Most of the students at Walpole High School have grown up with the war in Iraq, and almost everyone knows a soldier who has served in Iraq or who is serving there now. Although the war was extremely prevalent on news stations in the beginning, ten years later Iraq barely makes news headlines anymore; however, there are still multiple missions going on to help the Iraqi civilians and to establish a democratic stronghold over the nation. On Wednesday, March 16 LTC Thomas Stewart came to the high school during advisory to talk to students who advocated an interest in community service. Although LTC Stewart was supposed to talk about sending letters and care packages to soldiers, he also talked about the war as a whole and what his battalion was doing to help the civilians in Iraq. LTC Stewart graduated from Walpole High School in 1987, and his former Walpole High School classmate, who contacted the school about letters to soldiers also runs the Friends and Family of the 182nd battalion (FF-182), one of the oldest battalions in the nation tracing its lineage back to the battles of Lexington and Concord. The idea of letters to soldiers was first proposed by Brian and Helen Connor, who organized the FF-182. From there, Nancy Gallivan took a lead role in organizing letters to soldiers along with John Griffin and Jennifer McDonald.
The purpose of the assembly was to “inform students about the project, and let them hear Mr. Stewart speak,” said junior John Griffin, who helped organize this event. During the assembly LTC Stewart mostly talked about what the environment in Afghanistan is like and his experiences there. However, the one subject he stressed the most was that his battalion’s work is strictly humanitarian. They take on tasks such as distributing supplies, working with village elders, and building infrastructure. Next, LTC Stewart explained the purpose of the letters: to raise troops’ morale. Along with the letters, students are also able to send supplies which would be given to local villagers to help improve their quality of life.
Elaborating on the purpose of letters to soldiers, Mrs. Gallivan said, “As part of the yearly strategic planning for the Walpole Public Schools, one component is to encourage students to participate in community service to both show appreciation of the community’s support for students and secondly because it is an educational opportunity that differs from classroom learning.” Mrs. Gallivan hopes to extend the letters to soldiers project outside of the 182nd battalion to other Walpole families who have family members on active duty.
Although the war in Afghanistan and Iraq has been an extremely controversial topic, the goal of letters to soldiers it to simply boost morale while participating in community service. Mrs. Gallivan said, “I believe that we have learned that people with differing feelings around national policy can come together to support the individuals who choose to serve our country.” LTC Stewart is committed to facilitating two-way communication and helping letters to soldiers to be a community service opportunity, but also a learning experience. “We are developing video clips, a blog, and a Facebook page to help facilitate this learning [that cannot be experienced by just reading the newspaper,]” said Mrs. Gallivan. More information about how individuals can get involved will be available in the near future.