Operation Crayon

By Spc. Sean Kimmons, USA
Special to American Forces Press Service

KIRKUK, Iraq,-- As if hailing a famous rock
star's performance,
Iraqi children shouted and waved to 2nd Brigade Combat
Team, 25th Infantry
Division (Light) soldiers and Iraqi police who visited the
Halima Al-Sadeea
Elementary School to hand out school supplies as
part of "Operation
Crayon."

Operation Crayon has been an ongoing mission for the 2nd
BCT, and the
excitement displayed by the school children on this day was
the normal
treatment soldiers get when they are around Iraqi children
in this city.

"They're just like any other kid; they are shy, but will
open up and are very
receptive," Army Chief Warrant Officer Randall Reynolds,
2nd BCT Operation
Crayon coordinator, said about the Iraqi children.

It's also fun for the soldiers to play with the kids,
especially if they are
parents and haven't seen their own children in months, said
Reynolds, a
resident of Weatherford, Okla.

The main reason for the worldwide Operation Crayon mission
is to provide school
supplies for American troops to distribute to needy
children in countries where
they are deployed. It offers an approach for posts, units,
and especially
family members to support their troops as they promote
goodwill in war-torn
countries.

The 2nd BCT's Operation Crayon mission is meant to do all
that, but has
incorporated help from the the Iraqi security forces to
build a positive
reputation among the Iraqi people.

"We are grateful to provide these supplies to the
students," Sgt. Kurzan Adnan,
a Kirkuk policeman, said through an interpreter. "I think
the supplies will
make their studies easier."

The Hawaii-based 2nd BCT, with the help from Iraqi forces,
has donated more
than 6,500 packages of basic school supplies to about 20
schools.

"It has been bigger than I thought it would be," Reynolds
said about Operation
Crayon. "It's something that the people from Hawaii plus
everybody's family
members throughout the states really have stepped up to
help with."
According to Reynolds, the operation will carry on
throughout the school year.

"As we continue to receive supplies, we will go on with our
volunteers to
package the items and send them out to different schools,"
Reynolds said. "This
will be a program that we will hand off to the 116th
Cavalry Brigade as they
come aboard."

During the Christmas holiday, 2nd BCT is planning to
conduct an "Operation
Santa Claus," in which soldiers will hand out gifts
containing items that were
donated but not used in the school supply packages. These
gifts will go to
orphanages.

The Operation Crayon staff is accepting donations of
writing paper,
construction paper, pencils, pencil sharpeners, pencil
erasers, pens, markers,
chalk, chalk board erasers, glue, rounded-end scissors,
coloring books, soccer
balls and jump ropes, adhesive bandages and, of course,
crayons, preferably in
24-packs. Mail donations to Operation Crayon, Chaplain
Jonathan Etterbeek, HHC
2nd BCT 25th ID, APO AE 09347-9998.