|
This time last year, the choir members of Heritage United Methodist Church started assembling 100 Christmas stockings. But along with candy canes, these stockings had razors, soap, shampoo, nail clippers, Q-tips, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, paperbacks, playing cards, black or tan socks, pens and post-it pads.
|
photo for Tropical Breeze courtesy of Leon S. ZimmerArmy Captain Jonathan Zimmer, son of Heritage United Methodist choir alto Jane Zimmer and Lt. Col. (ret) Leon “Bud” Zimmer.
|
Mailed six weeks in advance, the boxes of goodies arrived in care of Army Captain Jonathan Zimmer, son of choir alto Jane Zimmer and Lt. Col. (ret) Leon S. “Bud” Zimmer. Stationed in a hot, dry, primitive region of Afghanistan, Jon Zimmer had told his parents how hard it was for his men to get simple supplies.
Now back in the U.S. after his 15-month deployment, Zimmer recently came to church with his wife Julie and their 17-month-old son Jonah. He wanted the choir to know how much their bright gifts were appreciated.
“Our soldiers really enjoyed the stockings,” said Zimmer. “They brought a little Christmas joy in a remote area.”
Zimmer’s Company was building a FOB (Forward Operating Base) in the district of Khogyani (pronounced Coo-ghee-ON-ee) in the province of Nangahar in Afghanistan, in the Tora Bora region.
“Most Americans recognize it as the area where bin Laden escaped,” said Zimmer. “It is arid, mountainous terrain. It is very hot, up to 120 degrees, and dry, with little vegetation. The terrain makes me think of a Brillo pad — very abrasive and unforgiving.”
They were building a firebase, named Lone Star, from scratch. “We weren’t that far from the battalion HQ, but it took hours driving over unimproved roads to get there. It was treacherous terrain with threat of enemy attacks.”
Headquarters has a PX where they could buy these items, “but sometimes they were out,” said Zimmer. “In our remote area without easy access, it was nice to get these thoughtful little items delivered from home without having to spend time or money to get them.”
The Heritage choir members weren’t the only ones to send items.
“Our family dentist mailed us toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss and other hard to get items,” said Zimmer. “Soldiers’ families sent care packages. Soldiers are very good about sharing with each other, because everyone has to get through the deployment.”
It was dangerous work. Attacks by fanatical Taliban fighters were common.
“The enemy attacked in all sorts of ways,” said Zimmer. “There were multiple rocket attacks, and the enemy would test our perimeters to see if they could penetrate our layers of defense.”
Many attackers used IEDs — Improvised Explosive Devices.
“Several times my company was hit by SBV-IEDs — suicide borne vehicle bombs. Someone in a car rams your Humvee and blows himself up. Or a guy wearing a suicide vest walks up to your vehicle and blows himself up. The Taliban fighters buried bombs where we would drive, and tried to detonate them as we drove over them.
“There are not that many roads in Afghanistan, so we had limited routes to re-supply with not only personal items, but company supply items like lumber, spare vehicle parts and weapons systems parts. We had to be aware and vary the times we took the few routes.
“We were mostly successful,” Zimmer said. “I can’t describe them further, but the Army is doing a good job equipping us with devices that protect from some, not all, IEDs. Some bombs were detonated with radio signals, but some had simple wires on the surface that we watched for.”
Every soldier had training similar to First Responders in the U.S. “Whether it was a combat injury, or heat or cold, our soldiers helped each other until a medic could arrive.”
Zimmer’s company was partnered with local Afghan peace-keeping forces, who stayed on the base with them.
“You don’t hear that on the news,” said Zimmer. “That was my main mission — working with the local Afghan leadership and the people to solve problems and make their country safer.
“We had an Afghan Army and two Afghan Engineer Companies on station with us, with lots of cross training,” Zimmer said. “We went out together on missions. It is their country, and they need to start taking the lead on their defense. Most had very good leadership, and are capable of doing well without us.
“That’s good,” he continued, “because we don’t hear about the hard work and training by the ANSF — Afghan National Security Forces. That’s the Afghan Army, the district police and some of the other districts in our company’s area of operations.”
Zimmer often went with local leaders to tell villagers that “the U.S. was a force for good.”
“I’d go out with a senior NCO, and the district leader, chief of police and the Company Commander for the Afghan Army to be the voice for America. I did public speaking at schools and district centers, so the people could see their government working.
 |
|
Beanie Babies collected by the Heritage United Methodist Choir were distributed by U.S. troops in Iraq. The choir sent eight cases, 400 total dolls, to the brother of a choir member who was based in Iraq.
photo for Tropical Breeze courtesy of Eileen Bukowski
|
“We won’t be able to kill every Taliban fighter, but we can tell them they are not welcome in this area. Get backing from the people. If the police and leaders are not corrupt, the people will support whoever is putting food on their table. It is work. We need to stay at it. It won’t happen overnight, and you need the right leaders that care to keep that momentum going so the Afghan people are confident in their leaders.
“The soldiers under my command were happy to be there. They could tell their hard work was paying off, that we were not just running in a circle. They also understood that everything wasn’t going to get fixed during our deployment. They knew it was a long process, more than our 15-month tour. They were doing good for the Afghan people.”
So the 100 Christmas stockings for Zimmer’s men helped a little, too. The message was that the folks back home were rooting for them.
|
Home 
News 
