American Legion Post 5, Seward Alaska lent their 6th year of support the Armed Forces YMCA sponsored Combat Fishing Tournament on May 24th. The Combat Fishing Tournament involved a cooperative effort between the Sport Fishing Charter Boat Fleet, the Armed Forces YMCA, and Seward Post 5. The event allowed for a fun day of fishing for over 250 recently returned combat veterans from Afghanistan. The day started very early for them, leaving JBER (Joint Base Elmemdorf & Richardson) by buses for 125 mile trip to Seward. Post 5 was the support base for the event. We had great volunteers from our Legion Family who started literally at the crack of dawn (0500 hrs) and were at the harbor directing the servicemembers to their boats for a full day of fishing. Numerous charter boat captains donated their time and resources to bring these combat veterans out for a fun day of fishing. Post 5 members contributed throughout the day in many ways to support the event to include setting up for the evening activities by setting up the hall, getting the “beer and wine garden going”, setting up the tables and chairs, and of course cooking a really tasty awards dinner for over 425 people comprising combat vets, their families, the fishing crews and the sponsors of the event. These veterans had a great time fishing, received a hero’s welcome home, a really tasty dinner, and received some outstanding prizes for all their efforts. Seward Post 5 has been involved in this event since its inaugural start in 2007, and it has grown better each year!