So let's go waaaay back in the history of Hero To Hero. After dealing with too many memorials and listening to the troops say how hard that was on their morale during their deployments, it was time to come up with something small in size, but large in effect, to bring their smiles back. After a lunch at a local Red Robin Restaurant, in Des Moines, WA., the solution made itself known by way of laughter erupting at a nearby table. The cause? A pair of silly looking glasses that was part of the Red Robin birthday celebrations.

The proverbial lightbulb lit over my head (A happy change from the usual dim globe) and I couldn't get to the manager quickly enough. After explaining my idea, he was only too happy to provide a case of the glasses for us.

Next we needed a name, and we wanted to give a thankful nod back to Red Robin for making it possible to create this part of our Troop Morale Campaign. So we named the program for Red Robin Restaurants and the location to which most of the glasses were sent. Recently however we began getting more interest by way of troops deployed from Canada, most of whom spend their deployments in Afghanistan. To honour all Afghanistan based troops we changed the name, kind of a hyphenated thing.  This has been a great way to show that with a little thought, some creativity, and determination to do something for our troops, even something like cardboard glasses can make a difference.  Don't let the current economy stop you from remembering those men and women so far from their own homes and families who are in harms way ... There are lots of things you can do to make a difference!

We have been sending the glasses over to the desert, quite often thru the Chaplains, Commanders, or 1st Shirts who know the times when morale is in dire need of a boost. We're told it has been extremely successful, especially when they've gone by the guidelines and made everyone put them on at the same time - for about 10-15 minutes, then go about their duties.

We always hope for photos to share with you & we will almost post all we get in our photo galleries.  (Unfortunately we've never recovered all of the photos lost during the AOL Journal transition, so there are many missing) We're now including glasses in some of our coffee shipments as a bonus smile. The pix of first responders are ones taken mostly during our national tours.

As Hero To Hero grows, we meet some really great sports who know the value of laughter and we applaud them for playing along.  If you are deployed and have a small group that you'd like to receive Iraq'n'Robin-istan glasses, drop us a request ... But you have to PROMISE to send photos back to us to share. Just e-mail us.

Want to see some of the great smiles created by Operation Iraq'n'Robin-istan?  Check it out in our SmugMug Photo Gallery.

By the way, Red Robin Restaurants no longer do the glasses, but to their credit, and true to the sense of community in this company, when I contacted their corporate offices to try to get a contact for the glasses, they were outstanding.  Not only did they give me a great contact, but they also went ahead and sent us a case of glasses.  Might not seem like a big deal to you, but to us it was a case of smiles for our heroes, stateside & abroad.
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What do the troops think?

Hi Liz!

Just wanted to let you know that we finally hosted Operation Iraq'n'Robin!  With only 6 weeks left to go, we had a major dust storm move in last week and everyone's spirits seemed really down.  So, my assistant and I hosted an impromptu Operation Caffeination (to wake everyone up) along with Operation Iraq'n'Robin (to raise their spirits).  And it worked! 

We had a great time, lots of fun, and definitely boosted morale (hopefully enough to see us through to the end).  I made sure to keep the Iraq'n'Robin photos separate from the coffee pix (per your instructions).  Thank you again for all the support (and coffee) throughout the last 15 months.  You and your organization have been such a blessing to us!  Counting down the days until we head home!  Blessings!  Tommy

THOMAS B. VAUGHN, JR.
CH (MAJ) USA
Task Force 115 Medical

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A big salute and many thanks to Red Robin Restaurants ... Our own Lakewood will soon have our very own, and we can't wait! 

Enjoy the smiles!