Posted on 01/17/2010 2:05:02 PM PST by SandRat
By U.S. Army Spc. Monica K. Smith
3rd Combat Aviation Brigade Public Affairs
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Sgt. Matthew West said he didn’t know what to expect when a rock came flying at him.
West, a crew chief with Company A, Task Force Knighthawk, Task Force Falcon, was recently guarding his Black Hawk at a landing zone at Camp Kiwi, Bamyan, Afghanistan when a small child threw a rock at him.
“Children throwing rocks isn’t unexpected out here,” West said. “You never know what people really think of you out here so I just assumed it was another kid taunting us.”
But this kind of rock throwing was different; the rock had a note attached to it. The note indicated that the boy taught an English class in Bamyan Province. The child, who spoke excellent English, was requesting school supplies to help him teach his class.
“His English was really good and I thought ‘why not help a kid who wants to educate others?’” said West. “It’s part of the whole ‘winning the hearts and minds of the people of Afghanistan,’ and what better way to win the minds than by educating them? So, when (our flight) got back to Bagram I talked it over with some of the guys in my company and we decided we wanted to help them.”
One of the Soldiers West talked to was U.S. Army Spc. Sean Noonan, also a crew chief in Co. A, TF Knighthawk. Noonan took the lead on the project, gathering together school supplies, clothing and candy, to donate to the Afghan people in Bamyan. Three weeks later they had enough boxes to fill the back of a Black Hawk and began planning a mission to return to Bamyan.
“When I heard West talking about what happened, I don’t know, I just felt like we should do something to help them,” said Noonan. “I think a lot of the time as Soldiers we get carried away with performing the combat portion of our mission. I think it’s good to remember we’re also here to help the Afghan people – and in this case, we can help their children receive a good education, or at least give them the supplies to continue their education.”
When the two Black Hawks landed at Camp Kiwi, Jan. 13, the temperature read minus 10 degrees. With steam flowing from their mouths and noses, the air crews moved the supplies from the back of their aircraft to a connex box belonging to Padre Leon O’Flynn, chaplain with the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team.
“There’s a girls school here that has 2,000 students and a boys school that has more than 3,000 students attending,” said O’Flynn. “These supplies will go far to help them. There’s nothing they don’t need or won’t use. The school supplies and clothing will be gone quickly. We try to get to the more remote villages too. Every little bit we receive helps.”
Though the Soldier didn’t have the opportunity to hand out the supplies personally, before leaving Camp Kiwi, they took time to talk with the children who live in Bamyan. One teenager, 18-year-old Qugamali, who also teaches English classes in Bamyan, said in school they are learning about Japan and how after World War II The United States helped Japan recover.
“Right now Afghanistan is backwards but maybe we can be like Japan,” said Qugamali. “The Americans come in and help us become secure. The Taliban can’t make Afghanistan secure.”
The quality of English that is spoken is surprising said Noonan as he and Qugamali continued to talk. But what is more surprising says Noonan is their comprehension of what is going on in their country.
“I know education here isn’t what it is back in the states so I was surprised to hear him make the comparison between what we’re doing here to what we did in Japan,” said Noonan. “It’s good to know that the people here, even if they’re children, understand that in the end we’re here to help their country.”
As Noonan and Qugamali continued to talk Qugamali said he wants to be a journalist when he gets older.
“To be a journalist in the future you must know three languages,” said Qugamali. “If we have the (school supplies) we can learn, otherwise it is very hard for us to learn. It is good that we have help.”
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