THE TENSION: Operation Iraqi Children; Troops Help Kids

Master Sgt. Steve Veteto, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and an Iraqi army soldier work together to fix a desk at the Northern Said Abdullah school near Mahmudiyah, March 13. Soldiers from Battery A, 3-320th FA, and 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th IA Division worked to fix up desks and classrooms at the school and delivered 500 school supply packets courtesy of Operation Iraqi Children. (U.S. Army photo/Capt. Brian Murphy.)

Dispatches from the Front:

CAMP STRIKER, Iraq, March 18, 2008 -- With the help of Operation Iraqi Children, Red Knight Rakkasans and their Iraqi army counterparts delivered school supplies to students at a newly-renovated school in Mahmudiyah, March 13.

Soldiers from Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 320th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division and 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th IA Division delivered the supplies to the Northern Said Abdullah school.

The Soldiers distributed 500 school supply packets, 200 children’s backpacks and one set of soccer goals and nets, all donated by Operation Iraqi Children.

Operation Iraqi Children was founded in 2004 by actors Gary Sinise of “Forrest Gump” fame and Laura Hillenbrand, who starred in “Seabiscuit: An American Legend.” To date, OIC has donated 83 shipments of school supplies totaling more than 200,000 school supply kits, thousands of backpacks and pairs of shoes, 50 pallets of sports equipment and more than half a million toys to military units in Iraq.

Battery A and their IA counterparts recently led a project to repair the Northern Said Abdullah school, located a few miles northwest of Mahmudiyah. With the help of a local contractor, they drew up a list of priorities, including painting, fixing the bathrooms and repairing desks.

A week prior to the event, the contractor went to work on the school’s plumbing and painting. On the day of the supply distribution, 46 Rakkasans and 21 IA Soldiers spent the morning repairing desks and cleaning up rubble.

Capt. Ryan Mayfield, commander of Battery A, said the students and teachers’ reaction to the project was one of excitement and gratitude. This was the first venture of its kind completed by Soldiers in the area, said Mayfield, adding that education is one of their highest-priority projects.

“This project was successful not only because it addressed a significant need for the local people, but because it was a combined effort,” Mayfield said. “This strengthened the relationship between not just coalition forces and Iraqis, but also between the Iraqi army and the Sunni tribe members. It met a need and improved security in the area.”

The remainder of the six pallets that the Red Knights received from OIC will be distributed over the next several months.

To learn more about OIC, visit the organization’s website at: http://www.operationiraqichildren.org/.

(Story by Capt. Allison Flannigan, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.)

Related Site: Operation Iraqi Children