CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait – The store shelves in the United States may still be full of new notebooks, pencils waiting to be sharpened, and the latest in adolescent fashion. But for teachers who serve in the military's reserve component and are currently deployed overseas, the first day of school came and went without notice. Almost.
With thousands of miles of land and ocean between them and their students, educators serving tours supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom can still find ways to stay involved with their schools back home. And while their approaches may be as varied as their last names, the efforts are greatly appreciated by the students and colleagues they left behind.
For Petty Officer 1st Class Kathleen Schulz, this deployment, serving in a logistics unit's supply section, meant leaving behind her tenth-grade world studies students at South High School in Columbus, Ohio. The twelve-year Navy veteran says she has received military training throughout her career that has sometimes affected her demeanor in the classroom.
At five feet, two inches tall and with fiery red hair, Schulz may not look the part of a stern Naval petty officer, but she says her students learn the boundaries rather quickly.
"The military has hammered in me to be on time and work hard," she said. "No one is ever late to my classes."
Along with the discipline she has garnered in her years in the Navy, including four on active duty, Schulz says the values that members of the Navy are expected to live by have greatly shaped her teaching style.
"Those military values are great for teaching. You don't get that in the civilian world," she said. "I tell my students to use me as an example. I won't ridicule a person. I don't cuss. It's imbedded in me and I carry that into the classroom.
Schulz only had two months between the time she found out about the deployment and the day she left for training, but she delayed telling the students who spent the week before she left preparing for the Ohio graduation test, a test they had to pass in order to graduate.
"I didn't want them to use my deployment as an excuse not to pay attention," she said. "I was very nervous for them."
Master Sgt. Rory Jenkins, a reading teacher in West Palm Beach, Fla., also delayed telling his students and colleagues about his impending deployment. The 31-year Army veteran always knew in the back of his mind that another deployment was possible, this one being his third, but it still took him a week to find the words he needed to tell the principal.
"When I went into her office I pulled a chair up to her desk and she knew it was something important," he said. "The principal was the hardest to tell. The rest of the teachers found out after that."
His next big challenge came the day he told the students.
"I have five classes," he said. "In each class after I called the roll I told them I was leaving and that I was coming back here," he said. But by the fifth class of the day, the rumors had started spreading and most students knew about his looming deployment before Jenkins had an opportunity to make his announcement.
"Leaving the school was really hard this time because I was really into what I was doing." In fact Jenkins said he still checks his school e-mail account just to keep an eye on what's going on at John I Leonard High School.
His classes have a long-term sub while he's deployed. Including the training he completed before he left the United States, Jenkins' total time away will amount to just over 15 months.
Capt. John B. Heinl, assistant operations officer of the 1184th Deployment Distribution Support Battalion, has fond memories of his last day at Citronelle High School near Mobile, Ala. When he arrived at the campus in the morning he noticed that there were yellow ribbons tied around most of the trees.
"I knew something was up," he said. "The students I got along well with don't know how to keep a secret."
The secret ended up being a school-wide goodbye assembly. Along with the student body and faculty of Citronelle, Heinl's family and a local politician had gathered to wish the 11-year Army veteran a fond farewell.
"One of the math teachers has a band and he played a rendition of Proud to be an American," said Heinl. "Some of the students wrote poems. They had a slide show. It was very touching."
Some of Heinl's colleagues have managed to keep in contact with him through e-mail and the school recently sent him a 27-pound box of books for the Soldiers in his unit. He says he would like to be in better contact with his students but thinks now that school is back in session he may start getting more e-mails from students who may have wanted a break from teachers during the summer.
For Capt. Michael A. Archibeque staying in contact with his school, no matter how much he tries, is something this company commander can't seem not to do. It may be because this 15-year education professional isn't a teacher at Pleasant Valley Middle School in Wichita, Kan.; he's the principal.
After 22 years in the Army and no deployments, Archibeque thought he would never find himself in the Middle East in a set of Army combat boots. In fact he told his staff just that at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, his first at Pleasant Valley.
So when word came in February that he would be commanding the 441st Ground Ambulance Company out of Dallas, Texas, Archibeque had to come up with "plan B" for a year.
"When I found out I was getting deployed we had almost daily administrative team meetings," he said. "I had to come up with a plan. Then I figured out a way to tell my staff."
He talks to his school on almost a daily basis by e-mail and says he calls if there is something big. In his absence the school's assistant principal has stepped in for the deployed principal, who says he has complete faith and confidence in his number two man.
"I don't want the teachers coming to me with things they should be going to my assistant principal with," said Archibeque.
According to Archibeque, being a company commander isn't all that different than being a principal. He serves as the first line of defense when it comes to rumor control and also tries to rid his environment of all internal feuds.
For all of the time educators who serve in the reserve component must spend away from the classroom, the military-experience can also have an added benefit that no amount of civilian experience can match.
Petty Officer 1st Class Dale Guthrie, an art teacher from Ohio, has served in the Navy for 22 years. Along with his current tour in the Middle East he has traveled to Europe, Central America, the Caribbean, and all over the United States. In addition to his world travels, Guthrie's work with the Navy's storied 'Seabees,' the go-to guys for construction and engineering projects, has set him up for success in the classroom.
"The Seabees have a legendary work ethic," said Guthrie. "I don't let students give excuses for why they don't have a particular assignment done. I share some of my experiences with the students. I've been around the world and have managed to get the job done and come home."
Other than the base library and the occasional fire drill, there isn't much at Camp Arifjan to remind educators of their schools back home. There are no bells, no pep-rallies, and definitely no school-age children. But until their tours of duty are up, teachers serving at this logistics hub will continue to soak up experiences to share with their classes at home, and may even learn a few lessons themselves.
| Date Taken: | 08.22.2008 |
| Date Posted: | 08.22.2008 04:12 |
| Story ID: | 22762 |
| Location: | CAMP ARIFJAN, KW |
| Web Views: | 359 |
| Downloads: | 318 |
This work, From classroom to combat zone: deployed teachers serve in Middle East, by SGT Tracy Ellingsen, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
