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Troop Red Fridays rife with urban myths
Randy Richmond, London Free Press, 21 Oct 06
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/10/21/2087038-sun.html
A Super Bowl beer commercial, online urban legends, flea collars and some of Canada's media have a London soldier seeing a little red on Fridays.
Capt. Alexander Peterson of London wants to dispel the myths circulating online and in print about the campaign supporting Canadian soldiers through the Red Fridays campaign.
"People's hearts are great, but all they are doing is perpetuating myths," says Peterson, public affairs officer for 31 Canadian Brigade Group.
Some of the myths are laughable, some are merely inaccurate and some are doing more harm than good.
First the laughable.
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch ran a commercial during the 2005 Super Bowl showing U.S. soldiers being applauded as they walk through an unknown Midwest airport.
Online, that heart-warming commercial has turned into "true stories."
Bloggers and e-mailers are sharing stories about seeing troops being applauded at airports around the world.
At each airport, from Melbourne, Australia, to Atlanta, Ga., the same thing happens.
The troops are applauded. A little girl named Courtney -- obviously a popular name worldwide -- asks a soldier to give her daddy overseas a kiss. Everyone ends up in tears.
The Internet has the exact same incident happening in Toronto, where troops do not get off planes and at CFB Trenton, where troops get off planes but the public is not allowed anywhere near them.
The story is often used to advance the cause of Red Fridays.
According to snopes.com, a website devoted to debunking urban myths, the airport story has been repeated in Canadian media.
Peterson hasn't seen that yet, but he does see a mistake cropping up in the Toronto- centred national media -- that the grassroots campaign encouraging Canadians to wear red on Fridays was started this year by soldiers' spouses at CFB Petawawa near Ottawa.
In fact, the grassroots campaign started first in the U.S. and was brought into our country by soldiers' wives in Western Canada, which sent troops in earlier rotations to Afghanistan, Peterson says.
"It's fair to say the wives in Petawawa popularized it in Eastern Canada," Peterson says. "There is a lot of support right across Canada."
Some of that support is a bit misguided, he notes.
Across Southwestern Ontario, people have been collecting magazines, video games and other items to send to soldiers.
Unfortunately, the military rarely has room to take non-operational items overseas, unless they're addressed to specific soldiers.
Canadian soldiers would love to see people back home send books to libraries and send video games to children's hospitals rather than to troops overseas, he says.
Some people, worried about sand fleas that make life uncomfortable in Afghanistan, have been collecting flea powder and flea collars to send overseas.
"Please," Peterson adds with a laugh, "send the flea collars to your local animal shelter."
Troop Red Fridays rife with urban myths
Randy Richmond, London Free Press, 21 Oct 06
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/10/21/2087038-sun.html
A Super Bowl beer commercial, online urban legends, flea collars and some of Canada's media have a London soldier seeing a little red on Fridays.
Capt. Alexander Peterson of London wants to dispel the myths circulating online and in print about the campaign supporting Canadian soldiers through the Red Fridays campaign.
"People's hearts are great, but all they are doing is perpetuating myths," says Peterson, public affairs officer for 31 Canadian Brigade Group.
Some of the myths are laughable, some are merely inaccurate and some are doing more harm than good.
First the laughable.
Beer giant Anheuser-Busch ran a commercial during the 2005 Super Bowl showing U.S. soldiers being applauded as they walk through an unknown Midwest airport.
Online, that heart-warming commercial has turned into "true stories."
Bloggers and e-mailers are sharing stories about seeing troops being applauded at airports around the world.
At each airport, from Melbourne, Australia, to Atlanta, Ga., the same thing happens.
The troops are applauded. A little girl named Courtney -- obviously a popular name worldwide -- asks a soldier to give her daddy overseas a kiss. Everyone ends up in tears.
The Internet has the exact same incident happening in Toronto, where troops do not get off planes and at CFB Trenton, where troops get off planes but the public is not allowed anywhere near them.
The story is often used to advance the cause of Red Fridays.
According to snopes.com, a website devoted to debunking urban myths, the airport story has been repeated in Canadian media.
Peterson hasn't seen that yet, but he does see a mistake cropping up in the Toronto- centred national media -- that the grassroots campaign encouraging Canadians to wear red on Fridays was started this year by soldiers' spouses at CFB Petawawa near Ottawa.
In fact, the grassroots campaign started first in the U.S. and was brought into our country by soldiers' wives in Western Canada, which sent troops in earlier rotations to Afghanistan, Peterson says.
"It's fair to say the wives in Petawawa popularized it in Eastern Canada," Peterson says. "There is a lot of support right across Canada."
Some of that support is a bit misguided, he notes.
Across Southwestern Ontario, people have been collecting magazines, video games and other items to send to soldiers.
Unfortunately, the military rarely has room to take non-operational items overseas, unless they're addressed to specific soldiers.
Canadian soldiers would love to see people back home send books to libraries and send video games to children's hospitals rather than to troops overseas, he says.
Some people, worried about sand fleas that make life uncomfortable in Afghanistan, have been collecting flea powder and flea collars to send overseas.
"Please," Peterson adds with a laugh, "send the flea collars to your local animal shelter."
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