Operation: Baen Bulk 2012

Good day all. If you have paid any attention to the Musings of the Angry Webmaster, you will have noticed that we spend a fair amount of time on Baen’s Bar, a web forum for authors and those who enjoy their works.

***UPDATE***

Operation Baen Bulk 2012 has exceeded their goals and has closed the donation window. It looks like my cunning plan to get the Angry Webmaster gorily slaughtered in a Baen Book has been achieved. Nice work to all those who donated!

The Angry Webmaster was contacted by one of the “Barflies” who, for the last few years has been organizing a support network for entire military units instead of just the individual military personnel. He asked him to post this request for people to send in donations for this most worthy of causes.

WHAT is Operation Baen Bulk??

OBB is a different kind of support for the troops. Instead of focusing on individuals, we support entire UNITS, by finding what they need, or want, and can’t easily or quickly get while deployed. . .and get it to them. In LARGE quantities. Think of it as the Warehouse Club approach to Soldier Support: we use

the power of buying and shipping in bulk, to maximize the stuff delivered to our troops, out at the pointy end of the spear, and minimize things like waste, shipping costs, etc. And in the process, generally deliver a lot more to the individual soldier than normal “CARE Packages” do.

WHO is Operation Baen Bulk?

Operation BAEN BULK started in the fall of 2009, when our founder got a 90-day layoff notice, and moved into the Layoff Pool. With nothing to keep him busy, he corresponded with a few deployed Gis, and noticed that while they had individual requests, there were a number of things they mentioned their entire outfit needed or wanted. And he needed a project to keep him sane while looking for a job with the economy going south And thus, was BAEN BULK born: a bunch of SF fans, all of whom read the military SF that Baen Books published, pooled our money and resources to insure the ZombieKillers (a training detachment somewhere in Afghanistan) could have some Christmas Trees and good coffee. And kept him busy, productive and sane. (and yes, he did find another job. A BETTER job, in fact. . . )

Since then, we’ve provided for the oddball requests and creature comfort needs of several deployed units. . . and now, we’re moving on to a crowd-sourced model for raising funds, with achievement tiers so as soon as a threshold is reached, items will be ordered and sent off to the Ammo Dawgs. . .

HOW do we do it??

First, we get in touch with an individual at a given unit. We talk to them, and find out the specific needs and wants of the unit. Then we find the best buys we can find to deliver those wants. We then raise the funds, and when we get enough, we order the stuff, and send it to the troops.

So, you want to help. . .what do YOU do???

This one’s easy. You go to our website at http://OBB.TeddRoberts.com You make a donation, using a major credit or debit card, or PayPal. And then, once we pass the “tipover” point, it’s on. We keep collecting donations until the scheduled end of campaign OR we hit $2500. (if THAT happens, we cut off donations, and prep for the next unit we’re helping, and re-open as soon as we have their needs. . .), then PayPal turns the money over to us, we order the stuff, and it ships to the soldiers. Anything over the “tipover” allows us to send more stuff, which we list on the site. . .

The next step. . .is up to you. We’ve been doing this for three years. We’d love to have you join us. . .

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LE6cdUS7w7A[/youtube]

Both myself and the Angry Systems Webmaster will do our small part to help out. Please open your wallets and help support our boys and girls serving overseas. Let them know we care and will do what we can to make their lives over there a little better.

Thank you

~The Angry Systems Administrator~

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