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    Street hockey comes to FOB Ghazni

    GHAZNI PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN

    02.14.2011

    Story by Julie Brummund 

    Combined Joint Task Force 101

    GHAZNI PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Spc. Ross Dalton from Yarmouth, Mass., received a rather large shipment in the mail Feb. 14; so many boxes, in fact, that the mail clerk sent for him to come get it. Inside were hockey sticks, a goal, and full goalie gear; everything they needed to go out and play a match in the streets of Ghazni.

    Dalton is a member of the Ghazni Provincial Reconstruction Team’s security forces section, all of whom are Army National Guard members from 1st Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry Regiment, out of Hudson, Mass. This made it pretty easy for Dalton’s father, retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. William Dalton, to gather up support to buy and ship the gear to Ghazni.

    This isn’t the first time his father helped keep hockey alive for his son in a faraway place. In 2006, father and son bought the equipment themselves and shipped it to Kosovo, where Dalton was experiencing his first deployment.

    “We just bought a little bit of gear that time,” Dalton explained.

    This time, a few businesses around Yarmouth helped collect donations for the cause. Among these were Longfellow’s Pub, the Yarmouth Moose Lodge and the Yarmouth Veterans of Foreign Wars. After a month of collecting donations, his father went to Play It Again Sports, which also contributed to the hockey mission with a discount on the purchase.

    Dalton said the equipment will be left here for the next rotation of security forces, also from Massachusetts, but from the sounds of it, they may need new equipment before they leave.

    “We played for a few hours the first day the equipment arrived, then had another game the very next day against some Polish soldiers. We’re also planning on having a tournament later on after a few of the guys return from leave and the snow clears up,” he said.

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    NEWS INFO

    Date Taken: 02.14.2011
    Date Posted: 03.07.2011 03:09
    Story ID: 66607
    Location: GHAZNI PROVINCE, AF

    Web Views: 83
    Downloads: 0

    PUBLIC DOMAIN