Face to face
By Jennifer Colton | Argus Observer
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 12:04 PM PDT
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| 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. |
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.”
Cody W. Ables wrote on May 16, 2008 11:04 PM:
Here is something that we should all read. This is a letter from an angry woman in New Jersey regarding the War in Iraq and all of the war’s negative publicity. Pay attention.
'Are we fighting a war on terror or aren't we? Was it or was it not started by Islamic people who brought it to our shores on September 11, 2001?
Were people from all over the world, mostly Americans, not brutally murdered that day, in downtown Manhattan, across the Potomac from our nation's capitol and in a field in Pennsylvania?
Did nearly three-thousand men, women and children die a horrible, burning or crushing death that day, or didn't they?
And I'm supposed to care that a copy of the Koran was 'desecrated' when an overworked American soldier kicked it or got it wet?...Well, I don't. I don't care at all.
I'll start caring when Osama bin Laden turns himself in and repents for incinerating all those innocent people on 9/11.
I'll care about the Koran when the fanatics in the Middle East start caring about the Holy Bible, the mere possession of which is a crime in Saudi Arabia .
I'll care when these thugs tell the world they are sorry for hacking off Nick Berg's head while Berg screamed through his gurgling slashed throat.
I'll care when the cowardly so-called 'insurgents' in Iraq come out and fight like men instead of disrespecting their own religion by hiding in mosques.
I'll care when the mindless zealots who blow themselves up in search of nirvana care about the innocent children within range of their suicide bombs.
I'll care when the American media stops pretending that their First Amendment liberties are somehow derived from international law instead of the United States Constitution's Bill of Rights.
In the meantime, when I hear a story about a brave marine roughing up an Iraqi terrorist to obtain information, know this: I don't care.
When I see a fuzzy photo of a pile of naked Iraqi prisoners who have been humiliated in what amounts to a college-hazing incident, rest assured: I don't care.
When I see a wounded terrorist get shot in the head when he is told not to move because he might be booby-trapped, you can take it to the bank: I don't care.
When I hear that a prisoner, who was issued a Koran and a prayer mat, and fed 'special' food that is paid for by my tax dollars, is complaining that his holy book is being 'mishandled,' you can absolutely believe in your heart of hearts: I don't care.
Sooner or later, it'll get to the people responsible for this ridiculous behavior!
If you don't agree, then by all means quit reading. Should you choose to do so, then please don't complain when more atrocities committed by radical Muslims happen here in our great Country! And may I add:
'Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem' -- Ronald Reagan
I have another quote that I would like to add
'If we ever forget that we're One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.' Also by.. Ronald Reagan
One last thought for the day:
In case we find ourselves starting to believe all the Anti-American sentiment and negativity, we should remember England 's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words during a recent interview. When asked by one of his Parliament members why he believes so much in America , he said: 'A simple way to take measure of a country is to look at how many want in.. And how many want out.'
Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you:
1. Jesus Christ
2. The American G. I.
Important for us all!!!!
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
MANY SEEM TO FORGET BOTH OF THEM. AMEN!’
I hope you take this woman’s viewpoint into consideration. It closely parallels my own. As I begin my journey in becoming a soldier of the greatest country in the world, hearing this woman’s words sets my heart at ease. It is warming to know that there are people in this great country who still care about those men and women who have no choice.
Cody W. Ables
U.S. Air Force Academy 2012
"