Cool Project for US Forces in Kuwait

[Wanderingson]

Greetings Fellow Hikers,

Let me set the stage here. In September, I retired from the US Air Force after 26 years of service to our Great Nation. I since returned to Kuwait and am presently working as a civilian contractor providing support to our proud young men and women. I have the coolest job going. I am the Marketing and Media Manager for all Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR)operations in Kuwait.

I would prefer to keep political discussion out of this thread and keep the focus on doing something cool for the troops. Thanks ahead of time.

Ok, so here is the deal. Our proud men and women going to and coming from Iraq stop through Kuwait for a brief period of time for training and re-dployment. I'm sure Rock remembers his brief visit in Kuwait. Each of our camps have Community Centers--a place where our troops can go and unwind a little bit to blow off a little steam, jump on the internet, make a call home, play a game of pool, throw a round of darts, or just simply just play a friendly game of cards. Many of these facilities are pretty plain and provide the basics with no effort going into the decor.

I just received approval to implement a facility "theme concept". Our very first "theme concept" is "The US National Parks". I have downloaded maps from the NPS website and laid in a custom border, Printed all of the activity pictographs, printed 11 X17 photos and mounted them all on foamboard. We have also created park signs for each park.

One of my featured "parks" is the AT.

If anyone in the Whiteblaze community would like to contribute to bolstering the morale of our proud servicemembers, I have a way you could do exatly that.

We are accepting contibutions of memorabilia, assesories, gear, gadgets to hang on the wall--similar to what you would see in a TGI Friday's, Applebee's, Hard Rock Cafe Etc... I am particularly interested in old things folks may no longer have a use for, but will accpet anything suitable to hang on the walls. I would be looking for any item related to outdoor recreation and not just the AT.

Alright, so if you may be interested in making a contribution, we will print a small placard to hang below the item with your name and hometown to recognize your efforts.

If you may be serious about making a contribution by sending something out, please PM me and I will provide a good mailing address, e-mail address and more specific details. Getting access to the internet is sometimes a challenge, so if I do not respond right away, please be patient, I will send a note back.

If the WB community as a whole would like to jump in and get "special recognition", I can print a special 5 1/2 X 11 placard recognizing the community with the link to the website.

I am also interested in any high resolution photos of any National Park and we will be featuring 3 photos per park--one landscape, one with people, and one of wildlife. Any photos selected to be printed and mounted will recieve photographer credit on the print.

Please feel free to pass this information on to other folks as well. This is turning into a really awesome project and has support from everyone who has seen it.

John P. Pearson
"Wanderingson"

[StarLyte]

AWESOME!

I’ll dig up some stuff and mail it to you. I have a nice large map of the AT I can ship to you in a tube. Wish I would have known this I could have had a lot of us sign it at Trail Days.

If you can wait until the Gathering I can have a lot of folks sign it, I know it’s far off. Let me know.

You can obtain maps from any of the National Parks, http://www.nps.gov/

Send me your mailing address.

[email protected]

[Wanderingson]

Marsha,

Thanks my friend. You have a kind heart. We can hold off on getting the map. Having a signed map you add that personal touch. Thanks for the tip on getting the maps. My project guy is all over it.

Oh, I forgot to mention in the original e-mail, but me and my folks have had a blast carving "movie rocks" out of Styrofoam. I've got my whole team of creative wizards working alot of angles with this cool project.

Thanks agian

Wanderingson

I send you an e-mail from my military account.

[saimyoji]

How about showing some of the AT movies that are out there?

[Wanderingson]

Any of the hiking movies would be awesome. Hadn't considered that option yet--thanks man. In fact, with the NPS theme, there are a ton of videos which could be played on a rotating basis.

Thanks for the killer idea and if you have a copy you would like to send out, please don't hesitate.

John

[Pencil Pusher]

I don't know how this fits in with your budget, but having an interactive display such as an internet kiosk restricted to just the NPS site, or maybe user submitted videos of various travels might be cool too.
It sounds like this will be a static display of items in a room?

[The Weasel]

Marsha,

Thanks my friend. You have a kind heart. We can hold off on getting the map. Having a signed map you add that personal touch. Thanks for the tip on getting the maps. My project guy is all over it.

Oh, I forgot to mention in the original e-mail, but me and my folks have had a blast carving "movie rocks" out of Styrofoam. I've got my whole team of creative wizards working alot of angles with this cool project.

Thanks agian

Wanderingson

I send you an e-mail from my military account.

Wand'son.....

Here's my starting thoughts on what I've got:

-100 pages (8 1/2 x 11 prints in color) of 5-10 miles stretches of the AT, from TopoScout map software.
-TopoScout AT trail map CDs have several hundred pictures of the AT. I will get those to you in one manner or another.
-Several AT books. I'll miss 'em, but they'll be in good hands, won't they?
-Some well-worn gear. What are you looking for.
-Want good "highway" maps of California National Parks from AAA? Very detailed with more than just highways, not topos of course, but places like Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, others.
-Pictures. Dang, I've got pictures. Those too? How many?
-Want some 7 year old dehydrated soy-burger? Still in the bag I put it in, actually edible, sort of, but best just to hang the ziploc on the wall and have people stare at it.

Weasels will help all they can. I think my email is in my profile, but here it is anyhow:

[email protected]

The Weasel

[Wanderingson]

Wand'son.....

Here's my starting thoughts on what I've got:

-100 pages (8 1/2 x 11 prints in color) of 5-10 miles stretches of the AT, from TopoScout map software.
-TopoScout AT trail map CDs have several hundred pictures of the AT. I will get those to you in one manner or another.
-Several AT books. I'll miss 'em, but they'll be in good hands, won't they?
-Some well-worn gear. What are you looking for.
-Want good "highway" maps of California National Parks from AAA? Very detailed with more than just highways, not topos of course, but places like Yosemite, Death Valley, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, others.
-Pictures. Dang, I've got pictures. Those too? How many?
-Want some 7 year old dehydrated soy-burger? Still in the bag I put it in, actually edible, sort of, but best just to hang the ziploc on the wall and have people stare at it.

Weasels will help all they can. I think my email is in my profile, but here it is anyhow:

[email protected]

The Weasel

Weasel,

Sorry about the delayed response. I'll send you an e-mail to suplement this reply, but thanks so much for the keen interestin the project.

We may want to forego the soy burger--these guys may decide to eat it as a midnight snack

The 8 1/2 X 11 prints would be outstanding. A copy of the CD would certainly save the effort of printing. We will take any CDs we could put to use.

Any maps are always welcome. We have lots of wall space to fill up and make entertaining.

Books would be an awesome contribution because one of the areas is set up like a little quite lounge. Any outdoor books would be greatly appreciated. We will put a sticker on the inside cover to identify the donor. Unless you would like to write a personal note to the troops--that would be a nice touch as well.

Any great high resolution photos representing the AT or any of the National Parks would be awesome, you could e-mail those one or two at a time or burn them on to a CD.

Now for old gear, we will take just about anything. Here are a few thoughts--old boots, old packs, fanny packs, wadders, fishing rods, lures, old tackle boxes, water bottles, swim fins, dive mask, snorkles, ski boots, ski poles, hiking poles, Etc... well you get the idea. I have a young lady sending a whole length of climbing rope and some biners out.

We just secured 6 white gas laterns to hang from the ceiling from an outdoor recreation operation which is a huge score. Heck someone is even having a butterfly net being sent out. This is really cool how this is starting to come together.

Last weekend, I stopped by a hardware store and picked up a 1 inch dowel, I have been sitting in my smoking room and whittling it into a hiking staff and it is turning out really cool. I also found a desert canteen in the local area and I am scouring to local "flea markets" to find some other little treasures.

As of right now, we have Yellowstone, Denali, and Yosemite on the walls and Bryce Canyon, Rocky Mountain, and Grand Canyon are in production.

Thanks again for all of the interest my friend. Check your e-mail as well.

John Pearson

Wanderingson

[The Weasel]

John, saw the email and also this. I have some other thoughts as well. Thanks for letting me help.

The Weasel

[stumpy]

Wanderingson,

I have several good photos that I could send along. Just let me know how and when.

[Wanderingson]

Wanderingson,

I have several good photos that I could send along. Just let me know how and when.

Stumpy,

Thanks for the support my friend. Check PM for details.

[StarLyte]

I wanted to touch on this subject again before the Gathering.

I am bringing a large map of the A.T., placing it on it's own table so Whiteblazers and anyone else can sign it if they'd like-- but not writing on or covering any part of the A.T., I'll have flat, clear glass on that part of the map-thanx.

If anyone wants to mail anything to Wandering Son in Kuwait, bring it and I'll include it in a package I'm sending to him. Write your name on your donated item so Wandering Son knows who sent it.

There will be an announcement on the map table so folks know what it is if I'm not around.

The map will be set up until late Sunday morning at the Gathering. Please do not confuse this with any ALDHA function. This is entirely our own project. Thank you

....and please don't steal my markers

[Gray Blazer]

If it's alright with the owners of this site, you can use any of the pics in my WB gallery. If that's a problem, let me know and I'll email you some.

[Tabasco]

The Cub / Boy Scout annual popcorn sales this year has an option to pay $ 25 and the popcorn will be sent to overseas US service men and women. Great way to support Scouts and the Armed Forces.

[Wanderingson]

Starlyte,

The project is taking of like wildfire and some of the other camps have asked us to do some other themes for there recreation centers.

All of the troops, as well as myself are grateful for thoughtful folks such as yourself for caring.

My latest part of the project was hand painting some rustic signs. We recycled the lumber from some wooden pallets and painted various signs. then we roughed them up a bunch and sanded them slightly. These are a huge hit.

I'll be sure to post a couple of pix once I make the next trip up to the camp.

Wanderingson

[Wanderingson]

GB,

I didn't even think about using any of the photos posted here. As long as it is alright from the WB powers, we would love to use a few of the photos and give you photo credit for them.

If any one else is willing to relesae there photos, I'm all ears.

Wanderingson

[Wanderingson]

Tabasco,

The military is full of former scouts. Seems like once you get the knack of wearing a uniform it just sticks with you.

Although BSA has received a lot of bad press for some of their leadership issues, it's pretty cool that they can organize an initiative to support the troops at a time when most of Americaa is growing tired of the war efforts.

Thanks for the tidbit of information.