Giving soldiers wings
Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006
ROGERS — In March, the 150 members of Battery C, 1 st Battalion of the 142 nd Field Artillery Brigade will get a four-day leave before shipping out for a year in Iraq.
But the northwest Arkansas National Guard troops, many of them already financially strapped since being called to active duty last year, may not be able to get home from Fort Dix, N. J., where they’ve been training since early December. "For some of the soldiers, just going to active duty is a hardship for their families, so to come up with money to come home is pretty much impossible for some of them," said Lisa Reading, family readiness leader for Battery C. "If they were in country, already in Iraq, (the government) would help them come back, but since this is kind of a vacation, they leave it up to the soldiers to pay."
Reading, whose husband, Derrell Reading, is a staff sergeant in the battalion and a computer analyst for Wal-Mart, is part of a fundraising committee trying to raise enough money to bring the soldiers home on a chartered plane.
The effort has been dubbed Operation Give a Soldier Wings.
So far, the group has raised more than $26,000, including donations from the Wal-Mart Foundation, George’s Inc. and Assembly Line Inc., as well as from individual donors, she said.
They’ve also had "a ham and bean supper, a bake sale, and we’re selling raffle tickets for a Remington Model 870 SPS-T (shotgun)," Reading said. The gun, according to Guns magazine, is "the most popular and versatile pump shotgun in the country."
Anyone who’d like to help by purchasing a raffle ticket, or several tickets, Reading said, can do so at the National Guard Armory on Arkansas Street in southeast Rogers.
And on Saturday, radio station KURM will host an auction of merchandise donated by area businesses, she said.
The committee also has other plans for raising money, including a Poker Run and a chili supper, set for Feb. 11 at the Rogers Armory, but details aren’t yet final, she said.
Despite its efforts, the group is far from reaching its goal of $71,000 to finance the trip for the soldiers, who range in age from teenagers to family men like her husband, she said.
In fact, Reading said, about one-third of the soldiers are single and under the age of 21.
The battery has already missed one Christmas with their families. Their 18-month deployment means they will almost surely miss another one, Reading said. "They really want to come home," she said. "Our main focus right now is just bringing the guys home for four days."
For more information on events being planned or to make a contribution, call Reading at the Rogers Armory at (479) 636-3676.
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