Stephen King to pay for troops holiday trip home

[WilliamPitt]

Stephen King to pay for troops holiday trip home

BANGOR, Maine—Authors Stephen and Tabitha King are donating money so 150 Maine Army National Guard soldiers can come home for the holidays.

King and his wife, who live in Bangor, are paying $13,000 toward the cost of two bus trips so that members of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Unit can travel from Camp Atterbury, Ind., to Maine for Christmas. The soldiers left Maine last week for training at Camp Atterbury. They are scheduled to depart for Afghanistan in January.

Julie Eugley, one of King's personal assistants, told the Bangor Daily News that the Kings were approached about giving $13,000.

But Stephen King thought the number 13 was a bit unlucky, so the couple pitched in $12,999 instead. Eugley chipped in $1 to make for an even $13,000.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2009/12/13/stephen_king_to_pay_for_troops_holiday_trip_home/

[graywarrior]

1. I'm not surprised

He's a great guy.

[asdjrocky]

2. That's a good family there.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. If all people with obscene amounts of money

would do things like this, what a different world we would live in.

[puebloknot]

25. Stephen King wrote his first stuff on a board on his lap in his laundry room ...

... while his wife was also working out of the house to support the family. Mr. King has earned every "obscene" cent he has. It might have gone the other way. He might have had to give up writing or starve. But he soldiered on, and it's not his fault that he's wildly popular and has made a lot of money from his books.

We could discuss the social value of *anything* that leads to great wealth, but short of selling drugs, offering oneself up for public scrutiny bring both reward and criticism.

Your point is well taken that we would have a better world if there were more equal distribution of wealth, but it needs to systematic, rather than depending on celebrities to fund that which is a product of our political/social system!

My opinion, of course!

[madokie]

4. Bet there is no support our troops yellow ribbon stickers on their vehicles either

That's how you support the troops. in case any pukie are reading this morning

[MidwestTransplant]

8. Then they don't love Merica and they aren't real Mericans.

[TheUnspeakable]

5. k&r-love King!!

[endless october]

6. i love Stephen King's work.

k/r

[Earth_First]

7. What I still find disturbing is that the military does not cover travel expenses like this...

These men and women (who are to be deployed overseas) are putting their necks out on the line for the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. You think that the government responsible for this would realize this and get them home for the holidays at the very least.

[stray cat]

9. Its our tax money - so we need to promote we are willing to put up the money to do whats right

[n2doc]

10. Simple solution- Have American General build US "troop carriers" at 10 mil a pop

And give Xe a contract to bus them around at 1/2 a billion a year. And make sure the kickbacks go to the "right" people. Would happen in a heartbeat.

Of course, half the troops would end up in the wrong place, the toilets would always be out of commission and overflowing, and occasionally a bus would crash because its driver was wasted, but "thats Biz!"

[Earth_First]

14. I figured someone would have a problem with it... n/t

[n2doc]

15. Can't recognize sarcasm, can you?

I have no problem with what King is doing. I wish I had the bucks to do the same. And yes, the military should be doing this anyway.

[Earth_First]

20. Appologies...

The lines between seriousness and sarcasm have become blurred around here lately...

[boppers]

31. Did you mean: "mercenary carriers to transport assassins"?

After all, anything Xe does, any contract they have, is automatically evil. Same with KBR, etc.

[noamnety]

It's not quite that simple.

Which holidays would we send them home for? The christian ones?

[JonLP24]

28. If and only when you are deployed

You get 2 weeks of leave out of 12 months(Army) and you can go pretty much anywhere in the world and the DoD will cover the plane trip back and forth as long as you tell them where you are going and the date which is accepted between you and your unit. However you have to spend your own money on hotel, food, a place to stay if you decide not to go home.

However if you're back on home base then you cover all travel expenses.

[Bitwit1234]

11. With all the money Palin is shoveling in how

come we don't hear anything about her doing some good works. It seems republicans rake it in hand over fist. But when it comes to giving back to the community they are stingy dirty little tightwads. They spend it all on call girls.

[Vidar]

12. Bravo, Mr. King!

[Echo In Light]

13. K&R

[bluedigger]

16. As a former member of 3/172nd (20 years ago),

I salute you Mr. and Mrs. King!

:patriot:

[AzDar]

17. He's a good man. I remember he was quoted as saying that Bush/Cheney were

even scarier than his novels...:loveya:

[WilliamPitt]

18. He had a bumper sticker on his car that read

"Somewhere in Texas, a village is missing its idiot."

:)

[Echo In Light]

19. I grew up w/his books - there was usually a good heart in most of his stories

... even The Stand, to which he admitted was so fun to write since it provided being able to wipe out most of humanity! An early non-fiction book of his, Dance Macabre, is still one of my favorites of his ... plenty of gallows humor involved.

[Frank Cannon]

32. Danse Macabre is one of my favorites, too

It should be required reading for all would-be horror writers about what is TRULY scary and entertaining.

[shadowknows69]

21. Fucking A Mr. King

Boy I'd love to meet that man just once.

[Kadie]

22. K&R n/t

[mrbarber]

23. The only downside....

Was that Pennywise and Annie Wilkes were the bus drivers.

[Echo In Light]

34. BWAAA-HAHAHAHA-HAHA

;)

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

24. Stephen and Tabitha

:loveya:

[puebloknot]

26. Fame has not changed the basic decency of Stephen King and his wife, Tabitha.

He/they have had their own personal demons to deal with in their lives, but they do what they do, and they remain good icons for those who would be rich and famous.

When a gift descends, one can honor it or run from it. Perhaps Stephen King has done a bit of both, but he's an incredible writer -- whether one appreciates his subject matter or not. My daughter and I *do* appreciate it, and love to see his movies and read his books. Good fantasy stuff, with a sting of reality in every character.

I wonder what he will name the character in a future book who donates money to bring the troops home to their families for Christmas, before being shipped out to some horror!

[Jamastiene]

27. K&R

[proteus_lives]

29. King is a good man.

And his books are wonderful. I've been a fan of his since grade school. I recently read Eyes of the Dragon to one of my little cousins.

I feel nerdish in mentioning this but I've always felt his opening sentence in The Gunslinger is one of the most perfect openings of all time.

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

[Raine]

30. Cheers to the Kings

they are truly good people! :thumbsup:

[RebelOne]

33. Not only is he a wonderful writer, he is a wonderful person, as well.