Lance Cpl. Brian Knott, an artilleryman with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), cuts pie for Christmas dinner aboard the USS Ponce Dec. 25, 2007. (Official Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Nick Spinelli)
AL TAQADDUM, Iraq (Dec. 27, 2007) – Lance Cpl. Eva M. Miller weighs a package before shipping it out at the Postal Operations Center here Dec. 27. Postal Operations Centers here and in Al Asad have processed an average of 180,000-200,000 pounds of mail daily during the holiday season. Miller is a postal clerk and Fort Walton, Fla., native with Service Company, 2nd Marine Logistics Group (Forward). Photo by: Cpl. Thomas J. Griffith
ABOARD USS TARAWA (Dec. 25, 2007) — A Marine serving on “mess duty” from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group reads holiday greeting cards sent by volunteers from “Operation Santa,” a support-the-troops organization from Seattle, Washington and the General Mills Corporation in Minneapolis, Minn., through their Operation: Soldier Phone Home initiative and the Marine Corps’ Key Volunteer Network. All three organizations sent handwritten holiday greeting cards and care packages stuffed with treats by children and citizens of all ages. Operation Santa even sent several Christmas trees complete with lights.
The 11th MEU Marines also received a special shipment of care packages, greeting cards and letters from Cub Scout Pack 872 and elementary school boys and girls from St. Anne School in Laguna Niguel, Calif. The scout pack adopted the Marines and Sailors of the MEU during their "Salute to Service" ceremony at St. Anne in October.
The 11th MEU (SOC), Camp Pendleton, Calif., is embarked aboard the Tarawa and other ships of the Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group. They have been at sea since leaving San Diego Nov. 4 on a scheduled six-month deployment through the Western Pacific Ocean and Arabian Gulf regions. Photo by: Sgt. Bryson K. Jones