European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse Stars and stripes Mideast edition Winter Good by Megan Mccloskey stars and stripes the Snow had melted in but at a Remote Village feet up in the mountains of Afghanistan past where the pavement runs out it was still very much Navy Howard Smith recalls of a Day last the children of Wardak province orphanage were lined up in order of smiling and wearing their new Winter Coats and they All had been taught a few words of and they were very eager to show it saying thank you in unison with great he wrote from Afghanistan in an email to stars and what started out in december As a Sim ple desire to hand out a few pairs of gloves and maybe some shoes to the children out Side the Gate at Camp Phoenix turned into More than 500 boxes of clothes donated from All Over the who works at naval Hospital Okinawa and is currently deployed for a 14month tour As a facilities Engineer with task Force travels around the Kabul area to assess engineering i was always shocked to see both Chil Dren and adults in sub freezing tempera Tures without gloves or he the level of poverty Here is simply overwhelming and can Only be truly appreciated by seeing it in Smith decided he would buy some win Ter clothing to hand he emailed his wife about his plans and asked her to pack up some stuff from Kab Howard to stars and stripes an afghan National army Soldier helps Load a truck with the boxes of donated clothing to distribute to an orphanage in an isolated part of the Tuyen a special education teacher at Bob Hope primary school on Kadena air emailed her friends and family in the states and sent out a school wide email about the clothing word spread to teachers on Mainland Japan and Europe and soon pounds Worth of clothing showed up in Afghani the response has been Howard Smith a second Grade class at Ike go elementary school on Yokosuka naval base did a class project on the clothing we got massive donations that filled up our second Grade hallway for a couple of Ike go teacher Alyce Childers Mayra a teacher at Giessen Ameri can High school in heard about the project from a teacher on whom she used to work with in students at Giessen High school and mid dle school collected 35 Large boxes and shipped them off in Seitz Smith said he has had to enlist the help of some of the Seabee with his unit to sort the clothes by size and Type and then allot it for various such Asim Pover shed villages and i was Lucky to have a Chance meeting with a women organization that has been in place for Over 15 years helping the Smith wrote about those who have assisted with the i was also fortunate to meet with a local contractor though by no Means Rich dedicated himself to supporting an orphanage in the Kabul Smiths wife said he was really Down before Starling the doing some thing with such tangible effect on the afghan people has been a big morale boost for both Smith and the other servicemen Bers Tuyen but the effect on his Smith has been certainly it is great to give something to people who have yet it is not until you get involved that you realize just How Large the problem he wrote in the Smith said he Doest know what will happen to the Winter clothing project once he returns to Okinawa in but he feels privileged to have visited the Remote areas of the meeting the he is an experience i wont soon email Megan Mccloskey at eight Taliban reported killed As afghans fend off attack stars and stripes a fierce Battle Between afghan Security guards and Taliban fight ers has left at least nine people dead in a Village in the afghan province of officials said according to and afghan More than 80 Taliban fighters attacked a compound near the Village manned by afghan Security in a six hour military officials the Security guards killed eight Taliban one of these purity guards was a later nato statement said five afghan Security troops had been killed in the it was unclear saturday morn ing whether or nato Mili tary forces helped the afghan but a military state ment made no mention of direct american involvement in what was described As pitched fight the afghan Security guards fought a courageous Battle against a significantly larger Tali ban Force in army Chris a combined joint task force82 spokes per was quoted As saying in the afghan National Security forces have again demonstrated their commitment to bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan while Taliban fighters continue to bring death and the state ment this cowardly attack conducted by the Taliban is another attempt to terrorize afghan i no civilians were Hurt in the at according to the Rafiq a Soldier of company 4th infantry regiment guards a Street during foot patrol near Bay Lough for Ward operating base in Afghanistan Zabul province on military services we do what we say say what we do from construction to maintenance from supplies to installation weve Gar it All located at Afghanistan Qatar Kuwait Iraq email us
