Pride. You think understand the meaning of the word with small victories in life;
A big win in the NCAA bracket pool at the offi ce. Perhaps denying yourself that slice of chocolate cake simply because you made a promise not to indulge made you proud. Convincing the highway patrolman not to issue the speeding ticket for a 78 in a 45 asserted your pride as well.
Picture that, multiply by 100, and what you’re left with is an American soldier.
Messy politics aside, these men and women fight and serve for us, and for our country. Soldiers, airmen and sailors alike are a blessing to the American community. Coincidentally, so too are our own former and current military folk a blessing to our own 2old2play community. When the opportunity arose to give back, our community poured out to them. One friend in need turned out to be a Marine currently serving in Iraq.
GameTag: SgtPezzer
Age: 29
Place: Allentown, PA
After overcoming a small injury obstacle, Sarge was shipped out earlier this year and has been stationed in Iraq since. Being a true gamer (such is the way with 2o2pers), his Xbox made the trip with him around the world. Now electricity standards across the world are not quite “standard” and it seems 240v connection doesn’t play well with the Xbox, unless you enjoy the smell of burnt wires and fried circuit boards. Now I’ve been without an Xbox for a short time late last year, and all I can say is that the experience of being without one was akin to getting a self-administered root canal. Where my answer was merely a Best Buy trip away, Sarge’s remedy wasn’t quite so apparent. Seeing as how Best Buys, Circuit Cities and the like are in short supply in the Iraqi desert, he was now left with a fairly elaborate paperweight.
Q: Mike, what made you do this? What kind of faith did you have in the community to make this happen?
A: WWell, I played only once or twice with Sgt. Pezzer a while back. He mentioned something about rejoining the Marines. I thought he was crazy for a minute. Then I said to myself, if I were thinner I’d rejoin the Air Force. I have a lot of respect for someone that is any branch of service.
Because of my being prior service and spending some time over in Saudi Arabia, it’s really nice getting a package from home that has my name on it.
I really didn’t know what to expect from the community. I had the best hopes since everyone that has joined 2old2play.com has been great. Surprisingly, we got more than what I had expected.
Q: Your wife (and her community) was very involved in the donation drive as well. What was her take on the whole situation?
A: My wife and her children’s clothing site, gymbohaven.com were a much bigger help than I would have thought. My wife has a lot of respect for the military since we met while I was still active duty in the Air Force. Even though my wifes community wasn’t able to donate games and xbox’s like 2old2play was, the ladies donated $150.00. That’s a lot of money and practically paid for all the shipping.
Q: Is there a message you’d like to send to Sgt Pezzer? To the members?
A: I’d fi rst off like to thank Sgt. Pezzer for doing what many wouldn’t do. It takes a lot for any person to join the military to defend our great freedoms that we have.
I’d like to thank mytego.com for donating the Xbox skins. They look incredibly good.
And last but not least, thank you to all the members of 2old2play.com and gymbohaven.com for donating the games, systems, accessories and the cash. This is great that so many people can come together and donate so selfi shly to this cause. Without the great members of the sites none of this would have been possible.
To call Mike’s Sgt Pezzer donation drive a success would be an understatement. Mike James appealed to the members for donations, and the membership answered in force. In under a month, they responded with four Xbox consoles, dozens of games, assorted DVDs, and more. - Well, pictures often times trump the best intended words so…..
To the folks at www.mytego.com : Thank you for donating the console skins. As I mentioned before, the decals that you produced are the perfect fi nishing touch on a really nice sentiment from community to unit. We greatly appreciate your contribution.
To Lunatik-zx: The custom design work you did was on the skins was absolutely perfect. You turned a really nice gift into a very personal one. We appreciate your efforts (and your ability to deal pesky site-mods and their peskier deadlines!)
Lastly and mostly, to Mr. and Mrs. Mike James: This thing doesn’t happen without you two, period. Spearheading this project was a selfl ess and genuinely good-hearted act. Thank you for representing the community with that act and for reminding us to think of them before ourselves.
Forget NCAA offi ce pools and chocolate cake. Thank you for stirring up something I didn’t think would be possible in an online, old-folk, gaming community.
Pride.
Picture that, multiply by 100, and what you’re left with is an American soldier.
Messy politics aside, these men and women fight and serve for us, and for our country. Soldiers, airmen and sailors alike are a blessing to the American community. Coincidentally, so too are our own former and current military folk a blessing to our own 2old2play community. When the opportunity arose to give back, our community poured out to them. One friend in need turned out to be a Marine currently serving in Iraq.
GameTag: SgtPezzer
Age: 29
Place: Allentown, PA
After overcoming a small injury obstacle, Sarge was shipped out earlier this year and has been stationed in Iraq since. Being a true gamer (such is the way with 2o2pers), his Xbox made the trip with him around the world. Now electricity standards across the world are not quite “standard” and it seems 240v connection doesn’t play well with the Xbox, unless you enjoy the smell of burnt wires and fried circuit boards. Now I’ve been without an Xbox for a short time late last year, and all I can say is that the experience of being without one was akin to getting a self-administered root canal. Where my answer was merely a Best Buy trip away, Sarge’s remedy wasn’t quite so apparent. Seeing as how Best Buys, Circuit Cities and the like are in short supply in the Iraqi desert, he was now left with a fairly elaborate paperweight.
With interweb there will be salvation.
Sarge had kept in touch with the family at home via email and myspace.com, and though he was out of the loop in terms of Xbox Live, he was still able to frequent the forums and message boards with the rest of the “old folk” gamers. The 2o2p community had already been following along with Sarge’s blog updates, and news of his console’s demise soon reached their watchful eyes. Local site cult celebrity Mike James, who had already been pondering assembling a care package to send on behalf of the site, leapt at the opportunity to help. I asked Mike James a few personal questions about the matter:Q: Mike, what made you do this? What kind of faith did you have in the community to make this happen?
A: WWell, I played only once or twice with Sgt. Pezzer a while back. He mentioned something about rejoining the Marines. I thought he was crazy for a minute. Then I said to myself, if I were thinner I’d rejoin the Air Force. I have a lot of respect for someone that is any branch of service.
Because of my being prior service and spending some time over in Saudi Arabia, it’s really nice getting a package from home that has my name on it.
I really didn’t know what to expect from the community. I had the best hopes since everyone that has joined 2old2play.com has been great. Surprisingly, we got more than what I had expected.
Q: Your wife (and her community) was very involved in the donation drive as well. What was her take on the whole situation?
A: My wife and her children’s clothing site, gymbohaven.com were a much bigger help than I would have thought. My wife has a lot of respect for the military since we met while I was still active duty in the Air Force. Even though my wifes community wasn’t able to donate games and xbox’s like 2old2play was, the ladies donated $150.00. That’s a lot of money and practically paid for all the shipping.
Q: Is there a message you’d like to send to Sgt Pezzer? To the members?
A: I’d fi rst off like to thank Sgt. Pezzer for doing what many wouldn’t do. It takes a lot for any person to join the military to defend our great freedoms that we have.
I’d like to thank mytego.com for donating the Xbox skins. They look incredibly good.
And last but not least, thank you to all the members of 2old2play.com and gymbohaven.com for donating the games, systems, accessories and the cash. This is great that so many people can come together and donate so selfi shly to this cause. Without the great members of the sites none of this would have been possible.
To call Mike’s Sgt Pezzer donation drive a success would be an understatement. Mike James appealed to the members for donations, and the membership answered in force. In under a month, they responded with four Xbox consoles, dozens of games, assorted DVDs, and more. - Well, pictures often times trump the best intended words so…..
Now onto the thank you’s:
To the donating members: Simply, thank you. Your generosity here was overwhelming, and your gifts will go a long way in helping out some folks who really just miss a piece of home. The sentiment behind your gifts will not be forgotten, and I’m sure there will be Marines somewhere around the world thanking you in a few weeks.To the folks at www.mytego.com : Thank you for donating the console skins. As I mentioned before, the decals that you produced are the perfect fi nishing touch on a really nice sentiment from community to unit. We greatly appreciate your contribution.
To Lunatik-zx: The custom design work you did was on the skins was absolutely perfect. You turned a really nice gift into a very personal one. We appreciate your efforts (and your ability to deal pesky site-mods and their peskier deadlines!)
Lastly and mostly, to Mr. and Mrs. Mike James: This thing doesn’t happen without you two, period. Spearheading this project was a selfl ess and genuinely good-hearted act. Thank you for representing the community with that act and for reminding us to think of them before ourselves.
Forget NCAA offi ce pools and chocolate cake. Thank you for stirring up something I didn’t think would be possible in an online, old-folk, gaming community.
Pride.
