As anyone with a connection to the Armed Forces knows, a deployment overseas – even over Christmas – is part and parcel of military life.
And speaking of parcels, the Chair of SSAFA Fife, Major (Ret’d) George Givens, recently visited the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (RSDG) in their base at Leuchars in Fife to lend a hand packing some of the 350 Christmas parcels destined for Mali in Western Africa, where a detachment of the regiment is currently deployed.
When the Branch Committee of SSAFA Fife heard that the families of the RSDG were planning to send a Christmas box – also known as “square stockings” – to each man and woman of their regiment away from their loved ones over Christmas and New Year, it instantly agreed to donate £400 to buy small luxuries for the personnel deployed.
Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d) Graham Meacher, Chair of the Scottish Region, closely followed suit by matching the funding and therefore a grand sum of £800 was handed over to Staff Sergeant Davy Steel, the Unit Welfare Warrant Officer.
George said:
“Having been deployed over a few festive periods myself during my past military career, I know how important it is to maintain a good contact with family and friends, and sending these Christmas boxes out to Mali is an ideal way for the RSDG to do it.
“For those back home, it’s a simple act to do, but for the men and women overseas far from home at Christmas, it can make all the difference in the world, and it’s the kind of thing that SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity has been doing for serving personnel, veterans, and their families for nearly 140 years.”
For more information, visit ssafa.org.uk/fife.
