Photo by Adam Vogler
Ralph Tebbetts talks to Mrs. Bluma's 6th grade class at Sacred Heart Catholic School about his time overseas with the Kansas National Guard. Tebbetts is conducting a drive to gather care packages for soldiers serving overseas. Sacred Heart students are collecting items for the drive.
Sacred Heart School sixth-graders quizzed Sgt. Ralph Tebbetts Friday afternoon about his role in the U.S. Army National Guard before handing over three boxes overflowing with treats for service men and women stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The children, students of Rita Bluma, had decided to contribute to the care-package project sponsored by Eagles Aerie 2587. The packages will be packed after the collection ends on Friday, with shipment planned to ensure delivery by Christmas.
The packages were filled with homemade cookies, gummy bears, bubble gum, jerky, batteries, games, Frisbees and other equipment, coffee and a variety of foods and goods that aren’t readily available to those stationed overseas.
Tebbetts assured the youngsters that their donations would be welcomed by the men and women who receive them.
“So don’t be surprised after the first of the year, maybe you’ll get some cards back,” he said.
Tebbetts wasn’t at school just to receive treats for the care packages. He also was there to talk to the children about being in the military and to answer their questions.
Hands shot up around the room as students waited for an opportunity to ask Tebbetts questions, including what is his favorite Meal Ready to Eat (MRE). “Meatloaf is good,” he said.
“Did you ever pray that your family would stay safe without you?” one child asked.
“Every day,” Tebbetts answered.
He said with e-mail and telephones, communicating with family and friends is easier for service men and women stationed overseas, and makes a significant difference in their peace of mind.
“Hearing each other’s voice was real important,” he said.
Several of the youngsters were interested in modes of transportation, and Tebbetts told them about his assignment in convoy operations, including tanks, as they move military personnel and materiels up and down the highways and roads.
“I got to load the gun, I got to shoot the gun,” Tebbetts told the youngsters.
“The coolest thing I ever rode in was the Black Hawk helicopter,” he said, describing the zigzag pattern the helicopter flew over the landscape. “That way, if the bad guys wanted to shoot at you, they’d have a hard time hitting you.”
He answered questions about the weight of his equipment — body armor, weapon, helmet, bullet-resistant sideplates or wings, knee pads, ammunition and back pack — that adds burdens the soldiers with extra pounds. And, he said, he always wears ear plugs.
“Those big old Army trucks, they’re not built to be quiet,” he said.
The students wanted to know where he had been and where he would be sent next. Tebbetts answered that he had recently returned from several months as an instructor at Ft. Lewis, Wash., and knew that because of long-range planning, that another deployment is in his future.
“We already know that in two years, our unit is going somewhere again,” he said.
“In February or March, I’m going to Saudi Arabia for two weeks on a training mission,” he said. “I’ve never been there, so I’ll add one more country to the places I’ve been.”
He and others will cross-train with Saudi Arabian soldiers.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s pretty exciting,” Tebbetts said.
Tebbetts has been stationed both in Kosovo and in Iraq on one-year tours of duty. The students got a bit of a world history lesson as he explained why the war was ongoing.
“The Serbians and the Albanians want control,” he said of Kosovo. “It got pretty ugly, so that’s when the United Nations and the United States stepped in and kind of separated them.”
A question about the weirdest thing he’d ever seen soon followed.
“Well, different cultures have different ways of doing things,” Tebbetts said. “What’s common to us over here would be different to them. ... When you go to someone else’s house, they do things different. When you go to another country, it’s the same thing, only on a different scale.”
One of the girls asked Tebbetts to give them advice on a career in the military.
“Just pay attention and listen,” he said. “Do as you’re told. I think it’s an excellent career and I’d recommend anybody to join.”
The military provides opportunities to try different types of jobs, further education “and you get to defend this great country of ours,” he said.
Has he ever regretted signing up for the Army National Guard, one student asked.
“I don’t think I’ve ever actually regretted it,” he said. “I’ve been to more places and done more things and seen more things in the 15 years I’ve been in the service than most people do in a lifetime.”
Tebbetts said later that community response to the care package project has been excellent, with about $1,300 coming in to pay for shipping costs, in addition to the tangible treats.
One youngster and his mother brought in a boot box full of games, batteries, and foods. He had spent his Christmas money, the mother said, on the care package project and had included a sealed envelope with a personal message to the recipient.
“(The envelope) said, ‘Merry Christmas. God loves you and so do we,’” Tebbetts said. “I just left it sealed and left it in the box. I just thought it was really cool. Some lucky soldier’s going to get that whole box. ... And I’m going to put a post-it note to let whoever gets it know that some little 7-year-old boy in town gave his Christmas money to buy this gift for a soldier.”
For more information on the project, call the Eagles Aerie, 342-1553, or Tebbetts, 757-5633.
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Posted by RalphTebbetts (anonymous) on November 24, 2008 at 3:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Remember, the Fund Drive ends this Fri. Nov 28. But it's not to late to donate! Call the Eagles Club or me for more details. And THANKS EMPORIA !!!
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