At 7 a.m. on Christmas day, some U.S. soldiers in Iraq opened 27 packages that made even some of the most seasoned among them cry.

The packages — stuffed with goody-filled stockings — had come from East Limestone High School students who knew their gifts of snacks, socks, toiletries and homemade cards would be appreciated but they didn’t know how much.

On Friday, Lt. Col. Andris Ikstrums, support operations officer for the 1st Battalion, 402nd Army Field Support Brigade, stopped by the school during a brief trip home to Harvest and told them how much their gifts meant.

When the solders pulled out the Christmas stocking and read the cards, “there were a whole bunch of teary eyes,” Ikstrums told students in Connie Barksdale’s consumer science class. “It was amazing, I’ll tell you, seeing first sergeants and others with 20 or 30 years with the military with tears streaming down their faces.”

The duties of the 402nd, which is stationed about 80 miles north of Baghdad, include making sure units have the very newest equipment, including armor upgrades for vehicles to protect soldiers from roadside bombs.

Ikstrums’ Christmas morning reveries also moved the students, some of whom have brothers stationed in Iraq.

“I have a brother in the military and he gets homesick,” said Sarah McKennie. “I know it would make him feel better to get a package like this, so I wanted to make someone feel better.”

Brooke Lamb, who also has a brother in the military, said she enjoyed helping with the project “just knowing it was going to make someone feel better. ”

This was the second year Barksdale’s students have sent Christmas stockings to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they have been doing projects for soldiers since 2001, the teacher said.



Socks waiting in the wings



When this years project began at East, students were told to collect snacks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, money for postage and socks. In Iraq and Afghanistan, soldiers are continually changing their socks, Ikstrums said. Sand quickly deteriorates them and hot weather necessitates frequently changing. With this in mind, students managed to sock away a lot of socks. In all, they collected 759 pair. In a classroom at the school are hundreds of pairs of socks that wouldn’t fit into the 27 Christmas boxes. Students could only afford to send 27 boxes at Christmas because the postage was $350.

On Friday, they gave the rest of the socks — packed in 21 flat-rate boxes — to Donna Spears with the Soldiers Angels program. She will send them to soldiers overseas. Spears, who often spends her own money sending care package to soldiers, could use small donations to help cover postage.

If you would like to help the students with their project, mail a check or money order to Spears at 230 Amber Lane, Harvest, AL 35749 or send her e-mail at donnasoldiersangels@gmail.com. If you want to know more about the Soldiers Angels program before you decide to donate, go online to www.soldiersangels.com.



Ongoing war, ongoing project



After thanking the students for their generosity Friday, Ikstrums gave Barksdale and her students a commemorative plaque as well as a flag that had been raised at midnight Dec. 31, 2009, over a 1st Battalion combat zone. He also threw a pizza party for the students because nobody likes pizza more than teenagers. As the party was winding down, one young man approached Ikstrums and told him, “Thanks for fighting for us, dude.”

That about said it all.