Hugs for Our Soldiers

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Hugs for Our Soldiers

Go to our website www.hugsforoursoldiers.org to see how you can support our troops!

02/26/2026

“THE FIRST OF HIS KIND:
CW5 Eric Slover Makes History with Medal of Honor for Maduro Raid.

President Trump awarded the Medal of Honor to Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover—making him the very first CW5 in U.S. military history to receive the nation’s highest award for valor.

Slover is a pilot for the U.S. Army's elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Night Stalkers), the legendary unit responsible for high-risk nighttime insertions for the world’s most dangerous missions.

On January 3, 2026, Slover was the flight lead for the daring raid in Caracas to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

As he approached the landing zone under heavy fire, Slover was struck 3-4 times in the hip and leg by anti-aircraft machine guns. Despite his leg being "shredded" and facing catastrophic blood loss, he refused to let go of the controls.

Through agonizing pain, he maneuvered the Chinook to allow his gunners to engage the enemy and successfully landed to deploy his Delta Force team. His grit prevented a crash and saved the lives of everyone on board."

Hugs for Our Soldiers is proud and honored to be a supporter of the 160th SOAR Nightstalkers. Thank you, CW5 Slover, for your heroism!

02/17/2026

A proud Sailor's mom shared this fun story with Hugs for Our Soldiers of her son's encounter with Pete Hegseth Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

"Pete Hegseth was on the ship on Thanksgiving.... Cole was in charge of his security detail. He challenged Pete to 50 pushups... Pete said he only does 47 for the 47th President..... I asked Cole if there was a winner... apparently that info is classified 😎 LOL!"

Hugs for Our Soldiers had supported some of MAC Lawrence's USS Winston Churchill Sailors at Christmas with wrapped gifts of Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee boxes of chocolates.

01/21/2026

Sailors on USS San Antonio received boxes of chocolates Christmas wrapped by Hugs for Our Soldiers volunteers. Thank you Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee for your partnership with HUGS in support of our troops!

01/18/2026

A note of thanks for Welcome Home bags:

Dear Hugs for Our Soldiers Volunteers & Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee,

Thank you so much for your generosity and support. The snacks you provided and the care behind them meant a great deal to the soldiers returning home from Europe. Your kindness helped make their homecoming warmer and more welcoming.

We are truly grateful for your continued support of our service members and for taking the time to show them they are appreciated.

With sincere thanks,
SSG Wall
2nd Brigade Combat Team "STRIKE"
101st Airborne

12/25/2025

Do Soldiers love Oreos? They sure do! Hugs for Our Soldiers delivered 2 pallets of Oreos to 3BCT troops who had just completed two weeks of field training, so what a treat!

12/11/2025

How quick can you put together 1000 Welcome Home bags for Soldiers returning to their barracks from deployment? Well, Hugs for Our Soldiers volunteers did it in 3 hours!! Our Founder/CEO delivered them the very next day to 2nd Brigade Combat Team "STRIKE" at U.S. Army Fort Campbell. Welcome Home, Soldiers ... just in time for Christmas!

11/12/2025

Have you heard of the Pearl Harbor Tree in Cades Cove of the Great Smoky Mountains? Hugs for Our Soldiers would like to highlight this story as a thank you to all of our Veterans.

In December, 1941, a farmer in Cades Cove, Golman Myers, was listening to the family's battery powered RCA radio when President Franklin D. Roosevelt interrupted the program they were listening to by announcing Pearl Harbor had been attacked by Japan. Golman knew that very instant that the United States was going to go to war with the rest of the world.

With the looming threat of war and two of his sons being old enough to be drafted, Golman wanted a way to memorialize the soldiers who had just lost their lives in this attack. He went out behind his house and found a small sweet gum tree sapling, no bigger than a limb. Golman pulled up the tree from where it was growing and transplanted it out in front of his home. He then placed an old automobile rim around the sapling (to protect it from his boys, says one son) and to say “We will remember this forever.”

Two of Golman's sons did, in fact, serve in the war and both, fortunately survived.

Years later, son, Bernard Myers, had a metal sign engraved with "Golman Myers transplanted this tree December 7, 1941” on one side and “Pearl Harbor” on the other side. He wanted to commemorate the moment and help everyone who finds the Pearl Harbor tree in Cades Cove know what it stands for.

Hugs for Our Soldiers' founder traveled up to the Pearl Harbor Tree this past Sunday and found it FILLED with American flags showing names, branches and wars written on each of those who have served. What a way to say "THANK YOU" to all of our Veterans!

11/01/2025

HELP US SEND CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS & GIFTS TO OUR TROOPS!

The holidays are just around the corner. We are calling upon our supporters to help us bring a little holiday cheer to Special Ops units who are deployed worldwide and to Combat Aviation units serving in the Middle East. It is a time of year that these men and women will truly miss home.

Our volunteers are ready to stuff the stockings, but we need to purchase all of the supplies and have enough funds to cover the shipping costs.

In addition, HUGS has over 2500 boxes of Girl Scout chocolates and 1500 cans of nut mix to wrap and get into the hands of these deployed troops. Your donation will help us turn each of these into a Christmas gift for our men and women who are separated from their families at this much celebrated time of year.

Please consider donating $25 to help us send all of this holiday cheer overseas. (Any gift amount would be appreciated.)

Make checks payable to “Hugs for Our Soldiers” and mail to:

P.O. Box 532
Vonore, TN 37885

You can also donate by credit card, ApplePay, GooglePay or Venmo by scanning the QR Code attached as a photo.

Thank you for caring about our men and women in uniform!

Kathy Orcutt
Founder / CEO

Hugs for Our Soldiers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID #26-3486044
www.hugsforoursoldiers.org

09/03/2025

Many thanks to those who mailed HUGS gift cards from Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree and even AMC to be placed in Welcome Home packages for our young Soldiers. A big shout out goes to Woman's World for highlighting Hugs for Our Soldiers in their "Help A Hero" article several times each year. Another one will be published soon, so be sure to check their publication when checking out at the grocery stores in your area.

07/02/2025

It's amazing what Girl Scout cookies mean to our troops overseas! Here is a story you will want to read.

"My unit is currently taking part in a combat deployment for nine months in the middle east. During some off time, myself and others realized we would be missing out on Girl Scout Cookie season! After a ten minute discussion (an argument really) about which cookie was better, we just knew we had to find a way to get some out here! A nice reminder of home would be nice, as we make due with what we have. Would Hugs for Our Soldiers in any way be interested in donating unsold cookies to a handful of Soldiers out here?" SGT Leser, A-Troop, 2-17 ACS, 101CAB (101st Airborne, Fort Campbell)

Hugs for Our Soldiers immediately jumped into action and through our "Taste of Home" program shipped every kind of Girl Scout cookie we could to them ... Thin Mints, Samoas, Dosidos, Tagalongs, etc. As you will see from the attached pictures, these Soldiers carried them to the top of the helicopters, to the bottom of the helicopters and everywhere! These cookies put BIG SMILES on their faces!!

If you would like to help support these troops and others, please click on this link https://hugsforoursoldiers.org/node/7 and make a donation so Hugs for Our Soldiers can continue to show everyone's support from home with care packages such as these. We thank you!

05/05/2025

101st CAB, Wings of Destiny Soldiers deployed to the Mideast are enjoying Girl Scout pecan pralines and sweet'n salty mix while so far from home. Thank you Girl Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee for choosing Hugs for Our Soldiers as your gift of caring organization! Our partnership is valuable in supporting our troops.

If you, our reader, would like to help us with shipping costs so that we can send more care packages overseas, please click on this link to donate:

Make A Donation | www.hugsforoursoldiers.org
https://hugsforoursoldiers.org/node/7

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Vonore, TN
37885

Website

http://www.hugsforoursoldiers.org/

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