Enlisting All Knitters: Help keep a soldier warm in Afghanistan

July 27, 2010: Please note that Operation Helmetliner will be ending in November 2010. For details, read our post “Update: Farewell to Operation Helmetliner.”

Spring is just days from being sprung, but Patti Smith — a Marine mom from Peoria, Illinois — is already thinking about next winter, wool, and wicked wind chill in Afghanistan: She’s recruiting volunteer knitters to help Operation Helmetliner make handmade helmet liners for our troops.

The hand-knitted headgear is more than a welcome hello from home. It’s also useful. Patti, who has sent more than 24,000 helmet liners overseas, gets rave reviews from soldiers. “My fellow crew chiefs and I have been quite attached to our helmet liners,” writes one soldier, who says his job “often puts me underneath running helicopters when it is already cold enough outside.” Another writes, “Thank you for the warmth and compassion.”

Corrie Hanson, who did a tour in Afghanistan, wears a knitted black helmet liner at her home near Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

Operation Helmetliner, which relies entirely on volunteers from across the country, plans to ship new helmet liners to Afghanistan in September and October 2010. To meet that goal, volunteers need to start knitting — and mailing items to Operation Helmetliner — this spring and summer.

Often it’s the families and friends of the troops who ask for the gear on their loved ones’ behalf. Says Patti, “Parents come to us. Wives come to us. We send them to specific troops.” But while requests may come from individuals, Operation Helmetliner only mails boxes of helmet liners when it can outfit every person in a deployed group. That’s why every volunteer knitter matters.

A personal mission
Patti is the proud mom of two Marines, Jesse and Josey, who enlisted within six months of each other and served three tours in Iraq. “Prior to that I had no connection with the military on any personal level,” she says. “I got a crash course. I did a lot of research on how I could be the best Marine mom.”

Patti got involved with local military support groups before founding Citizen S.A.M. (Citizen Support for America’s Military), a nonprofit that runs various service projects including Operation Helmetliner.

Although her sons are no longer on active duty, Patti continues to work as Citizen S.A.M.’s full-time volunteer president. “I had planned to get out when they did,” says Patti. “But I dearly love my country.”

“They’re out now, but mom reenlisted,” she jokes. 

Ready to knit? Here’s what to do:

1. Download the pattern. You’ll find U.S. military-approved patterns for the helmet liners, plus scarves and neck gaiters, at www.citizensam.org. (To navigate to the patterns on citizensam.org, scroll down to “Operation Helmetliner,” then click on “Find out more.” At the bottom of that page, select “Click here for patterns.”) What should the liner look like? Check out this finished helmet liner made by Bette Prouty, an Army mom who has knitted seven items, and counting.
   
2. Stick to the plan. Follow the knitting instructions exactly using dark black, dark brown, dark tan, or dark gray yarn. Patti has received helmet liners in fluorescent orange and with colorful patches sewn on, both definite no-nos. “People want to make them creative and bright—well, the enemy will see them,” she says. “These are for wartime, not for recreation.” Each item is measured and inspected; items not up to spec are donated for non-military use.
   
3. Send your labels too. The yarn label must accompany each knitted helmet liner to verify it was made of 100 percent wool. Other yarns, such as acrylic, are flammable or can melt, which is a danger to our troops.
4. Ship it. Send your knitted items to Citizen S.A.M., which will pack and ship them overseas. The address is Citizen S.A.M., 7131 N. Knoxville Ave., Suite C, Peoria, Illinois 61614.

Don’t know a knitting needle from a knuckle sandwich? You can still help. Operation Helmetliner relies on donations to help cover the costs of shipping items overseas. Make a charitable contribution to Citizen S.A.M. to get a tax deduction and help keep a soldier toasty next winter.  

Because she was kind enough to model a helmet liner (and because she's Christine's awesome sister-in-law), here's one of Christine's favorite pictures of Corrie and her husband, Matthew, in civilian clothes.

Comments

[sara b]

Awesome project this woman is spearheading! Haven't knitted since third-grade, but this may inspire me to try again!

[Barb M]

I saw the pattern in a local craft shop. I started making the helmetliners. Then a co-worker saw what I was doing and she asked for the pattern and my help to show her how to knit. The next thing I knew I was teaching 6 teachers how to knit the liners. Then, a few ladies from my church started knitting. The outcome is that we have sent more than 3dozen liners to Afghanistan via my son-in-law who is deployed there.

[Joleigh L.]

Hey Patti (via Christine??),

Don't despair when people fail to follow directions and you get helmet liners in bizarro colors. There's a simple process called "over-dyeing" which involves a little water, a little vinegar and some Wilton food coloring. It's pretty darn easy to turn any color into black or a nice, non-descript, not-easily-seen-by-the-enemy brown. (In fact, I have accidentally created just such a brown while trying to achieve other colors.)

So rather than pass on perfectly good liners in perfectly wrong colors, just give 'em a little soak, a little dip in color and apply a little heat (I use my microwave) and voila -- they can be worn safely by our soldiers.

In fact... if you want to send them my way I'd certainly spend a weekend dyeing and drying them for you and ship them right back. :)