Photo By Spc. Grant Okubo | Young Iraqi girls and boys gather around Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters...... read more read more
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By Sgt. Grant Okubo
4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light)
FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – Iraqi school children watched in anticipation as Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers handed out ten soccer balls during their visit to an elementary school in the Beladiyat area of eastern Baghdad, Oct. 9, 2008.
Soldiers from Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, visited the schools not only to provide cheer but to also assess and see what the MND-B Soldiers could do to help these schools, said Staff Sgt. Raphael Barrientos, a squad leader with HHC, BSTB.
"Overall, the goal of the mission is to develop good relations between the school and coalition forces," said Barrientos a Manassas, Va., native.
In addition to handing out soccer balls, the Soldiers had previously visited the school and had handed out school supplies, explained Barrientos.
"It feels good, [especially] being a parent and doing something to make the kids happy," he shared.
Spc. Nicholas Groves, a Soldier in HHC, BSTB, also felt good to be able to give the soccer balls to the kids.
"It lights up their day," said Groves, a Spokane, Wash., native.
The kids just get so excited when they see the soccer balls in their hands, he added.
Barrientos also expressed the important role the children of Iraq will play in its future and how helping the children now has cyclical effect on a child, who may someday be one of Iraq's future leaders.
Many of the soccer balls handed out are donations, he said.
The soccer balls are also obtained through a program called Kick for Nick, which is a charitable organization that donates soccer balls for coalition soldiers to hand out, explained Barrientos.
"We get a lot of soccer balls every month," said Barrientos.
Although handing out soccer balls to children might not seem that important in the big picture, said Barrientos, it is helping to make a positive impression of MND-B Soldiers with the children of Iraq, he added.
| Date Taken: | 10.15.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 10.15.2008 05:03 |
| Story ID: | 24992 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 400 |
| Downloads: | 321 |
This work, BSTB Soldiers pass out soccer balls to school children in Beladiyat, by SPC Grant Okubo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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