It started out as just another hot, lazy summer, and workers at the Quaker Oats plant figured the Gatorade they were making was for weekend warriors on tennis courts and softball diamonds.
Now that it's quenching the thirst of soldiers in the Middle East, work doesn't seem so dull anymore.Thousands of gallons of the drink produced at the Newport plant are bound for the Persian Gulf, and more is on the way.
Through some overtime effort, the plant got the order of about 500,000 quart bottles completed in time for delivery to Camp LeJeune, N.C., and an airlift to the Middle East.
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Since then, the plant has delivered about 23,000 cases of the beverage to Charleston, S.C., where it was loaded onto ships headed to Saudi Arabia.