Soldier Support

Our association proudly supports the mission of our deployed troops in their fight against terrorism. To that end, we have put together this set of pages, consisting of news about the deployed elements of our division, a message board for posting messages of support, and links to other sources for these purposes.

War On Terrorism: Our Honored Dead
Our division has lost soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have created a memorial page in remembrance of them.

Kaziah Hancock, an artist based in Utah, has created Project Compassion, a remarkable undertaking which provides the families of fallen soldiers with an oil painting of their soldier, at no charge. She has been joined by other artists, and together they have given over 500 paintings to the families. Their gallery contains portraits of several Tropic Lightning soldiers.

Other Division News Sources

  • Newspapers:
    Hawaii Army Week You will find numerous stories from the division’s public affairs reporters in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as news about the Army in general.
  • Association Chapters:
    Our 5th Infantry Chapter has two sections of their site devoted to the Bobcats in Iraq and Bobcats in Afghanistan.
  • Other Resources:
    Remembering the Fallen of the 3/509th Infantry The father of a soldier in this unit created this memorial page to honor the memory of their fallen.
  • Stryker Brigade News This excellent Facebook page has compilations of news stories about Stryker Brigade Combat Teams, including our 1st Brigade, photos, links and more, from the period of time when our 1st Brigade was based at Fort Lewis, WA.
  • Michael Yon : Online Magazine Michael Yon is a writer who embedded with our “Deuce Four”. His blog is very interesting reading. Among the topics he has covered are the swearing-in ceremony for new U.S. citizens among the Deuce Four, and the uncovering of a huge cache of terrorist weaponry in Mosul (“The Devil’s Foyer”).
  • Any Soldier Inc.
    Any Soldier Inc. started as a family effort to help a member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade who deployed to Iraq in 2003. Their mission has since expanded to support other military units. Under “Where to Send”, the “AnySoldier Search Tool” can be used to specify branch of service, where the unit is from, country deployed to, etc.. The contacts in the deployed units list what they need and want. The soldiers are volunteers for this effort. They see the “ATTN: Any Soldier” line and put your letters and packages into the hands of soldiers who don’t get much or any mail. Because this list changes all the time due to unit movements, soldier transfers, or even soldier casualties, DO NOT send any letter or package to a soldier’s address unless you check the Any Soldier web site the same day you mail your packages.