Last modified: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 12:04 PM PDT Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer Idaho Army National Guard Cpl. Krista Piper (left) and Spc. Christine Burmeister answer questions from Ron Wood's fourth-grade class at Vale Elementary Thursday. Wood has communicated with the GIs - deployed in Afghanistan - since March, and the students began sending letters in August. Face to face By Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer Vale - Ron Wood's fourth-grade class at Vale Elementary School could finally put a face to a name when their two penpals - Cpl. Krista Piper and Spc. Christine Burmeister of the Idaho Army National Guard - visited the classroom Thursday. “I have been writing to two troopers in Afghanistan since March '06,” Wood said. “They just located back. I've been writing to military people for probably the past five years or so. It's mostly people I've known from the community.” Both Piper and Burmeister are from Idaho, and Piper attended Treasure Valley Community College for two years. Since August, the fourth-graders have asked - and had answered - more than 100 questions of the two Guardsmen while they were stationed at Forward Operation Base Salerno just north of Khowst, Afghanistan. “We can see the Pakistan border, actually the mountain range that separates the two countries,” Piper wrote, answering a student question from August. “Salerno gives me that small-town feel - just like Vale.” The students asked questions ranging from favorite color, fruit or movie to “what do you think of when you think of the war,” and the soldiers answered each question, replying through e-mails and letters. “Every time I got pictures, I'd hand them out,” Burmeister said. “I'd share with everyone.” In addition to the questions and personalized letters, the class also sent posters and cards for Christmas and Valentine's Day. “(It is to) keep their minds off their duties and the problems they've been having,” Wood said. Originally both truck drivers, Piper and Burmeister stayed home for health reasons when their original unit was deployed to Iraq, and they later transferred into an aviation unit bound for Afghanistan. Returning in February from a year-long tour with the 1-183rd Aviation Battalion, Task Force Talon, the two soldiers visited the class Thursday, answering more questions from the students, like “were you scared” and “would you go back.” “For the first couple times when we had to deal with rocket attacks, it was very scary,” Piper said. “I would not want to, but if they needed me to, it's my job, I would go (back).” The students also asked questions about meeting other soldiers, food, temperatures, the people of Afghanistan and the different attitudes of Afghan adults and children. “The children know that America is over there to help them and the ones who are hurting them are their own,” Piper said. Burmeister also spoke about missing family - including her four daughters, one who is in fourth grade - while deployed. Wood said the exercise helps students learn about other cultures while aiding soldiers fighting for this country. Wood said he plans to continue the program next year. “You're the future of America,” Wood said to his students, aged 9 through 11. “You need to know what's going on.”