Recently we mentioned changes coming for OCC in 2012. After much prayer and consideration, we have made the decision to retire Operation Coffee Cup.

As of Jan. 1, the day-by-day operations of sending care packages to the troops will come to an end. While we will still be doing our own personal family support, we will not continue the program as in the past. We would like to thank all of our supporters that have continuously been there for us with great donations of items and money to ship them. Without you this program could not have been what it is today.

We encourage all of you to continue remembering the soldiers in your prayers for the safe return of each of them to their families. It has been our privilege to have served the soldiers and their families for the past 10 years. We have received many blessings through this work, and we encourage each of you to send your own boxes regularly to a soldier, whether it is your family or friend, or a soldier that has no support.

During the many years of shipping these items to the soldiers we have sent an unknown amount of boxes. Since we started actually keeping count of them, in the last two years, we have shipped approximately 600 boxes. We have sent snack items, many special request items such as microwaves, small fans, icemakers, and most certainly COFFEE. The support of churches, businesses, and individuals through the years has been awesome.

We received a request at one point about the need for a small electrical fuse. This fuse could not be found anywhere in their area. After a couple of days of searching we were able to locate the fuse. When the owner of the company found out these were for our military men he donated the fuses, and we sent several to this unit in the field, which solved their problem.

We also received a request from a soldier regarding a great need in their FOB. The soldier requested that we contact our state representative or congressman for a problem they had on their local base. After discussing this issue with the office of our senator, and our congressman, within a week the problem was solved. These are just two examples of things that we were able to help our soldiers with over the many years. We love that the soldiers knew they could contact us for any special need they had.

I will no longer be writing an article called “Military Chat,” but will be writing a new and different article. This article will start around the middle of January. I encourage you to watch the Catoosa and Walker County newspaper for my new article called “Shooter’s Corner.”

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish for you a prosperous new year.

Roger Sherrill lives in Ringgold. He can be reached by email at tandemjumper@catt.com or by phone at 706-937-3918. You can also become a fan of Operation Coffee Cup on Facebook.