We started out our Wednesday with yet another delicious breakfast provided to us by our hosts; today was breakfast casserole. The camp participants arrived with their usual excitement and energy, and the stage was set for an awesome day. Our task was to read stories to our groups, then to tie those stories back to life lessons and morals. It is amazing how many life lessons and teaching points that children's books contain, and being able to teach the children valuable lessons we certainly rewarding. After they heard each story, they then did a small craft, such as coloring a picture of an animal. The challenge of the day was a challenge that incorporated teamwork and cleaning skills. Various toys were scattered throughout the room, each toy was one of four colors, and each color had a matching bin. The participants were instructed to clean up all the objects and place them in the respective bins. Once all the groups had completed the challenge, read the story, and done the craft, we all went outside for some free-time. The weather had began to warm up a bit from the snowy conditions that we faced earlier this week; it was warm enough for it to be comfortable to wear a light jacket and still be plenty warm. After the outside playtime, it was lunchtime. I can't speak for everyone but I personally haven't had corndogs for quite some time, so when I saw them waiting on the lunch tables, I was pretty excited. After having more corndogs than I would care to admit, we took the kids to see a special surprise. An animal trainer came and brought with him animals that corresponded with the group names that we had assigned to each of our groups. He had with him a toad, a barn owl, a coati (which is a South American raccoon), a snake (the species slips my mind, but it was some type of constrictor), and the largest porcupine that I had ever seen. He exhibited them to the children and taught them some fun things about all of them. Most of the animals were viewed with a certain amount of wonderment, but the snake got mixed reviews. One girl started screaming and crying the second the zookeeper brought it out of its cage, but for the most part, all of the animals were very well received. After getting the opportunity to touch a porcupine quill and pet the snake, we took a group picture, then headed outside for more recreation time. The kids soon departed, and another awesome day at the spring break camp concluded.
Despite the children leaving, our day was far from over. We soon embarked what might be the single most amazing experience that we have experienced so far. We were given the opportunity to witness a homecoming of soldiers from Afghanistan. The 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division, the Rakkassans, were arriving after having spent 9 months abroad. We helped set up the hangar for their arrival, to include preparing refreshments for the families of the soldiers. We provided popcorn, cookies, coffee, soda and water to the families as they awaited the arrival of the plane that contained their loved ones. After several hours of scooping ice, brewing coffee, pouring sodas and stacking cookies, the announcement came across the speakers that the plane was just a few minutes away. A cheer went up from the crowd, and everyone quickly left the hangar to get a good view of the airstrip. Hundreds of people crowded fences that overlooked the landing strip, and before too long a plane appeared on the horizon and was greeted with a loud cheer. It touched down and taxied, then when the door to the plane opened, the crowd roared with excitement. The soldiers walked down the stairs and got in formation. The crowd returned to their seats in the hangar, the main hangar doors were thrown open, and the entire brigade marched into the hangar in formation. The emotion in the room was palpable, and the excitement from the crowd was uncontainable. After a short speech from General Stammer (the One-Star General that served as the Garrison Commander for Ft. Campbell), the soldiers were released for family time. As soon as the command for family time was issued, yet another cheer from the crowd was released, and the soldiers and families were joyfully reunited. Mothers, fathers and children ran down to the floor while soldiers ran up into the stands to greet their loved ones. It truly was an emotional scene, filled with passion, excitement, joy, and tears. We even greeted some of the soldiers whose families were unable to make it to Ft. Campbell. We thanked them for their service, and welcomed them back to the greatest country on earth. It was an awesome experience, and I am grateful for the opportunity provided to us. It was powerful and moving, and also helped us put our task in perspective. The children in our camp all have parents in the army, so when we saw children greeting their parent for the first time in nine months, it hit us hard. While none of our children had parents involved in this homecoming, we could still see them in our heads greeting their parents someday. In the end, this is an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything, and has helped renew my vigor for providing our campers with more love and support tomorrow.
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