Military Briefs

The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes have joined to deliver holiday cards to service members, their families and veterans.

Holiday cards for a Touch of Home can be mailed through Dec. 7 to Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456.

With the help of Bowes, the cards will be screened, sorted and boxed for delivery by hundreds of Red Cross volunteers to military bases and veteran and military hospitals in the United States and the world.

For a list of recommended guidelines, visit www.redcross.org/holidaymail.

Volunteers interested in helping with delivery in the Three Rivers/Shasta chapters area should call (800) 934-5344 and ask for Charles McCaul.

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Inspectors from the 9th Reconnaissance Wings headquarters, Air Combat Command visited Beale Air Force Base this past week as part of an operational readiness inspection.

Because of the weeklong inspection, which ended Friday, and its effect on several hundred Beale airmen, the Beale presence at the recent Veterans Day Parade in Marysville was significantly smaller than in the past.

Results are to be released Monday.

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Volunteers are sought to help the local American Red Cross office and its Service to Armed Forces department aid next of kin and loved ones of those serving in the armed forces.

The Red Cross receives calls daily asking it to serve in an intermediary role and convey messages to commanders of people serving in the military.

To volunteer as a caseworker and for more information, call Charles McCaul, emergency services director for the Three Rivers/Shasta Red Cross, at 673-1460, Yuba-Sutter-Colusa counties; or 891-0885, Butte-Glenn-Plumas counties.

Caseworkers must become a Red Cross volunteer and pass a simple background check.