The guy in the photo? That’s Jason.

Jason Campbell all but grew up in our house—he and Adam, my son, met when they were eight and in Kung Fu together and hit it off. When he graduated from High School, Jason joined the Marine Corps and served as a Recon Marine. He’s home now, and going to college in California. But while he was in Iraq we adopted his company of Recon Marines. They’re back in Iraq, the guys of Bravo Company, and even if Jason isn’t with them, they’re still our marines.

So Adopt a Marine! How do you adopt a Marine? You email me and I send you an address. (My email is mcq@en.com) You get a box and fill it with cool stuff—magazines, books, video games (they’ve got all the consoles) DVDs, CDs, toys, time wasters, not very perishable food (chocolate and things that melt, alas, don’t ship well, although my box of vanilla wafers and jar of Nutella shipped just find, thank you. And apparently Nutella vanilla wafer sandwiches are pretty damn good. And Jason swears nothing keeps you awake on patrol like wasabi peas.)

When you have a box of stuff, you seal it up, take it to the post office, explain that it’s going to Iraq and fill out a custom’s form. (Keep track of what you put in the box, okay?) Then you send it off. It takes you a little time. And then you get to feel pretty good about yourself. And every time you see one of those stupid ‘Support The Troops’ yellow ribbons on the back of a car, you can have a moment of insufferable superiority knowing that you do a lot more than just buying a friggin magnet.

They guys aren’t so great at writing back. But I have it on reliable authority that the packages do make a difference. And the magazines, books, CDs, DVDs, and games that we send stay in the common room and lots and lots of people use them. More importantly, that rate of PTSD, depression and suicide in returning soldiers is incredibly high. No one can make up for the strain of separation from family and the rigors of deployment. But I can’t help but hope that a little sense that the world gives a flying fuck helps.

I don’t support the war. I do support the men and women who are fighting it, in what small way I can.