Deli Drop - Two Tons of Salami Going to Troops

[Amelia]

Deli Drop - Two Tons of Salami Going to Troops

Wednesday, May 4, 2005

NewsMax.com

Brothers Marc and Michael Brummer figure the best way they can help support U.S. troops stationed in Iraq is to try to feed them - thousands of them. The co-owners of Hobby's Deli hope to send salami to the entire 42nd Infantry Division, currently in Tikrit.

It'll take an estimated 23,000 salamis to reach that goal. But the first 2,000 or so of the dried meat - about 2 tons in all - was boxed and loaded onto a U.S. Postal Service truck Tuesday in the first phase of what the brothers dubbed "Operation Salami Drop."

"We know there are a bunch of homesick men and women over there, and to be able to do something. ... How do you put words to it? You have to do something. I can do salamis," Marc Brummer said.

There are 2,500 more salamis in the store ready to go and 5,000 more on order, Marc Brummer said. All have been purchased with donations of $10 per salami, including a 13-year-old girl who donated $1,000 from her bat mitzvah money.

The inspiration for the project was twofold. The Brummers' 82-year-old father, Sam - who owned the 95-year-old deli before his sons took over its operation - fought in World War II in France and described receiving a salami in the mail about every month and carrying it around in his backpack for weeks.

"My whole platoon would line up and I would slice pieces for them," Sam Brummer recalled. "It was very important to us."

The other source was Michael Rothman of Melville, N.Y., a college friend of Michael Brummer who is a captain in the 42nd Infantry Division. When Rothman noticed fellow soldiers taking a keen interest in the salamis he received in the mail from Brummer, the two decided to expand the operation.

"There's nothing like the scene of soldiers getting a package and turning to share it with their friends and fellow soldiers," Rothman wrote in an e-mail from Iraq on Tuesday. "When it's something homemade, something unique that reminds you of home and of your civilian life, it can really make your day."

Salamis might be a perfect food for wartime since once they are dried - about a month after they're made - they can last almost indefinitely.

"They're already salted and smoked. Drying is another form of preserving," Michael Brummer said. "Once they dry, they'll be digging them up like they dig up dinosaur bones. That's what makes them so great."

The boxes of meat were handed from the deli across the sidewalk to the waiting truck in a human chain, aided by members of the 42nd Infantry Division Support Command from the Teaneck, Somerset and West Orange armories, as well as from Fort Drum, N.Y., where the 42nd is based.

From there, the salamis were to be taken to the Newark post office and the Bulk Mail Center in Jersey City to be put on pallets, then shrink-wrapped and sent overseas. The first batch could get to soldiers as early as this weekend, according to Carmen Fede, manager for customer service operations for the U.S. Postal Service.

[Neil D]

While I applaude the efforts of salamis being delievered to our boys....I do question the "digging them up like they dig up dinosaur bones."...it still seems to me that they will spoil, even in the heat...but that's

[K]

I wonder if their is any prohibition against bringing pork into the country. Military friends say that when they are in Saudi that they are required to abstain from alcohol and pork products. Of course women have to go out covered head to foot too, but then we are guests.

Just wondering since we are occupying the country of Iraq, if we feel any obligation to follow the musilm rules.

K

[Dr. Shane]

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Just wondering since we are occupying the country of Iraq

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More left-wing rhetoric. In case you don't watch the news, the "occupation" ended last June. Iraq now has its own government and we are there by invitation. There is no more of an US occupation in Iraq than there is in Germany or Japan.

[K]

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[:"green"] More left-wing rhetoric. In case you don't watch the news, the "occupation" ended last June. Iraq now has its own government and we are there by invitation. There is no more of an US occupation in Iraq [/]

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Boy you are a little touchy there Shane. I guess it is just like Germany and Japan because in those countries people don't usually worrying about getting shot when they go to work or walk in the streets. Oh and the government is in the infancy stages Shane. They haven't been functioning that well since June.

So I still think that occupying is a good word even if you don't like it.

K

[Dr. Shane]

You like the word because it supports your bias. However it is not correct. In fact, our enemies are using it to recruit terrorists to go to Iraq and kill our soldiers. So if you really care about the lives of our troops you ought to stop speaking like a terrorist and aiding their recruitment efforts. The occupation is over we are there as invited protectors of freedom.

The truth the terrorists don't want to get out is that the faster they quit trying to thwart the elected government there, the faster we will go home.

[bevin]

The situation now in Iraq is very interesting.

We have created a situation where a plausibly elected government is not able to control its own country, and needs us there to protect it.

Hopefully the next step will be a government that can control the country. It looks like it will require a three-way split - Kurds, Sunni's, and Shiites each controlling a different portion of the country.

It is anyone's guess what will happen next. Nobody can be sure. Perhaps it will be like India after Britain pulled out - first religious/ethnic civil war, splitting the country in to India / East-West Pakistan, then a second civil war creating Bangla-Desh.

/Bevin

[Neil D]

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It is anyone's guess what will happen next. Nobody can be sure. Perhaps it will be like India after Britain pulled out

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What we have done is coaless [sp] factions in the region to become more agressive toward one another...You know that once we move out, we will have destablized Turkey, as the Kurds will move to become one nation. The Shia will align themselves with Iran, and the Sunnis will form there own coalition....All in the name of freedom...My congratultions to George Bush for destablizing the area.

Oh, and Shane, the word "invitation" as used by the Iraqi goverment has an implied meaning....that of coming a distance to the place of refuge...We never left Iraq, and we stayed as an occupying force...

[K]

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[:"green"] You like the word because it supports your bias. However it is not correct. [/]

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I like the word because it best describes what the #1 Military Power in the world is doing in a 3rd world country.

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[:"green"] In fact, our enemies are using it to recruit terrorists to go to Iraq and kill our soldiers. So if you really care about the lives of our troops you ought to stop speaking like a terrorist and aiding their recruitment efforts. The occupation is over we are there as invited protectors of freedom.

[/]

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Shane you need to think a whole lot before you start to accuse people of aiding the terrorists with the words that are used to describe what we are doing in Iraq. We have lots of people who hate us. Despite what you think, what you and I write on this forum has little impact on the rest of the world.

In the future I would hope that you can refrain from attacking me personally.

K

[Dr. Shane]

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Shane you need to think a whole lot before you start to accuse people of aiding the terrorists

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And Bush-haters need to think a lot before they aid the terrorists by using their rhetoric. According to Brother Neil we are still occupying Germany, Japan, S. Korea and the Phillipians (we have never left those countries). Maybe he should start recruiting terrorists from those areas to kill more Americans.

[K]

Your comments are as predictable as the rising sun.

K

[Planey]

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Your comments are as predictable as the rising sun.

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But unfortunately not as illuminating.

Graeme

[K]

Amen!

It is amazing how far off topic we can get on a thread.

K

[Dr. Shane]

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Your comments are as predictable as the rising sun.

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Thank you. Consistancy is a virture.