Posted on 04/19/2006 6:29:37 PM PDT by SandRat
WILLCOX Some soldiers of the 269th Signal Company jumped from Fort Huachuca to this agriculture community in northeastern Cochise County Tuesday.
In the military, jumping is the movement of a unit from one place to another, like what is happening the next couple of weeks with the 11th Signal Brigade during Huachuca Thunder 2006, an exercise to validate the brigades communications equipment.
But Mondays jump for a small group of the 269th also was to show appreciation to students at the Willcox school system, especially the middle school students.
The students became pen pals with one of the 269ths sister companies, the 69th, most of whose soldiers are in Iraq. The 269th and 69th are part of the brigades 504th Signal Battalion. The 69th is due back from Iraq in May.
Sarah Williams, 12, said she has corresponded with Spc. Alyce Hightower.
I asked her what did she like to do and if she had a pet, the sixth-grader said.
Hightowers response was she likes to dance but doesnt have a pet, Sarah said.
A student at Willcox Middle School said she enjoyed the pen pal program because it gave her the opportunity to write to a soldier and express her appreciation for what Hightower was doing.
Jesus Machado, 12, has written six letters to Sgt. 1st Class Bobby Brown.
I asked him about his family, the sixth-grade student said.
The soldiers response was that he has a daughter and a dog named Otiz, Jesus said.
The middle school student also wanted to know how Brown faired on his physical training test and the response from the noncommissioned officer was he aced it, getting a 300.
Some of the 269th soldiers put students through some PT at the park.
Jesus said he could do a few push-ups, but Sarah remarked, I couldnt even do one.
Besides push-ups, soldiers and students ran around a serpentine paved area and not always did the GIs come in first.
Sixth-grade teacher Mercedes Rivera said the pen pal idea had two goals. First was to instill patriotism in the students. The other was to improve their writing skills.
I thought it would help on their AIMS test, Rivera remarked.
And the pen pal program did bring some writing scores up, she said.
Of the approximately 400 students from elementary school through high school who took part in the Monday event, 200 of them all middle school students were involved in the program, Rivera said, adding it was all letter writing through the postal service.
The display of Signal Corps equipment was designed to show the students what soldiers use when deployed.
Some students had the opportunity to use a remote control device to hook up a box and move it around. Others sat in the control chair of a pole truck, which was not operated.
Students also had the opportunity to talk on a radio, which they enjoyed, Sgt. Gus Gonzalez said.
Hi, I can hear you, or I cant hear you; speak louder were some of what the students said through the radio, said Gonzalez, an assistant section sergeant in the 269th.
What surprised the young people was that the radio system they were using had a distance of 40 miles, he said.
When it came to the Triband, a special piece of equipment that incorporates a dish that can connect to a satellite and provide multiple communications to users, the students were interested in seeing the dish rotate, said Sgt. Matthew Green, a Triband team chief.
Soldiers took off their battle gear and allowed students to put the equipment on.
Students put on gas masks, body armor, helmets and other gear, although most students declined to have the heavy knapsacks put on their shoulders.
More than one student could only comment wow, heavy.
First Lt. Joseph Kachmar, the 269ths executive officer, was in one area helping the students put on the gear.
The object of the administrative jump was to let the students know what the brigade does.
The exercise began Monday. That night, the 269th tore down its site on the fort and moved out early Tuesday morning to set up in Willcox, Kachmar said. Later Tuesday, the unit would jump back to the post and set up again and return to the exercise.
The brigade is not only at various post sites. Elements of the organization will be at Chandler, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Douglas, Picacho Peak and Safford in Arizona, as well as Lordsburg, N.M.
Tuesdays dual jumps will not be the final ones for the unit during the exercise.
Weve already been told were going to jump at least twice more, Kachmar said. We dont know when or where.
Can I hear a Dit-Dah, Dit-Dah, and see a Wig-Wag, Wig-Wag for the 11th Signal Brigade???
BTTT
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