EGYPT: I’ll see you a Sphinx and raise you a Nile

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U.S. military troops will receive playing cards telling them to be respectful of cultural and archaeological sites when they go to Egypt this fall for the Bright Star desert-warfare exercise.

More than 10,000 decks of the cards have been produced, an effort of the Defense Department’s Legacy Resource Management Program, according to the Armed Forces Press Service.

Each card will have a picture of King Tut on one side and a picture of an Egyptian site on the other.

The five of hearts, for example, has a picture of the temple of Abu Simbel and says: ‘Protecting archaeological sites helps preserve them for future generations.’

The nine of spades shows a CH-47 Chinook helicopter and warns that rotor wash can cause damage: ‘Locate your [landing zone] a safe distance from known sites.’

--Tony Perry, San Diego

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