Sailors Assigned to Guided-Missile Cruiser USS Anzio Volunteer in Bahrain

Sailors assigned to guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68) participated in a community-relations (COMREL) event at the Regional Institute for Active Learning (RIA), during a port visit to Bahrain, Sept. 29.

Nine crew members assisted students with math and English and also read books and made balloon animals.

“This COMREL was interactive and focused on helping the kids,” said Ship’s Serviceman 1st Class Christian Magnin. “I really liked reading to the children and making balloon animals for them. It was very rewarding.”

RIA was founded in 1999 by Dr. Emad Al Attar and his wife, Christine Gordon, as a non-profit organization. The school offers a year-round English curriculum with both a pre-school nursery and a special educational needs unit for those students with communication disorders.

“It’s a very positive thing for these kids to have the Sailors visit,” said Gordon.

Community-relations events give Sailors an opportunity to interact with local populations while volunteering their time and efforts.

“To see our Sailors laughing, playing and having fun right alongside these kids reminds me that there is a child in all of us,” said Lt. Lesa Welliver, Anzio’s chaplain. “It was really refreshing to see.”

Anzio is assigned to Combined Task Force 151, a multinational, mission-based task force established by the Combined Maritime Forces in January 2009, to conduct counterpiracy operations in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Somali Basin and Arabian Sea.

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Source: navy, October 07, 2011