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It was a trip well worth making. Being a part of a
humanitarian effort is enough to make some Soldiers want to be
here. But preparations for this trip started months ago when it
was ordered by higher ups that all such humanitarian aid
missions must stop due to the high risk involved with sending
troops into harms way. No one had been allowed to conduct such
a mission for far too long.
I had far too many donations coming in the mail and going
to storage. Captain Jennings, who also serves with the 382nd
Military Police, and myself were discussing all these donations
and the fact that we couldn’t get them to the Afghan people who
needed them. CPT Jennings told me “SGT Galan, you find a five
ton truck and a driver, and I will find the convoy protective
services to escort our mission.”
CPT Jennings got started right away - taking names - he put
together all we needed for a humanitarian mission to go outside
the wire. He negotiated with MP’s to escort us with enough fire
power, and he selected a crew of soldiers from our detachment,
who could appreciate such a mission, to help with ground
security once we got to where we were going. My mission to find
the truck was done soon after I started looking. And I tracked
down a five ton and a driver who was willing to take this
assignment. As the donations kept coming from our folks back
home who were sending children’s clothing, books for school,
pens and pencils, baby blankets, and toys, we were all getting
so excited about the mission. We contacted Chaplain Bell from
the hospital and asked him to join us in our efforts. Now we
had a Chaplain to make us mission ready. What could go wrong?
Somewhere along the line everything fell apart when one
particular person found out about the mission and decided it was
too dangerous and brought our plans to an end. However, CPT
Jennings and the rest of us did not give up. He along with MAJ
Johnson, also from our detachment, contacted the right people in
their circles and somehow gained approval for the mission to go
on after all. But then we hit another snag. The person who
tried to cease our mission, pulled the truck driver leaving us
without the means of getting the donations to the people. N O T
!
Our mission continued to drive on and on that day the
donations brightened faces, young and old, that had not seen the
soldiers arrive to give out humanitarian aid in quite some
time. We visited a school for both boys and girls of all ages.
I will never forget the little boy who was handed a simple ball
point pen. It almost brought the young boy to tears as he said
to the soldier “I’m learn now”. That was the moment that was
worth all the risk for me. In fact, every one of our Soldiers
felt good about this experience, risks being what they were.
Thank you CPT Mark S. Jennings and MAJ Charles Johnson for such
perseverance.
There are lots of pictures of soldiers enjoying the visit
with the kids\but only one of me. I had a very special task for
that mission and I could not abandon my vehicle since I… drove
the five ton.
It has been since November 2007 since I said good-by to my
family and friends and headed for the sand box on 400 day
orders. And on 24 July 2008 I will start my journey home for
R&R leave which should get me home around 28-29 July. A lot has
happened since I left, both here in Afghanistan and in the U.S.
I am looking forward to fifteen days of family and friends and
catching up on it all.
I would like to thank Adam Steck, CEO, Thunder From Down
Under–Las Vegas. He responded to an email wanting some photos
of the guys for some female Soldiers, by sending a box full of
autographed Calendars with pages of dancers. Us girls loved the
thoughtfulness and add that after seeing the calendars “we have
never been so alive” |
