American at heart

A month or so ago, I saw a link on the Clear Channel website for "Operation Beanie Baby". Clear Channel had a ton of beanie babies to give away to the Iraqi children but not enough soldiers to do the handout. I immediately decided that I would be able to help out.

Well, I recieved my "package" today. I think there are about 50 beanie babies in it. Holy cow! There are gonna be alot of happy kids around Kirkuk these next couple of days. Enclosed was a letter about the operation. I'd like to share it with you.

850 KOA News Radio
"Operation Beanie Baby"

These beanie babies are a gift for you to give as a gift to the Iraqi children. Beanie babies were deployed from Denver, Colorado from Newsradio 850 KOA. More than 40,000 beanie babies were donated to Operation Beanie Baby.

These donated beanie babies come from a story about a member of a patrol who gave a Beanie Baby to a little Iraqi girl. A few days later, a patrol was coming by the little girl's home again and she was standing in the road. She refused to get out of their way. A soldier approached her and asked her why she was in the road. Clutching her Beanie Baby, she turned and pointed at an improvised explosive device (IED) she had seen terrorists plant along the patrol's intended route. This courageous little girl may have saved some American lives because an American military man had given her a Beanie Baby.

Thank you for our freedom and helping give a toy to a child in hopes of brightening their day.

Sincerely,

Newsradio 850KOA

What a good deal for myself and the Iraqi kids. You won't understand how gratifying it is to make a childs day here. You see how they live, with their mud huts and no shoes, and to be able to make them smile makes this whole deployment worth it for me. These kids are the future of Iraq. Let's hope they can make the best of what we are trying to do for them. This country can be great. It's all about the kids.