Published Aug. 12, 2005, in the Waukesha Freeman

Story by Matthew Webber

WEST ALLIS – Separated by half a world, parents and significant others literally cannot take their active-duty servicemen to the movies.

But one Wisconsin couple has made it possible to take the movies to those servicemen.

In September, with their son stationed in Iraq, Bernie and Kathy Hintzke of West Allis decided to give the entire unit a night at the movies. Shipping DVDs, popcorn and candy to Iraq, they started "Operation: Take a Soldier to the Movies," a program that has expanded far beyond their expectations.

"It really was started for the benefit of our son's battalion," Bernie Hintzke said. "I had no idea this thing would go where it has."

In addition to the operation's home base in West Allis, where the Hintzkes ship movies and snacks to troops all over the world, "this thing" now includes project managers in Texas and Germany who have helped mail more than 5,000 movie packages in the past year.

This summer, the operation has a patriotic theme, with red, white and blue popcorn boxes available for use. Requests for boxes have come from all across America, and schoolchildren in New York and California have volunteered to help.

With temperatures in Middle Eastern deserts ranging from 120 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, in addition to the soldiers' stressful, life-threatening jobs, movie nights provide a rare opportunity to cool down and unwind, Hintzke said.

"They have very little recreation time because they're working so hard," he said. "For an hour and a half, they can kick back with their buddies and watch a movie."

The soldiers not only watch the DVDs, Hintzke said, they trade them with their friends and create a library for everyone to access. For this reason, he encourages people to send packages not to one soldier but to an entire unit.

"From our son's experience, the soldiers swap DVDs," Hintzke said. "Therefore, if I send 70 or 80 DVDs to a unit, then they have a quasi-Blockbuster going on."

One soldier writes on the operation's Web site, www.soldiertomovies.org, that the shipment of movie packages "helped to make at least one mail-call formation a joy for everyone."

Another, a first sergeant from Wisconsin and self-described "cheddar head," wrote the following:

"Letters and packages from the home front from folks such as you certainly brighten up a soldier's day and remind us why we are here."

For information on how to send a package, the Hintzkes encourage anyone – family members, spouses, girlfriends and friends – to contact them through www.soldiertomovies.org. Hintzke estimated the site receives 100 to 200 hits a day.