08/24/02
Local Navy League thanks Camp Pendleton units
GIDGET FUENTES
Staff Writer
North County Time
CAMP PENDLETON ---- As they trained and prepared for a possible military operation several months ago while overseas on Navy ships, some 1,200 Marines and sailors from local units got "a little piece of home" in the form of care packages donated by San Diego County residents and businesses.
On Friday, many of them
gathered Friday with their families for a picnic at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps
Base's Lake O'Neill, courtesy of local community businesses and the local Navy
League.
The Marines and sailors said they appreciated the donations, which along with the picnic were coordinated by the Navy League's Tri-City Council in its adopt-a-platoon program called "Operation Interdependence™."
"It helped out a lot," said Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan Clapp, 22, a Kilo Company infantryman with 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton. "We knew that people cared."
Clapp said he received three boxes of goodies while his unit was operating at Camp Hansen, on the Japanese island of Okinawa, and two boxes once he and his infantry battalion boarded Navy ships for three months of training exercises and military operations.
It was during the deployment when his battalion ---- which was augmented with other combat units, including the Camp Pendleton-based Kilo Battery of 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment ---- got word it could be ordered for possible military operations during a highly-tense time in the India-Pakistan region. The call didn't come through.
"We were ready and prepared to turn around and go into harm's way," said Marine Lt. Col. Carl Mundy III, who commands the infantry battalion. Although the units didn't go into Afghanistan, "we were doing the day-in, day-out deployment" that included exercises with foreign militaries and refreshing their combat skills.
Mundy said "Operation Interdependence™" care packages boosted morale among the Marines and sailors throughout the deployment.
"They provided us with over $50,000 in individual care packages," he said. "I'm overwhelmed just by the show of support."
The 30-pound boxes contained assorted toiletries and snacks ---- from candy and gum to music CDs and games ---- packaged in plastic bags.
Project organizers, who are supporting Marines and sailors with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit on Navy ships in the Arabian Sea-Persian Gulf region, said the 30-pound limit is easier to handle than heavier boxes of donations charity groups often send to military units.
"It's designed as 'less is better,' " said Albert Renteria, a retired Marine from Fallbrook, Tri-City Council president and the founder of "Operation Interdependence™."
Each bag of donated gifts "is a civilian ration. It's a token from home," Renteria said. "The idea is to ... make it be affordable."
Some project coordinators collected donations from residents and businesses while others, like the AVID program at Valley Center High School, put their own money into the small items they collected, said Lenore Sears, the program's coordinator.
Sears likens the community-military effort to what people did during World War II to help troops. "We were so conscious of the fund-raisers (then)," she said. "It was on the news all the time. This has brought part of it back."
At Friday's picnic, the Tri-City Council also honored 31 unit representatives and 31 civilians, including one who drove from her home in Colorado, for supporting the project.
Victoria Johnson, who once lived at Camp Pendleton where her Navy parents once served, said she linked up with the project from her home in Fort Lupton, Colo. Johnson had been sending care packages to service members with help from the local chapter of the Young Marines.
"It's a 'thank you,' " she said. "They're just wonderful kids, good-hearted and dedicated."
Contact staff writer Gidget Fuentes at (760) 901-4072 or gfuentes@nctimes.com.