Doc Farmer: Two War Stories

In the last week, I came across two stories involving the War on Terror. One angered me beyond words; the other uplifted my belief in the honor and humanity of our troops. You probably won't hear about either one in the mainstream media, but I figured they were worth sharing.

The first story came out on Monday, via the New York Post. Apparently, one of our troops based in South Korea, only ten miles from the North Korean border, received a package from school children. Pfc. Rob Jacobs, whose home is in New Jersey, had received a bunch of letters from the William Alexander School (JHS 51) in Brooklyn, New York. As any soldier will tell you, letters from home, even those from strangers, are a blessing to receive. They break up the boredom of the lonely off-duty hours. They make you feel just a little less isolated when you're thousands of miles from home.

Or at least, they should have that effect. Sadly, however, this was not the case for some of the letters in this particular batch. The teacher of this particular social studies class, one Alex Kunhardt, apparently instructed his class to write the letters, but didn't seem to give much direction as to how those letters should be tailored. Out of 21 letters, nine of the students decided to go into an anti-war, anti-Iraq, anti-Bush diatribe. I am guessing that they may have been coached. They berated this lone soldier for his involvement in the destruction of mosques, the murder of civilians and the usual lib/dem/soc/commie diatribe we've come to expect from the MSM and the NEA.

Perhaps someone should have informed Mr. Kunhardt that American soldiers are not destroying mosques, nor are they murdering civilians. Further, he should buy a map. The war his students were decrying is going on in Iraq. Pfc. Jacobs is based in South Korea. Despite the same last name, there is a significant geographic difference between the Middle East and the Far East. Lastly, for middle school students, their spelling and grammar is atrocious. It's even worse than mine!

Now, think about this for a minute. You're a Private in the United States Army. You're farther away from home than you've ever dreamed you'd be in your entire life. You're less than a 20-minute drive from a country run by an incompetent whack-job despot with nukes, missiles, and not a whole hell of a lot to lose. If Kim Jong (mentally) Il decides to make a first strike, chances are you'll either be overrun by about a hundred thousand starving, well armed, and seriously honked off North Korean soldiers, or you'll end up as a shadow on the concrete wall behind you. Throw homespun hate mail into the mix, and chances are this is not going to do much for your morale.

Pfc. Jacobs, indeed all of our US military, deserve a major apology from this sorry excuse for an educator and those seriously deluded students who decided to attack a man whose job is to keep them safe. Jacobs deserves better, as does the rest of our military.

However, as angry as this situation makes me (and, I hope, you as well) another story gave me hope. It was in the form of a letter, but not from students to a soldier. It was, instead, a soldier's letter about students. Iraqi students.

A fair number of the posters on the ChronWatch Forum are fans of a certain talk radio personality. No, this time it's not El Rushbo. In Atlanta, there's a talk show host by the name of Neal Boortz. I've never heard his show, but from what many of our posters say, Mr. Boortz is the bee's knees. I've read his website (http://boortz.com) and it's very informative, funny, witty and infuriating in its accuracy of displaying the worst of lib/dem/soc/commie ''culture'' (and I use that term culture such a growth or colony of bacteria). I sincerely wish that his show were broadcast where I live. Well, maybe someday.

Anyway, Mr. Boortz does a daily update on his website called ''Nealz Newz'' - ah, another bad speller like myself - and he had a letter that he included from a soldier in Iraq:

My name is Sgt. Lamar Price I am currently with the 278th. Regemental Combat Team at Camp Caldwell Iraq. I am writting to ask you for help with a project I am trying to start here. A few weeks ago the 278th. opened a school in the area near here. I became aware that a lot of the children did not have shoes and were going to school barefoot in 50 degree weather. I am asking people to mail one pair of children's shoes to my address in Iraq. They can be any size boys or girls. They do not have to be new just servicable. I will then collect them and give to our patrols and convoys to pass out. My address is Sgt. Lamar Price RHHT278RCT PLT7 Camp Caldwell Iraq APO AEO 09374 As you know the United States does more good for the people of Iraq than ever gets reported in the media. Mr. Boortz, any advice or help you can give to get the word out will be deeply appreciated.

For those of you about to jump on Sgt. Price's spelling, I'd remind you that 1) he's in a war zone, 2) not all e-Mail systems include spell-checking software, and 3) he doesn't have a teacher from Brooklyn looking over his shoulder telling him how things should be spelled. Also, please note that when the sergeant talks about 50-degree weather, he's not talking Fahrenheit. He's referring to the Celsius scale. I know from personal experience that you don't want to be walking barefoot on anything when it's 122 degrees Fahrenheit outside.

Here's a soldier smack-dab in the middle of a war zone. He's just one of over 140,000 men and women dedicated to protecting America and ensuring the freedom of 25 million people. Is he asking for sympathy? Is he asking for support? Is he asking for armor for his Humm-V? Is he asking for Fig Newtons? No. He's asking for shoes. Shoes for Iraqi school children. Boys or girls, new or used, fancy or plain, doesn't matter. He puts his life on the line every single day, like every one of his compatriots over there, and his thoughts aren't for himself. They're for the kids he helped free, to make sure they don't burn their feet when they go to the schools that US soldiers have either rebuilt, or started from scratch.

I'm planning to write to both Mr. Kunhardt and Sgt. Price this week. For Mr. Kunhardt, I'll be filing a complaint to his principal and his district supervisor, asking how they could allow an educator to use a social studies project to spit vitriol at a brave American soldier. For Sgt. Price, I'll be heading over to Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of pairs of kids shoes, and a great big Thank You card.

If you'd like to complain to the school and the district about Mr. Kunhardt's heartless class project, here are the addresses -

That address again for sending children's school shoes (boys or girls, new or nearly new):

About the Writer: Doc Farmer is a writer and humorist who is also a moderator on ChronWatch's Forum. He formerly lived in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but now resides in the Midwest. Doc receives e-mail at docfarmer9999@yahoo.co.uk.

Recommended reading. I worked in the Middle East and one day in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, the temperature officially reached 56 degrees Celsius or 134 degrees Fahrenheit. Try getting into a car that has been parked in the sun!!

Lando

Greetings from Kirkuk, Iraq

It's true about no shoes, except now they are outside walking on the frozen ground with no shoes. But what they will tear you apart for is pens and pads!

If you send packages over, see if your soldier can get some pens out to the kids.

Thanks for all your support on FreeRepublic!

SSG Steve Schalock
HHC 3-116th AR

I guess a black car with black leather interior isn't a great idea it that area...

What a scumbag that teacher is. An email to it is in order.

Price is Right. And as for the teacher-- I guess enough good patriotic Americans did e-mail him and the Principlal
so the latest I've heard is he is now ready to accept responsability for his stupid and dangerous act.Can't undo what he has done--but he could educate the young minds full of mush to inform them that our troops have been put at increased risk trying to protect the Holy places,and the
innocent civillians. Tend to agree with a young LT. who called one talk show we need the draft to educate the American people about the actual work our troops do worldwide.

Thanks and God Bless .... and I'm pinging some FRiends to your post (#2).

Lando

Thank you for your service, Steve...just know that the huge majority of folks here in America know what a historic thing y'all are in the process of accomplishing.

FReegards...MUD

7 posted on 02/23/2005 10:27:55 AM PST by Mudboy Slim (Decrease the Federal Expenditures as a percentage of GDP from its present 20% to 12% by 2013!!)

Thanks for the ping.

The heartwarming news drowns out the bad news, but there is no excuse for teaching our kids in school to hate our troops, who are fighting and dying for their freedom.

That teacher should be fired -- I bet she coached the children in the hate mail. Children are not that hateful, left to themselves.

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