Another Child Hero
10-Year-Old’s Vision Reaches Taji Children
By 1st Lt. Chris Heathscott / 39th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office
Jared Jolton, 10, began a project to get soccer balls, safety equipment and uniforms to children in Iraq. Courtesy photoTAJI, IRAQ, Dec. 16, 2004 – Stories of heroes are common in Iraq. The daily struggles of life in a combat zone have borne thousands. Our servicemen and women usually dominate these stories, but one in particular involves a hero who doesn't wear a uniform at all, at least not a military uniform. This one is dressed to play soccer…and he's 10 years old.
Jared Jolton was home in Colorado, when the soldiers with the 39th Brigade Combat Team's 3rd Battalion, 153rd Infantry, were lining up their convoy at Camp Taji, Iraq, for their day's mission on Dec. 11. Although physically on the other side of the world, it was Jared's vision that led to the mission to deliver a 5-ton truck full of soccer balls, clothing and equipment to some of the more needy children in Iraq.
" Once the soccer ball, cleats, socks, jersey, and shin guards were in his arms, he broke out with this great smile on his face. Seeing this little one just try to carry everything, while he was glowing as he was, would make anyone's heart melt. That totally made my day and there wasn't anything that could have brought me down,” Sage Harper, Colorado Springs resident.
"Jared has always been a kid who thought about how he could help others,” said his mother, Jill Jolton via e-mail. “Even when he was in pre-school we would drive past a corner where homeless people frequently solicited donations and he wanted to give them his sack lunch.”
His dream to help the less fortunate children was sparked one day when he saw he had 10 pairs of soccer shoes and shin guards that he had outgrown.
“He remarked how lucky he was to be able to get new gear each season and wanted to re-distribute the gear to people who weren't so lucky,” Jolton said. “While he first envisioned me and him driving back to the corner where the homeless people stand, he quickly did some math and the project grew. He figured that if all the families in his soccer club, the Colorado Rush, also had 10 pair of shoes laying around that he could quickly gather 10,000 pairs and get them to kids all around the world.”
With his drive for donations a success, now came the chore of getting the goods to their final destination. Colorado Springs resident, Sage Harper, got word of the issue and stepped in to help.
Harper, who with his six-man team, worked for ITT installing, operating, and maintaining more than 40 AT&T phone centers for the servicemen and women in Iraq, called on ITT for help.
“The costs of getting the gear through the soccer club would have been huge so I told ITT of my situation and asked them if they'd be willing to assist in shipping the gear via FedEx to us,” said Harper.” The... office gladly agreed to help out and the gear was shipped to Kuwait. Then we put the gear in the back of one of our new phone centers that happened to be heading to Taji.”
With donations on the ground in Iraq, Harper now sought the assistance of the 39th Brigade Combat Team to take on the final phase of delivery to the children. He presented his request for assistance to the brigade's civil affairs staff officer, and commander of the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion, Maj. Michael Guiles, who was very willing to assist
“As I started to find out the story about Jared the more motivated I was to do this,” Guiles said. Guiles presented the project to his battalion representatives, with the 3rd Battalion jumping on the opportunity to deliver the equipment to the children in their area of operations.
“Capt. Robbins was very proactive,” said Guiles. “I put it out on the table, and said if you guys want to get involved in this be quick about it,” Guiles said. “(He) helped us put it all together and he could maneuver it, so that's why we went with them.” The most difficult portion of the project now behind them, Harper and the soldiers were now loading up for the “easy” part…a combat operation outside the wire to deliver the goods to the children of Husaniyah.
“At the first site, in the beginning, there was a little boy who must have only been a bit taller than my knee,” said Harper. “He got up to the front of the line and seemed to have a blank expression on his face as to why was he even there. He looked around till he finally glanced up into the back of the 5-ton as a soccer ball was being dropped.” “Once the soccer ball, cleats, socks, jersey, and shin guards were in his arms, he broke out with this great smile on his face,” he said. “Seeing this little one just try to carry everything, while he was glowing as he was, would make anyone's heart melt. That totally made my day and there wasn't anything that could have brought me down.”
With the 39th 's multiple missions overshadowed by the realities of an environment infested with insurgents driving a continued war to stop progress in Iraq, Harper now saw the efforts in a different light. “I feel bad but I really didn't know of much of this type of work being done,” he said. “I've heard about several units adopting schools, etc…but never openly doing good things like this in a community. This was totally amazing and I'm sure that the unit makes a difference. Only time will tell.”
While the smiles from the children provided a measure of effectiveness for the mission, the sight of our uniformed soldiers handing over these gifts potentially marked them as heroes to these kids. Although many were involved to make this dream a reality, there was only one “real” hero. “Jared's one of my heroes,” Guiles said. “I think that this is a great example that even today no matter how complex the world is, everybody stands a chance at making a difference in the world. Even at 10 years old you can affect the way that people live and you can change somebody's life. It's awesome.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/americasupportsyou/kids/stories/11639873.html
By 1st Lt. Chris Heathscott / 39th Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs Office
Jared Jolton, 10, began a project to get soccer balls, safety equipment and uniforms to children in Iraq. Courtesy photoTAJI, IRAQ, Dec. 16, 2004 – Stories of heroes are common in Iraq. The daily struggles of life in a combat zone have borne thousands. Our servicemen and women usually dominate these stories, but one in particular involves a hero who doesn't wear a uniform at all, at least not a military uniform. This one is dressed to play soccer…and he's 10 years old.
Jared Jolton was home in Colorado, when the soldiers with the 39th Brigade Combat Team's 3rd Battalion, 153rd Infantry, were lining up their convoy at Camp Taji, Iraq, for their day's mission on Dec. 11. Although physically on the other side of the world, it was Jared's vision that led to the mission to deliver a 5-ton truck full of soccer balls, clothing and equipment to some of the more needy children in Iraq.
" Once the soccer ball, cleats, socks, jersey, and shin guards were in his arms, he broke out with this great smile on his face. Seeing this little one just try to carry everything, while he was glowing as he was, would make anyone's heart melt. That totally made my day and there wasn't anything that could have brought me down,” Sage Harper, Colorado Springs resident.
"Jared has always been a kid who thought about how he could help others,” said his mother, Jill Jolton via e-mail. “Even when he was in pre-school we would drive past a corner where homeless people frequently solicited donations and he wanted to give them his sack lunch.”
His dream to help the less fortunate children was sparked one day when he saw he had 10 pairs of soccer shoes and shin guards that he had outgrown.
“He remarked how lucky he was to be able to get new gear each season and wanted to re-distribute the gear to people who weren't so lucky,” Jolton said. “While he first envisioned me and him driving back to the corner where the homeless people stand, he quickly did some math and the project grew. He figured that if all the families in his soccer club, the Colorado Rush, also had 10 pair of shoes laying around that he could quickly gather 10,000 pairs and get them to kids all around the world.”
With his drive for donations a success, now came the chore of getting the goods to their final destination. Colorado Springs resident, Sage Harper, got word of the issue and stepped in to help.
Harper, who with his six-man team, worked for ITT installing, operating, and maintaining more than 40 AT&T phone centers for the servicemen and women in Iraq, called on ITT for help.
“The costs of getting the gear through the soccer club would have been huge so I told ITT of my situation and asked them if they'd be willing to assist in shipping the gear via FedEx to us,” said Harper.” The... office gladly agreed to help out and the gear was shipped to Kuwait. Then we put the gear in the back of one of our new phone centers that happened to be heading to Taji.”
With donations on the ground in Iraq, Harper now sought the assistance of the 39th Brigade Combat Team to take on the final phase of delivery to the children. He presented his request for assistance to the brigade's civil affairs staff officer, and commander of the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion, Maj. Michael Guiles, who was very willing to assist
“As I started to find out the story about Jared the more motivated I was to do this,” Guiles said. Guiles presented the project to his battalion representatives, with the 3rd Battalion jumping on the opportunity to deliver the equipment to the children in their area of operations.
“Capt. Robbins was very proactive,” said Guiles. “I put it out on the table, and said if you guys want to get involved in this be quick about it,” Guiles said. “(He) helped us put it all together and he could maneuver it, so that's why we went with them.” The most difficult portion of the project now behind them, Harper and the soldiers were now loading up for the “easy” part…a combat operation outside the wire to deliver the goods to the children of Husaniyah.
“At the first site, in the beginning, there was a little boy who must have only been a bit taller than my knee,” said Harper. “He got up to the front of the line and seemed to have a blank expression on his face as to why was he even there. He looked around till he finally glanced up into the back of the 5-ton as a soccer ball was being dropped.” “Once the soccer ball, cleats, socks, jersey, and shin guards were in his arms, he broke out with this great smile on his face,” he said. “Seeing this little one just try to carry everything, while he was glowing as he was, would make anyone's heart melt. That totally made my day and there wasn't anything that could have brought me down.”
With the 39th 's multiple missions overshadowed by the realities of an environment infested with insurgents driving a continued war to stop progress in Iraq, Harper now saw the efforts in a different light. “I feel bad but I really didn't know of much of this type of work being done,” he said. “I've heard about several units adopting schools, etc…but never openly doing good things like this in a community. This was totally amazing and I'm sure that the unit makes a difference. Only time will tell.”
While the smiles from the children provided a measure of effectiveness for the mission, the sight of our uniformed soldiers handing over these gifts potentially marked them as heroes to these kids. Although many were involved to make this dream a reality, there was only one “real” hero. “Jared's one of my heroes,” Guiles said. “I think that this is a great example that even today no matter how complex the world is, everybody stands a chance at making a difference in the world. Even at 10 years old you can affect the way that people live and you can change somebody's life. It's awesome.”
http://www.defenselink.mil/americasupportsyou/kids/stories/11639873.html
posted by Anonymous at 10:00 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home