Patriot
POGs Coming to Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
DALLAS
– The Army & Air Force Exchange Service
(AAFES) announced the winners of its first Patriot
POG Gift Certificate Photo Contest, held Sept. 13.
The
winning
photos will appear on 5-, 10- and 25-cent gift
certificates given as change at AAFES’ 53
exchanges throughout Operations Enduring and Iraqi
Freedom.
Developed
in 2001 to facilitate retail operations in a war
zone while adhering to Department of Defense
restrictions on shipping coins downrange, the gift
certificates known as “POGs” are flat,
lightweight, coated disks used in place of heavy
metal coins. While issued as change in the
contingency theater, POGs are accepted at any
PX/BX location worldwide.
In
addition to their images appearing on change that
will be seen by millions of troops, those who
submitted winning photos will also take home gift
certificates valued between $50 and $1,000.
“This
was an extremely successful effort with more than
3,300 photo entries,” said Air Force Maj.
Raymond Lamy, AAFES Strategic Marketing Officer.
“Most of the entries were submitted by
active-duty service members; and the rest by
family members, retirees and government
employees.”
Five
judges carefully reviewed the entries in order to
choose the photos that best depicted activities of
deployed troops and reunions. “I felt this was
an extremely challenging and difficult task,”
said contest judge Senior Master Sgt. Robin L.
Williams. “The sheer volume of entries laid in
front of us [the judges] was amazing, not to
mention the superb quality of the images that had
been captured by our fellow military members and
their families. It took a while, but certain
photos stood out the more we looked at the
entries.”
The
winning Patriot POGs are scheduled to be printed
this month and should begin circulating in the
contingency theater by the end of the year.
Previous POG series featured photos obtained from
public sources. The Patriot POGs will be the first
series featuring images submitted troops and their
families.
The
12 winners of the 2006 Patriot POG contest are:
1st Prize, $1000 gift card, Lt. Cmdr. (USNR) Jim
Vandenberg, Little Rock, Ark.; and Sgt. (USA) Tal
Wick, Germany. 2nd Prize, $750 gift card, Staff
Sgt. (USAF) Xavier Goco, Tuscon, Ariz.; and Kamal
Saad, Womeldorf, Pa. 3rd Prize, $500 gift card,
Pfc. (USMC) Timothy J. Viera, Okinawa, Japan; and
Command Sgt. Maj. (USA) James Ross, El Paso,
Texas. 4th Prize, $50 gift card, Sgt. 1st Class
(USA) Chad Johnson, Lawton, Okla.; Ashley Collins,
Minot AFB, N.D.; Lance Cpl. Samantha Jones, Camp
Pendleton, Calif.; Tracy Olson, Fairbanks, AK;
Deanna Seto, Fort Drum, N.Y.; and Capt. (USANG)
Dennis A. Christian, Largo, Fla. All winning
images can be viewed online at http://www.aafes.com/docs/winners.htm.
The game of
POGs originated in the 1920s on the Hawaiian
island of Maui. There dairy workers played the
game during breaks using simple milk caps. POGs
stand for an acronym for a popular Hawaiian drink
made from passion fruit, oranges and guava juices.
The game is played with disc-like objects which
have pictures on their face side. Mass appeal has
followed since reintroduction of the game in the
1990s.
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