S.G.A. students reach out to troops in Iraq
By Anne Marie Kyzer Staff Writer

Troops from Fort Gordon's 63rd Expeditionary Battalion hold up pictures and cards from S.G.A. students. CONTRIBUTED

Half way around the world, a smile spreads across an American soldier's face and he thinks about Burke County, Georgia.

He's not from here, but his fan club is based in Sardis.

S.G.A. Elementary School students adopted Fort Gordon's 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion back in August, just one month after they were deployed to Iraq for non-combat missions, such as providing humanitarian aid and establishing telecommunications infrastructure.

Since then, students have mailed boxes of cards, letters and treats to make the days in the desert more bearable.

S.G.A. first grade teacher Anna Herrington came up with the idea while researching a way for her class to get involved.

When she called the fort and found that the battalion had been deployed, she asked principal Sam Adkins about making it a school-wide project. He was immediately onboard.

The students went to work, painting pictures and decorating cards of thanks for the soldiers.

Above, first-grader Drew Roberts decorates a letter for a soldier in Iraq. Below, a member of the 63rd reads a note written on the back of an American flag drawn by an S.G.A. student.

Since the school sent the first package in September, teachers and administrators have watched their students' appreciation for the troops grow.

"It's really promoted patriotism in our school. I think they even take the Pledge of Allegiance more seriously," Herrington said. "Sometimes we lose the human aspect of it (war)…that these are real people just like us."

When the students learned that granola bars were the soldiers' favorite snack, they rounded up more than a 1,000 and shipped them over.

When Herrington heard that the troops had a hankering for Tic- Tac breath mints, the children hauled in almost 500 packs for them.

In an email from Chaplain Dr. Ernest Ibanga, he wrote to Herrington, "In the midst of political confusion, rise of antimilitary movements and media propaganda, it is so beautiful to receive this awesome support from your school and indeed satisfying to know that at home some people truly care."

While letters, cards and paintings are displayed in a special room in the battalion's headquarters, digital pictures emailed from the troops delight the students back in Sardis.

In many of them, a member of the 63rd is holding a card or a painting made by an S.G.A. student like a treasure.

First-grader Drew Roberts said it makes him happy to do something for the soldiers.

"They have to be away from home and their families…," he said looking away, as if imagining how terrible that must be.

Herrington said the children are always looking for ways to help now.

"Children bring me things even when we're not collecting and ask me to put it in the box for the soldiers," she said.

Adkins said teachers mix discussions about their adopted battalion with social studies and character education lessons to bring them to life.

Herrington has her class pen letters and address them for writing assignments. They take inventories of the items to be mailed for math lessons.

When 10-year-old Alonzo Griffin went with his class to the Buckhead Civil War reenactment in Millen, he was reminded of the soldiers in Iraq.

"They've developed a greater awareness of the world around them," Herrington observed. "They are able to get involved globally and help others."