Children from a small school near Forward Operating Base Scania line up to receive school supplies and gifts, Oct. 27, during a Civil Military Operation conducted by the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team and the Iraqi Army. Photo by Spc. Cory Grogan, 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team.

Oregon National Guard members with Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 162 Infantry Regiment, based out of Springfield, Ore., from the 41st Infantry Brigade Combat Team, were recently able to make a positive impact on the hearts and minds of these children through the delivery of supplies, gifts, and other resources to their school.

The supplies that were donated for this most-recent mission came from the Tom Dearling Foundation, which provided 500 school kits with notebooks, crayons, pencils, sharpeners, pens, color markers, glue sticks and scissors.

The FOB has also donated building materials for a new school that is being built to consolidate four schools in the area into one larger school, scheduled to be completed in 2010.

"This support package provides an entire community the possibility to begin the process of providing their own self-independence and -education for the next generation," said Lt. Mark Major, a Eugene, Ore., native, executive officer for alpha company.

Major said he believes the kindness and support of the Tom Dearling Foundation will be multiplied ten-fold on the ground.

The children at the school have been visited by U.S. Soldiers many times, said Sgt. Julie Cavinee of Crewell, Ore., an administrative specialist with A Co.

Civil Military Operations have made a difference around this FOB, where the perception of children in nearby villages has changed quite a bit since A Co. first visited the school, according to Jesse Haggart, a Vancouver, Wa. Native, who is a team leader with A Co. Haggart said that when the company arrived they did a SWEAT – M assessment to assess the need for sewage, water, electricity, academics and trash.

Haggart said when they first started going on the missions the children were skeptical about the Soldiers intentions, but that they had a need for school supplies and a new school, among other things.

"We made it a point to let them know we are still here working with them, and now they know us and we have bonded," Haggart said.

"It's great to see all the classrooms filled and the kids that remember us; it has really progressed here," Cavinee said.