Not a Bonfire

Greetings,


Last week Harry scheduled a bonfire for the Chapel community. A time of fellowship on the local beach…grilling hotdogs and melting smores….a little guitar playing by the fire….for the youth and single sailors of the Chapel community.

However, he ran into a little problem…. when advertising the event.... the Chapel sent a base wide email (instead of the Chapel wide email roster). Base wide means every single person with an email account on the entire base. Yes, many, many, many people were invited to the “Chapel Bonfire on Stavros Beach”.

Problem #1….. any gathering over 50 people requires force protection. Translation: security for our sailors. …. which requires from security a lot of work and many hours of prep time. The email sent base wide invited a lot more than 50 people.

Problem #2…..it is illegal to have a bonfire in Greece. Fires on the beach must be contained in a fire pit. No open fires are allowed. Also large gatherings around a large fire are frowned upon by the locals. Therefore, a small gathering at the beach is allowed, but NOT a humongous bonfire.

Within minutes of the base wide email….Harry had a call from the security department, Protocol Officer, and the XO. News had spread and the chapel was rumored to be having a Texas A&M style bonfire on the beach. Harry had to explain the email was only supposed to go to the Chapel community and not the entire base, so no... he did not expect over 50 people and yes the fire will be legally and safely inside a fire pit.


A retraction email was sent to the entire base uninviting them…several people were disappointed! There goes our opportunity for outreach!

Notice the legally contained fire

Peabody enjoyed the night.....

...and so did our only youngster Gracie

The government truck bringing the supplies kind of bogged down in the soft wet sand….. Oh, Harry would have been in soooo much trouble had the crew not dug in and helped the 4X4 truck out its “situation”. I was seriously thinking Harry might get fired and we might be home for the holidays!!

So after all the hooplah….little bit of rain…and a few small mishaps…. the night was great fun for all those who were “officially” invited.

Blessings to those in the fire,

Kristie