Teachers learn firsthand what GIs go through in combat

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Kokou Nelitsche, left, and Lothar Kuehnel of the central issue facility help Hainerberg elementary teacher Krista Wagner put on a backpack. With the 1st Armored Division headquarters returning to Wiesbaden soon, the garrison gave the community's teachers a taste of what the troops went through in Iraq.


Teachers learn firsthand what GIs go through in combat
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, November 10, 2008

WIESBADEN, Germany — A roomful of teachers firing guns at a giant video screen full of Kalashnikov-toting terrorists looks just like you’d think.

Dressed casually in various sweaters, button-down shirts and turtlenecks, about 50 educators who took up arms on Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Thursday looked more Mr. Rogers than Rambo – no matter how much they enjoyed plinking bad guys.

Perhaps fortunately for U.S. security, these teachers won’t be headed to the front lines anytime soon. But they will be dealing with the effects of war.

The first of some 1,200 troops with the 1st Armored Division’s headquarters return to Wiesbaden this week from a 15-month deployment to Iraq. The garrison wanted its teachers to try out the life of a soldier to help them understand what their students’ parents have been going through, and what to expect when they come back.

"I don’t think it’s just trivia," said Donna Kimelman, a sixth-grade English teacher.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=58731