In April of 2008 I was on my way to Knoxville, Tennessee to represent HR Florida and the Big Bend Society for Human Resource Management at the Southeastern Regional SHRM Student Conference and HR Games. While on layover in the Atlanta airport I found a seat and open power outlet to plug in my laptop and get some work done. Shortly thereafter I noticed soldier after soldier arriving at the gate directly across from me. A few minutes later more and more soldiers continued to arrive at the gate. Before long there were upwards of 100 to 200 soldiers in the gate. I wasn’t really sure what to think.
Time went by as I buried my head in returning emails. A soldier came and sat near me to use the same power outlet for his laptop. I asked him where he was from and where all the soldiers were going. He responded with a blank face, “We have all just finished a two week leave and are on our way back to Iraq.” I quickly learned that his name is Robert (Sergeant to be exact) and is the same age as me, 26. He is part of the 67th Specialized Search Dog Platoon, Canine Company, 5th Engineer Battalion, 5-55 Engineer Brigade.
To be honest with you I didn’t really know what to say and I didn’t want to pry into experiences revolving around the war as I wasn’t sure how he would respond. I stuttered a few times trying to dance around the subject when I just came out and asked how he was doing. It was as if he was waiting for me to ask. Robert described how hard his military experience with the war has been on his family, especially for his wife and small child. I gave him a business card and told him if he felt like it, he could email me whenever he wanted. I also told him I was interested in sending over a care package.
Before long it was for me to catch my flight, but not before I had to maneuver my way through a sea of camouflage. Seeing all of these young soldiers awaiting their return to war is something that is burned into my memory. The experience truly put things in perspective for me.
Since that day, Sergeant Dami has contacted me via email and provided me with some ideas for care packages. After a few emails back and forth I asked myself how I could do more to show my support and we came up with a project, "Operation: Fury Soldiers." I am gathering the names of soldiers and their dogs in his unit in order to provide information on all of them including needs and a few wants in addition to toys for the dogs. My plan is to put all the information together into a package of some sort and offer them up to friends, family and co-workers to "adopt". If you're interested let me know!
Time went by as I buried my head in returning emails. A soldier came and sat near me to use the same power outlet for his laptop. I asked him where he was from and where all the soldiers were going. He responded with a blank face, “We have all just finished a two week leave and are on our way back to Iraq.” I quickly learned that his name is Robert (Sergeant to be exact) and is the same age as me, 26. He is part of the 67th Specialized Search Dog Platoon, Canine Company, 5th Engineer Battalion, 5-55 Engineer Brigade.
To be honest with you I didn’t really know what to say and I didn’t want to pry into experiences revolving around the war as I wasn’t sure how he would respond. I stuttered a few times trying to dance around the subject when I just came out and asked how he was doing. It was as if he was waiting for me to ask. Robert described how hard his military experience with the war has been on his family, especially for his wife and small child. I gave him a business card and told him if he felt like it, he could email me whenever he wanted. I also told him I was interested in sending over a care package.
Before long it was for me to catch my flight, but not before I had to maneuver my way through a sea of camouflage. Seeing all of these young soldiers awaiting their return to war is something that is burned into my memory. The experience truly put things in perspective for me.
Since that day, Sergeant Dami has contacted me via email and provided me with some ideas for care packages. After a few emails back and forth I asked myself how I could do more to show my support and we came up with a project, "Operation: Fury Soldiers." I am gathering the names of soldiers and their dogs in his unit in order to provide information on all of them including needs and a few wants in addition to toys for the dogs. My plan is to put all the information together into a package of some sort and offer them up to friends, family and co-workers to "adopt". If you're interested let me know!
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