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Yuma Marines in Afghanistan get swimming pool
Yuma Marines stuck in Afghanistan for the summer have just received one small blessing from two big-hearted companies.
The Marines will be floating around in a 20-foot by 40-foot above-ground swimming pool.
It may not be the Biltmore, but it'll be bliss just the same.
The Marines from Marine Attack Squadron-513 and from Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron-13 can thank Jim McCuller, president of Direct Swimming Pool Products in Georgia, for donating the pool and Suzie Daniel of DHL Express, a global company with an office in Phoenix, for arranging to have the pool shipped from Atlanta to Afghanistan for free.
McCuller even threw in some inflatable mattresses.
The Harrier pilots from Yuma and their support personnel are living at a place called Camp Tefelhunden, in Bagram, Afghanistan. The pool and its equipment arrived recently and the Marines are busy putting it together.
The effort started typically for anyone who understands how the military works, said McCuller.
"Some lieutenant told a corporal, ‘Build me a pool’ and he said, ‘Yes, sir,’ ” McCuller said.
Then the corporal — a water purification specialist who didn't actually know how to build a pool — got on the Internet and e-mailed McCuller asking for help.
"Well, that's like me telling you to build an office building out of paper and sticks," McCuller said. "He had nothing to work with over there. He could have built something that held water, but it would have been a nightmare."
McCuller said he mulled it over for a couple of days and then made his decision.
"I thought why not just give them a pool, where all they've got to do is enjoy it and not have problems with it."
Once that decision was made, they had to figure out how to get it there.
That's where DHL came in.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Julie Hendricks, the traffic management officer at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, where the Marines are based, figured it couldn't hurt to ask the company that ships all of the air station's equipment overseas if they could help.
"We asked them, ‘Would you consider shipping this for free since we've given you so much business,’ and they said, ‘Sure, we'd love to do it’ and they did," Hendricks said.
DHL representative Daniel, who worked closely with Hendricks on the project, said it only made sense.
"We've been doing quite a bit of business for them over the last seven or eight months in moving their gear to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom and then also a lot of material into Iraq," Daniel said.
The company decided to ship the pool as a show of good will.
"Being in the middle of the desert, we understand how the heat is," Daniel said. "Putting a swimming pool out there is the least we could do for our troops."
The pool itself is worth about $3,000, McCuller said. An official from DHL's corporate office said the shipping was worth several thousand dollars.
The only worry the Marines had once they learned the pool was on its way was would they actually get it or would some sharp Air Force or Army supply sergeant see it sitting at the staging area in Afghanistan and "appropriate" it for his own guys, McCuller said.
"I know after it shipped, the corporal got real nervous," McCuller said, laughing.
what do you think about this???
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