by Spc. Amanda Solitario
210th MPAD
LSA ANACONDA, Iraq - It started as a class project at Ramstein American Middle School in Germany only a few months ago. Since that time, the endeavor has jumped borders, catching on here as well as other forward operating bases across Iraq.
The bottle cap collection craze is helping to purchase a wheelchair for a disabled child in France. The goal is 1 million plastic bottle tops, and in exchange, a recycling company in Europe will donate the wheelchair. Thanks to the U.S. military, along with the children at the middle school, they are halfway there.
The movement of the program from Germany to Iraq began in May when Air Force Staff Sgt. Jessica Martinez, of the 332nd Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, heard of the ongoing program at her home station in Ramstein.
During her deployment to Anaconda, she got involved in the project and even expanded the collection to include the Army units on the base.
Before her departure, she managed to send more than 120,000 bottle caps back to Ramstein for donation, and the collecting continues today.
When the 411th Engineer Brigade, an Army Reserve unit out of New Windsor, N.Y., arrived in September, their predecessors had bottle cap collection points throughout the office, but nobody knew why they were saving the tops.
After a little investigation, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory Murray, the public affairs representative for the brigade, got to the bottom of the bottle cap mystery.
"I thought it was a hoax, and most of the Soldiers thought it was a joke too," he said.
After asking a few people for a point of contact, Murray said he was referred to the middle school. An email confirmed that it was not a cruel prank at all, but rather a great way to help a handicapped child.
Unfortunately, the school offered little information about the details of the project, and it was not until he saw a flyer in the Air Force fitness center that the specifics of the program were uncovered, he said.
Murray said at first he was turning all the caps over to the Air Force liaison for the program, but the participation within the 411th has become so great, that he now deals with Judith Zachrau, the teacher heading the collection in Germany, directly.
"Most of the Soldiers like the idea of helping out, and it doesn't take that much extra effort," said Murray, who lives in Louisville, Ky. "It is just the right thing to do."
For Maj. Lawrence Habig, OIC of the construction management section, the project has added meaning since his oldest daughter, Amanda, has cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair.
Habig said there are no bottle caps in his trash can, and the other Soldiers in his section are very conscious about donating the tops as opposed to throwing them away.
If a bottle cap is thrown away in the 411th Eng. Bde. building, it will surely be found by Staff Sgt. Art Taylor, a paralegal with the unit and a native of Putnam Valley, N.Y.
Taylor said he is such an advocate for the program that he will rummage through the garbage can to dig out the precious caps.
"I have a weakness for children," he said noting that everyone should do their part to help.
Any type of plastic bottle cap is suitable for donation. Whether it is the blue or white water bottle caps, or the orange Gatorade tops, servicemembers can turn them in at one of the various collection points around the base.
The sixth-grade math students at the middle school do all the counting for the servicemembers.
"All we have to do is send them in," Murray said.
This month the students hit the halfway point having received more than 500,000 caps so far. Murray estimates that the 411th Eng. Bde. has contributed about 30,000 tops, and said they will not stop there.
After the collecting is finished, the unit wants to keep the tradition going. They are in the process of trying to coordinate with recycling plants in New York to donate school supplies for Iraqi children in exchange for plastic bottle caps.
"We hope to continue this for two reasons," Murray said. "Recycling means less trash, and we just want to keep the good going."
For more information on the program and where units can drop off bottle caps, contact Air Force Staff Sgt. Devin Carter DSN 443-7503.
