Photo By Sgt. Jacob Hester-Heard | U.S. Army Sergeant Patricio S. Murua, a track vehicle repairer and motor sergeant...... read more read more
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TORUN, Poland – Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division showed off their skills, capabilities and equipment to visiting students from Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine at Camp Dragon in Torun, Poland, July 4, 2018.
The students attending the event witnessed and experienced hands-on demonstrations of the vehicles, equipment and techniques used by the Soldiers of the Dragons and shared in each other’s cultures.
“Teaching them our job is quite unique,” said Spc. Chandler A. Holland, a cannon crewmember with the 1-82nd FA. “Not a lot of people get this opportunity: to come up to us, get inside our equipment and learn about our jobs.”
Many Soldiers at Camp Dragon put in extra hours to prepare for and host the event, but Holland said that kind of work isn’t unfamiliar to them; it’s critical to their mission-readiness.
“We are ready to fight 24/7,” he said. “If we’re not ready to fight, we cannot support our brothers and sisters down range.”
Aside from working late nights and weekends occasionally, Holland made it clear that the Dragons’ leadership still takes care of their Soldiers.
“We work hard, we play hard,” he said. “Once we work, they’ll give us our time back.”
In between events, Soldiers and students were laughing and playing together, participating in games like frisbee and tug-of-war, and played catch using an American football.
“It was a great event— not only for students, but also for our Soldiers,” said U.S. Army Capt. Dung B. Nguyen, battalion chaplain with the 1-82nd FA. “We build a connection and relationship not only with young ones, but the local population also.”
Before leaving, a group of students made sure they had the opportunity to sing for the Soldiers— a rendition of “God Bless America”— in their native Ukrainian.
“The way they invited us, the way they welcomed us, makes us feel that they are our friends— that they want us here,” Nguyen said.
The Soldiers at Camp Dragon share a sense of accomplishment and pride for the work they put into the event and for the work they do on a regular basis.
“I love showing other cultures how we work together and how we’re unified,” Holland said. “We’re brothers and sisters and we fight for one another.”
| Date Taken: | 07.04.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.10.2018 12:16 |
| Story ID: | 283707 |
| Location: | TORUN, PL |
| Web Views: | 128 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Multinational Kids’ Field Trip Visits Camp Dragon, by SGT Jacob Hester-Heard, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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