POTD for July 7th, 2009 : "Young Fans"

POTD - Pic of the Day - Sailor Harry tries to provide his loving public a glimpse at the what he sees in the Sandbox, almost every day.

"Young Fans" - I should have known this would have happenend. I go and write that we rarely get a call these days. I went on two in one day, yesterday. This picture was taken on the fifth. Right before I could post my last one, we got the call and off I went. We had to wait for some Iraqi escorts and some curious, local children approached us for a ball. Unfortunately we didn't have one, but the LT got out and we had a really nice PR moment. With the terp's help, the LT handed out water and sodas to the kids.

We picked up some turned in items and the two recent calls were similar in nature. That's the majority of the things I have done so far. Fortunately, some of my personal work has actually done some good, where they've actually identified people and the evidence is being used in the courts to put the bad people away. It makes me smile as I have found a job where I actually feel like I have an ACTUAL purpose and my work is meaningful.. It's always nice to get an email with pictures of evidence you've actually collected and a face of the owner.

Its hard to believe, but time does blur by faster than you know it. Seems like it's been only a month, but its more like three. Navy deployments only last about 6-7 months, so I'm nearly half way done. I still will have a few months in Norfolk, but I am looking forward to getting home and picking new orders. I still plan on England, but I have an open mind and you never know what is available ahead of time. I won't know till at least August.

I look forward coming home and seeing you all again. I also plan on spending a week in Seattle with a couple relatives who I always seem to miss whenever they've visit Maryland. I plan on spending time with Caroline and seeing her at college, having belated college graduation celebrations with Josh, Curtis, and Jeff, and of course spending time with my parents and Sydney. Thank you all for your emails and as soon as I get my mail, I will be thanking everyone who sent me something.

Take care and I'm still having a "blast". - Sailor Harry

Little kids are awsome!

Operation Gratitude's mission is simple:

About Operation Gratitude:Operation Gratitude is the 501 (c) (3) non-profit, volunteer organization that annually sends 100,000+ care packages of items and letters addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in hostile overseas regions. Our mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a service member's face and to express to our Armed Forces the appreciation and support of the American people. Each package contains donated product valued at ~$100 and costs the organization $11 to assemble and ship. Since its inception in March, 2003, Operation Gratitude has shipped more than 450,000 packages to American military deployed overseas.

My thanks go to little Madison, who's family put together a really nice care package for me. I'd also like to thank Op Graditude for being there for us while we're over here. Not much of a post today, but hopefully something happens in the next couple of days that's post-worthy.

- Sailor Harry