By Lance Hayes
Published on November 21, 2007
PJC graduate Dana Cervantes, morning personality at Cat Country 98.7, is representing the station on a 10-day tour of the Middle East. Cervantes will be touring Baghdad, Al Asad, Kuwait, and more, interviewing soldiers and officers, some of whom are from hometown Pensacola.
When the opportunity arose for Dave and Mary Hoxeng, the owners of Cat Country 98.7, to be able to send one of their own to go to Iraq to give their support, they hand picked the very ecstatic Dana Cervantes. Dave Hoxeng said, “Here at Cat Country 98.7, we love our military. Our service men and women serve selflessly 365 days a year, and we want to bring their stories home for Thanksgiving.”
Cervantes, a military child herself with two brothers that served in the armed forces, said, “I feel very fortunate and honored to have been chosen to represent Pensacola in Iraq and Kuwait.”
Cervantes flew out Nov. 16, starting her journey through the Middle East. She will be stopping first in Kuwait where she will get to meet some locally trained soldiers from Battalion 11 at Saufley Field. She hopes to interview these men and women to see how their training in Pensacola has helped them in the real world situations they are in now and to also bring a little piece of home to them.
Cervantes announced over the air she was going to visit our troops in Iraq just days before she was scheduled to leave. Within days she received thousands of letters and cards from local schools, organizations, and individuals for her to hand deliver to the men and women to remind them of why they are there fighting and to let them know people are thinking of them.
After leaving Kuwait, Cervantes will be staying in Al Asad, the second largest military base in Iraq, after a stop in Baghdad, to visit with more soldiers to get their take on the war and deliver heart felt letters to them from home.
“I look forward to telling the stories of our Pensacola trained Marines and the difference they are making in this war,” Cervantes said.
Telling the stories is a major part of what Cervantes is doing. She will be sending in sound clips to Cat Country to be aired every morning at 5 a.m.on her show Cat Pak while she is traveling. She will also be sending in video clips that are going to be aired on WEAR 3 News this week at 5, 6, and 10 p.m.
Cervantes also is keeping a daily log along with pictures that can be found on the Cat Country website, www.catcountry987.com. She can be e-mailed at Dana@catcountry987.com.