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FORT MEADE, S.D. – Students from Sturgis, Spearfish and Newell middle schools participated in “A Day in
the Life of a Soldier” event hosted by the South Dakota Army National Guard on Fort Meade, Nov. 7-8.
During the event, students gained an appreciation for what many veterans have experienced and learned
about what it means to serve in today’s military, the American flag, land navigation, an obstacle course,
military equipment and more.
“This event gets the students out of the classroom for the day, allowing them to get hands-on experience
with some of the things we do in the military,” said Maj. Tracy Wolfe, administrative officer for the 881st
Troop Command.
A few of the stations included engineer equipment from the 842nd Engineer Company in Sturgis – the
students get to get on the equipment and physically touch it.
“This event is a great opportunity for the South Dakota Army National Guard to show our gratitude for
the support we have been given by the community for giving students a fun day outside of the
classroom,” said Wolfe.
Two new stations have been added to the event this year, which included Veterans Affairs. One station is
the VA firefighters and the VA police officers introducing students to their teams and their duties serving
veterans on Fort Meade. The other station is a medical simulator where students learn breathless
cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
“At first we started out inviting speakers to classrooms to speak to students – to share with students their
experiences and what the military is like. After that, we started to invite units to come to the school for
demonstrations,” said Sheila Limbo, head administrative assistant to Sturgis Williams Middle School.
“After talking with my son, Dana Limbo, a lieutenant colonel in the SDARNG, he said ‘Mom, why don’t
you bring students out to Fort Meade and we can do more out there to show the students the life of a
Soldier and we bring equipment to the school.’”
Five years ago that’s what Sheila did. At first, A Day in the Life of a Soldier began as a half day. After
that year, Soldiers and teachers decided that wasn’t enough time because most of it was travel time and
the students weren’t able to spend much time with the Soldiers.
“Our students learn so much and really look forward to coming to Fort Meade to spend the day with a
Soldier to learn some of the things they do,” said Sheila. “It is one of the highest attendance days of the
year.”
After working at Sturgis Williams Middle school for 32 years, Sheila will retire after this school year.
What started off as a Soldier coming out to speak to one middles school class slowly grew into the twoday,
three-middle school, multi-station event we see today.
| Date Taken: | 11.09.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 12.06.2017 21:43 |
| Story ID: | 257719 |
| Location: | FT. MEADE, SD, US |
| Web Views: | 57 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Middle school students experience ‘A Day in the Life of a Soldier’, by SSG Rachel M Korzeniewski, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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