“Business as usual.” That phrase was uttered time and time again on July 4 as various media outlets interviewed troops in observance of Independence Day. When asked how their squadrons were going to observe the holiday the answers were always the same. For a very small number of soldiers who happened to be somewhere near a mess tent in the desert, the food on the plates would be more plentiful. Beyond that, everything was going to be “business as usual,” which in Iraq is something akin to hell on earth.  While most of us were swatting mosquitoes and munching on hot dogs, more than 150,000 of our fellow Americans were dodging bullets and bombs in 120 degree heat.

In support of our troops, various media outlets spotlighted individual soldiers and arranged for them to send a videotaped message home to family and friends. Reports indicate that several million Americans took time during the day to drop an email message to one or more soldiers to thank them for fighting for our freedom. But now the holiday is over and far too many of us are back to our own version “business as usual” which means that we go days and weeks without taking a few minutes to offer words of encouragement to the thousands of soldiers who are putting their lives on the line every hour of every day.

How does this affect the Internet and Web Hosting?

So what does this have to do with ecommerce and web hosting? For one thing, if even a small fraction of the American ecommerce sites that are currently online would put links on their web sites allowing customers to email words of support to our troops, the number of encouraging words to our soldiers would grow exponentially, and so would morale. This puts a caring face on your business and it is the right thing to do. Talk to your web hosting provider about how you can add such a link to your site. Bear in mind that the sage advice about not discussing religion or politics in the business arena still holds true. Your stance on the war may or may not be something you should share with potential customers. But whatever their views on the war, the vast majority of Americans are unwavering supporters of the troops. This isn’t about politics. This is about caring.

Web Hosting Suggestions for Website Links in Support of the Troops

If you go to this web site, www.letssaythanks.com , you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. If you add this link to your website, even more people will know about it. If you do not know how to add a link to your website, contact your web hosting provider for help.

The U.S. Army encourages supporters to send email through their web site that allows people to post an online greeting/message to our soldiers. According to an army spokesman: “We are providing this service as an opportunity to send a message of support to soldiers who are serving in the war on terrorism. These messages are viewed individually and edited or deleted based on content. Profanity and violations of operation security, privacy and propriety will not be posted. Soldiers around the world appreciate your thoughts and feelings of support.”

More than 150,000 Americans are currently serving in Iraq and several thousand more are packing their bags for impending deployment. The death toll is over 4,000. Far from a vague statistic, the death toll is painfully real for many Americans who know someone who has died in the war. Rural areas have been particularly hard hit and in some cases several soldiers from one base have been killed in a single attack.

According to a poll conducted by the Associated Press in the spring of 2007, Americans are conflicted in their feelings about the overall situation in Iraq. In the poll respondents were given a list of words to describe their feelings about Iraq. “Worried” was selected by 81 percent of the respondents. Other descriptive words selected by respondents included:

• Compassionate: 74 percent
• Angry: 62 percent
• Tired: 61 percent
• Proud: 38 percent
• Numb: 27 percent.

Regardless of your personal feelings about the war, the issue of troop support is not up for debate. These brave men and women are keeping the promises they made when they enlisted. Many of them will not come home alive. Many more will come home with severe physical and mental handicaps that are the inevitable consequences of war. The least we can do is offer them virtual “hugs” through email messages. And we can also pray. And pray. And pray.