{"id":22,"date":"2009-12-15T17:18:32","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T17:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/p=?22"},"modified":"2009-12-15T17:18:32","modified_gmt":"2009-12-15T17:18:32","slug":"santas-heading-to-helmand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa&#8217;s heading to Helmand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>More than 565 Edinburgh-based soldiers serving in Helmand will receive special Christmas boxes from Santa this Christmas, with a little bit of help from some Scottish rugby players.<\/p>\n<p>To say thank you to all the boys and girls risking life and limb in Afghanistan, all armed forces personnel and civilian staff will have a gift waiting for them on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n<p>Rugby players Simon Cross and Simon Webster threw their massive weight behind the uk4u Thanks charity initiative at Murrayfield on Saturday, telling the good people north of the border to do what they can to make Christmas a merry time for troops.<\/p>\n<p>Commanding officer of the Royal Regiment of Scotland lieutenant colonel Charlie Herbert said the generosity shown by the public is a big boost to soldiers far away from their loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Support from the public is tremendous and much appreciated, but we urge people to donate to uk4u rather than sending their own parcels to troops,&quot; he added.<\/p>\n<p>In other news, songwriter Rob Allen has penned a rock-inspired single paying tribute to the Welsh Guards, with all profits going to the guards&rsquo; Afghan Appeal charity, WalesOnline.co.uk reported.<\/p>\n<p>Posted by Daniel Ohio<br><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"ADNFCR-2867-ID-19514226-ADNFCR\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.directnews.co.uk\/feedtrack\/justcopyright.gif?feedid=2867&amp;itemid=19514226\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas boxes are on their way to troops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-support-soldiers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Santa&#039;s heading to Helmand - Forces Penpals GB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Santa&#039;s heading to Helmand - Forces Penpals GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christmas boxes are on their way to troops.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Forces Penpals GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-15T17:18:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Forces Penpals\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Forces Penpals\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/\",\"name\":\"Santa's heading to Helmand - Forces Penpals GB\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-15T17:18:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"Santa's heading to Helmand\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Santa&#8217;s heading to Helmand\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/\",\"name\":\"Forces Penpals GB\",\"description\":\"armed forces penpals, military dating and support for military personnel\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c\",\"name\":\"Forces Penpals\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Forces Penpals\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/author\/news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Santa's heading to Helmand - Forces Penpals GB","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Santa's heading to Helmand - Forces Penpals GB","og_description":"Christmas boxes are on their way to troops.","og_url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/","og_site_name":"Forces Penpals GB","article_published_time":"2009-12-15T17:18:32+00:00","author":"Forces Penpals","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Forces Penpals","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/","url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/","name":"Santa's heading to Helmand - Forces Penpals GB","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2009-12-15T17:18:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Santa's heading to Helmand"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/santas-heading-to-helmand\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Santa&#8217;s heading to Helmand"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#website","url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/","name":"Forces Penpals GB","description":"armed forces penpals, military dating and support for military personnel","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#\/schema\/person\/838421ba314559f45d1a97df988b553c","name":"Forces Penpals","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4af06cf896911f865dc18ec3dfabb6ee77d1b6a0d14505a72440f798f955918d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Forces Penpals"},"url":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/news\/author\/news\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"comment_count":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forcespenpals.net\/gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}