The following appeared in the USO, Army, AirForce, and National Guard news:
Dale & Dianna Titel are USO Volunteers at the DFW Airport since 2005. DFW is only one of two airports that receive and send R&R troops to & from Iraq and Afghanistan. On Thanksgiving Day 2007, the Titel’s wanted to do something special for the troops, who were away from their families on that special day, as they waited
at the departure gate. They observed that neck pillows were a huge hit with the troops who were about to endure almost 18 hours of initial travel to Kuwait, but USO quantities were limited since donations were sporadic. In the days following, Dianna went looking for neck pillows and found some on sale at Walgreens. Dale and Dianna then went all over the metroplex and purchased over 500 pillows - Walgreen’s entire stock! With an average of 200 troops on each outbound plane, the supply didn’t last long. Dianna decided that she would need to start making the pillows herself to ensure a steady supply. The Titel’s good friend Lou Rovetto joined them in this huge effort. The troops not only use the pillows while waiting at the airport and on the long plane ride, but also on missions once back in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some troops are even lending them out to their battle buddies for their return trip home on R&R. They explain how useful it will be on the 21 hour trip, with multiple stops. Traveling to their bases takes an average of 3 to 5 days, some up to ten days, and in one case that we know of, it took thirty days, waiting for the fire fights to subside. The neck pillows are not only used for the long flights, but are used in a variety of ways. While on missions, one soldier said it provides the comfort to be able to take short power naps when things are quiet. Some use them to comfort rides on Choppers, Cargo Planes, and Troop Carriers. Others use them as seat cushions for the many different vehicles where the seats have bottomed out. The creative list of uses is endless. They have made over 40,000 pillows for the troops. They currently hand out approximately 200 pillows, only on Fridays, while soldiers are waiting for their plane back to Iraq and Afghanistan. Our goal is to provide pillows for every day. In order to do this, they need volunteers, donations of fabric and most important, donations to buy the poly-fil, to stuff the neck pillows. If you would like to help or donate please go to the web site & click on "comtact us".
