Operation Shoe Fly

We landed our big, bad, and beautiful CH47D Chinook helicopter in the tight landing zone to drop off supplies to the handful of Soldiers who operate out of the remote FOB. They are always glad to hear the loud whup whup of the tandem rotor blades as the sound travels down the valley bouncing off the mountain walls until they see us crest a ridge inbound for landing. Also glad to see us are the hundreds of Afghani children from the adjoining village wearing huge smiles and waving frantically as they run towards the aircraft, stopping as the strong rotor wash hits their faces.

While the cargo was being unloaded from the ramp of the Chinook, I walked over to a small group of kids and handed out some hard candies, much to their delight. Just as I was about to walk back to the helicopter I noticed a little boy meanly grabbing a candy out of the hand of a little girl whose blue eyes had sparkled as she smiled a "thank you" just moments before when I had placed the candy in her palm. Though she initially seemed sad, the light faded from her blue eyes, she quickly accepted the boy's dominance and walked away with the other children. This is a facet of the Afghan life and culture that we find hard to accept and patiently work to change for the future.

After the mission was complete and back at our home base, I was sitting around with a group of crewdogs cleaning our hogs (M60D machine guns). I mentioned what I had witnessed earlier regarding the little girl with the bright blue eyes and one of the crew chiefs said, "You got to unwrap the candy first when you give it to the girls Top, that way they can pop it in their mouth right away before the boys can get to it."

It seems my crewdogs have already figured out a way to bring some joy, even if for only as long as it takes to eat a piece of candy, to the Afghani children, boys and girls alike. The conversation continued with concern for the children of this place as Coalition forces fight to rid the Taliban and other enemies of Afghanistan while brining stability to the region so as to allow democracy to flourish, there are the children, the children with no shoes on their feet.

Just about every flight engineer and crew chief has noticed over the course of flying across this place called Afghanistan these past months that a large percentage of the children have no shoes to wear and of course, almost all of the girls are shoeless.

So my esteemed friends, in the spirit of America and minding the words of the infamous Steve Miller Band, I announce the beginning of Operation Shoe Fly in an effort to "shoe the children with no shoes on their feet." If you can collect the shoes, used or new, boys' and girls' (age 14 and under), and send them to me, my crewdogs and I will fly them out to the Afghani kids who so desperately need them.

Another way to help is of course by getting the word out on Operation Shoe Fly. I would be most appreciative for any and all help in spreading the word on our endeavor. Thanks.

In addition to protecting the feet of these young innocent children, we might even win some hearts and minds among their parents and who knows where the shoes might take these kids. This place is on the dawn of a future, determining how bright it will be rests on the shoulders of these kids with no shoes on their feet. What say you?

To anyone out there who plans on mailing care packages to our military troops or for the "Operation Shoe Fly".

When mailing packages to troop do not include the city name and country name. Only use the Operation or persons name it is directed to, the company name and the APO, AE and zip code.

If you include the city and country name it will go thru the regular postal system all the way to that country and will cost much much more. Otherwise it goes to a military location and the military postal system handles it from there which is much more secure.

For example:

Operation Shoe Fly

B Co, 214th AVN Regt.

APO AE 09354-9998

This is all you need.

Thanks to all for your support of our troops. If you would like a list of care package items just let me know and I'll forward one to you. Thanks again, Ginger Cofer