Some 60 miles from Palm Springs is Twenty Nine Palms Marine Corps base. A little more than an hour drive connects the two places that, unless you are a Marine, probably wouldn’t be on your bucket list of places to see.
What is significant about these two random places you ask?
Palm Springs is home to the closest municipal airport to Twenty Nine Pines. In those 60 miles a Marine reporting for duty will rack up a $200 cab fare. Yes, $200! The majority of these Marines are not local, flying in from distant places, and are left with few options other than to grin and bear it.
Out of this need, Soldiers Organized Services or S.O.S. began. S.O.S. is dedicated to giving service members free rides from Palm Springs International Airport and returning them to Twenty Nine Palms Marine Corps Base. With a motto of “leave no service member stranded at the airport” 60 S.O.S. volunteers have provided a staggering 17,000 Marines with transportation in the past 3 ½ years. The organization estimates a gas and maintenance bill of over $100,000 for 2011–a figure that I’m sure was estimated well before gas prices started to rise again.
Today, S.O.S. is hosing a golf tournament to help cover some of the expense of transporting the overwhelming quantity of Marines they are able to assist. For those lucky individuals that aren’t stuck in cold and snowy New York, keep an eye out for Stadri's American flag pins in the giveaway bags! Soldiers Organized Services has a PayPal account for donations and they also sell some really awesome t-shirts if you are looking to help.Stadri is proud to work with great organizations like Soldiers Organized Services.