Posted by so on June 1, 2005, at 23:37:39
In reply to About those Support Our Troops stickers..., posted by partlycloudy on June 1, 2005, at 5:45:58
> Do the troops get the money raised from the sale of these stickers?
Occassionally, a little bit, but that is not the purpose of the ribbon campaign. There are other campaigns more focused on gathering various forms of material support.
Is that how they are supported?
>
>The support troops get from seeing ribbons is the same kind of support people get by reading this Web site.
Troops returning from the current US war have shown particularly high rates of post-traumatic stress reactions and some have commented that the widespread casual support demonstrated by ribbons is particularly helpful to them. Of course many also are in need of more serious material and psychological assistance.
The yellow ribbon campaign grew from an outpouring of support for US diplomats and families held hostage in Iran during the 1980s. During their lengthy captivity, the wife of the captive charge d'affairs in Tehran promoted the idea based on a popular song about a convict returning home. Motivated by Tony Orlando and Dawn's rendition of "Tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree" (1972 by Irwin Levine and Larry Brown) US residents colored trees, fences and signposts nationwide with yellow ribbons. During Gulf War I a network of military families contributed to promoting the symbol as a sign of affection for troops. The ribbons also are used as a way of showing support for military families -- sort of like saying "Thanks for letting us borrow your husband/father/brother/wife/mother/sister".
Looped ribbons are now widely recognized as signs of support for numerous causes including breast cancer awareness and AIDs awareness.
poster:so
thread:506181
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20050509/msgs/506666.html