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Coach Harbaugh Donates $1.5K In Hats To Soldiers In Afghanistan

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Ravens Coach John Harbaugh receives $1,500 every year from sports company New Era at the NFL League Meetings to spend on personal use or giveaways throughout the season. This year, Coach Harbaugh decided to put the money to special use and bought hats for troops serving overseas.

Harbaugh's money was used to buy 154 New Era hats to give away to soldiers in Afghanistan.

"Certainly can't underestimate how appreciative we are of the great sacrifices made by our military members overseas, and so our goal with the caps was to try and brighten the days of as many Army men and women as we could," Harbaugh says in a report from the Ravens.

He didn't buy just Ravens hats, but team caps from all the major leagues, including NFL, MLB, and NBA and colleges too.

"I know that, unfortunately, not everyone is a Ravens fan, so I thought we should send hats of all teams," says Harbaugh.

"But I made sure there were some Ravens, and Michigan, caps in there in case anyone wants to change allegiances." Coach Harbaugh's brother Jim Harbaugh is coach for the Michigan Wolverines.

Harbaugh has a close friend in the Army, Maj. Gen. JT Thomson, whom he met eight years ago during his trip to Afghanistan, and had the hats sent to him.

The packages arrived at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan on April 27, and Thomson has been distributing them to troops across the country since. By Saturday, the Ravens report, the hats had made it to a remote location in the northern Kunduz Province.

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