Going miles for smiles

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Anita Stratton | Soldiers with A Company, 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, hand out school supplies to students in a village near CSC Scania, Iraq, Jan. 27. The Soldiers delivered more than 400 bags of paper, pencils and scissors to the students.  

SCANIA, IRAQ

01.27.2010

Story by Spc. Anita Stratton 

41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team

CSC SCANIA, Iraq— Soldiers of A Company, 2nd Battalion, 162 Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, loaded up ruck sacks for a special mission Jan. 27, 2010, near Scania, Iraq.

The rucks were full of school supplies for the students of a nearby village school. The pens, colored pencils, notebooks and crayons were donated by friends and families in Oregon.

"Soldiers from each of the platoons helped to put together each of the bags that were donated by TD Foundation, an organization whose purpose is to help needy families and children nationally and internationally with basic needs, and from supporting friends and families back home," said Sgt. Julie Cavinee of Creswell, Ore., the human resources non-commissioned officer with A Company.

The Soldiers have made 10 missions out to the villages for various reasons.

"The kids get really excited. They said we are the first Americans they have seen in a long time," said Capt. Charles Ellis, the commander of A Company. "They know my face."

The company distributed more than 400 bags of school supplies during this visit.
"It was nice to be able to help the local community and to put a smile on a little child's face and give them something that they might not be able to have or get," said Staff Sgt. Eric McGinnis, infantryman with A Company from Springfield, Ore. "It just makes good sense to help out the local community."

• Date Taken: 01.27.2010
• Date Posted: 02.17.2010 09:54
• Story ID: 45465
• Location: SCANIA, IQ