FOXBORO – Iraq. Kuwait. London. Baltimore. Harvard.

The New England Patriots' season ended two months ago, but Sammy Morris has filled that time with a variety of activities that have taken him around the globe and back and impacted his life in nearly as many ways.

The running back, who turns 32 in five days, had a trip to London already planned with his wife and three children, but then his agent told him about an opportunity to visit troops in the Middle East during Super Bowl week.

As the son and brother of Air Force staff sergeants, Morris was eager to go abroad, and traveled with Seattle defensive back Josh Wilson and retired Pro Bowl offensive lineman Willie Roaf.

While some things Morris found curious — after traveling through miles of sand in Kuwait, there would suddenly be an oasis, a strip mall with Starbucks or Burger King — he found a greater respect for the men and women who are serving there.

"All life experiences are kind of exclusive; what’s tough for me might not be tough for someone else," Morris said Wednesday after a workout at Gillette Stadium. "But you can’t help not to feel for them. Their lives are in danger every day."

Morris has traded e-mails with Army Sgt. Adam Gauthier, a New England native who will likely wrap his 18-month tour of duty next month. When Gauthier was deployed, his daughter was two months old, and as a father, Morris sympathizes with Gauthier’s situation.

"Myself, I travel back and forth to Texas during the offseason program, but I can come and go as I please. He can’t do that. I couldn’t imagine that," he said.

The former Texas Tech standout wants to bring Gauthier to Gillette upon his return home.

Morris’ father, Sammy Jr., is retired from the Air Force; Sammy was born in Oxford, England, which is where his father was stationed at the time. A year later, Brien, who is still in the Air Force, was born in Arizona. But the Morris family moved to San Antonio when the boys were toddlers and grew up there. Morris briefly thought about enlisting himself when it seemed like things might not pan out for him as a football player — problems he sheepishly admits he brought on himself.

He clearly got everything together, and is entering his 10th season in the NFL and third with the Patriots.

While Morris was in London, he got the chance to promote the Pats' October game with Tampa Bay, and learned that his team is the most popular NFL team in that country. Though New England will technically be the road team for that contest against the Buccaneers, Morris is hopeful that the crowd will prove itself to be pro-Patriot.

He also traveled to Baltimore for the annual Ed Block Courage Award ceremony, as his teammates selected him as the Patriots’ recipient for the 2008 season.

Closer to home — or at least his professional home — Morris and reserve offensive lineman Mark LeVoir are taking classes at Harvard as part of the NFL’s annual Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program. The pair took part in the first four days of the program last month, with four more days upcoming in April.

And with the Patriots, Morris will be welcoming a new face to the running back room, as New England signed fellow veteran Fred Taylor, but he also said goodbye to Heath Evans and LaMont Jordan.

After nearly a decade in the NFL, he has become accustomed to seeing new players in the locker room.

"We’re a veteran team and the one constant in this league is change," Morris said. "That's coaches, that's players. I’m going into my 10th year, Kevin [Faulk] is in his 11th, Fred’s in his 12th I think. We've seen a lot."

smanza@projo.com