ALTAMONT — Every soldier needs an elf — that’s Darlene Stanton’s philosophy anyway.

As president of the auxiliary at the Boyd Hilton Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, she’s been putting together boxes of treats for years and sending them to local soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Her charity is largely driven by her husband’s service in Vietnam, she said, and the effect that the lack of public support had on soldiers.
"He just said it was kind of lonesome," Stanton said of her husband’s Christmases during the war. There wasn’t as much support for soldiers fighting in Vietnam 30 years ago as there is for the soldiers who are in the Middle East today, she said. Now, "People care a lot more," she said.
"Nobody took the time to do it for them," said Stanton of the public’s feeling towards soldiers during the Vietnam war. "You don’t want to repeat the mistake."
So, she pays special attention to soldiers who don’t get much mail. Stanton has a list of local service men and women and she estimates that she sends between 20 and 30 care packages each Christmas. Each box is "bigger than a case of paper, about half again as big," she said, and filled with candies, beef jerky, and Kool-Aid.
"They want the stuff they can’t get — treats," she said with a chuckle.

Everyone wants the sweets for obvious reasons, but they want the Kool-Aid and lemonade powders to mask the taste of the water that they’re drinking, Stanton said.
When they’re back stateside again, "a lot of the kids come to see me at the Post," she said. "It brings a tear to my eye."
When asked if there is a common thread running through what the young soldiers say, Stanton answered: "Bring us home. Just like they did in ’Nam."
A difference not to be overlooked between this war and its ever-similar older sibling is the public’s support for the soldiers, she said. "I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a letter we haven’t been able to honor," said Stanton of requests from soldiers fighting in Iraq.

With Christmas fast approaching, she’ll surely be busy filling boxes and checking her lists of local soldiers closely.
"It’s the hardest holiday" for soldiers to be away from home, she said. "It’s why we’ve got to bring them home."

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Donations of goods to be sent can be made to the Boyd Hilton VFW Post at 7062 Mill St. in Altamont or monetary donations can be sent to P.O. box 505, Altamont, NY 12009 and checks can be made to Boyd Hilton VFW Post.