Fort Bliss Cancels ‘Adopt A Soldier For Thanksgiving’ This Year

My family and I have been adopting soldiers for Thanksgiving for about eight years now, ever since Ryan joined the military.  I’m ashamed to say that before Ryan joined the Army, I never really thought about the men and women in uniform who needed a nice place to be during the holidays.  But this year, that tradition is coming to an end because Fort Bliss has suspended the 'Adopt A Soldier' program for Thanksgiving.

Fort Bliss has had the Adopt-A-Soldier program for about 25 years, but Bliss officials say the young soldiers who needed to have a home to spend Thanksgiving in, are being replaced by soldiers with families of their own. Fort Bliss officials say the strong ties with the El Paso community is important to them, and they want El Pasoans to visit the post during the holiday season for tree lighting ceremonies, holiday concerts and other events.

Fort Bliss officials say they appreciate the overwhelming response from El Pasoans who opened their homes for the past 25 years to the post's soldiers, and hope in the future to restart the Adopt A Soldier program. I want to thank everyone as well.  The support from KISS listeners for our Fort Bliss troops is one of the best memories I will carry about my time here at KISS!

We are working on our Letters from Home campaign for the Christmas holidays.  Please take a moment and write a letter to one of our troops, and we will forward them to soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan this holiday season.  Thanks to all those who helped us get letters to soldiers there for Thanksgiving!