soldier?MH: He is proud and stunned, just we all are. Brian is now a full-time college student and works part time for me in the "Support Team" handling the contacts. PM: How has all of this affected your family in general?MH: It has become our way of life. This has been my full time job for over three years, and just recently Brian and my wife have joined as employees. The workload is huge and constant, and we love it. PM: If you could change anything about it, what would you?MH: Improving the site and the efficiency of the effort is a constant objective. We are always adding features to the web site, soon to add a Forums and Live Chat application. We have a long list of unique features with our organization and while we are proud of them, we constantly strive to improve them. PM: How long will Any Soldier run? And after the wars are over, any ideas?MH: Any Soldier Inc. is permanent. Our growth is expected to last for many generations. "After the wars are over" is not a reality in this world I am sorry to say. We have in place the ability to expand our effort to all deployed troops, even those in non-war zones. We are also setting in place the ability to add our allies to this. PM: Would you like to add anything else?
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