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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEagle ArticleLocal volunteer group `adopts' soldiers in Iraq By APRIL AVISON Eagle Sta,~' Writer Sgt. Mark Michel was awarded a combat patch in Iraq earlier this month but refused to put it on. "We didn't feel like we'd been in combat, and therefore didn't deserve to wear it," the paratrooper wrote in an e- mail to his mother, College Station resident Shelley Michel. A few days later, a roadside bomb exploded underneath the Humvee he was riding in south of Baghdad, but no one was injured. Still, after feeling the explo- sion and seeing a flash of light from the bomb, Michel decid- ed he had earned the combat patch, he later wrote home. He called his mother later that day to let her know he was OK. , "My mom always has a sixth sense about me being in danger, and apparently it isn't hindered by eight time zones," he said in a recent e- mail to friends. The 1999 graduate of A&M Consolidated High School played on the golf team and was in the National Honor Society but never entered an ROTC program when he was in high school or when he was earning a mechanical engi- neering degree at Penn State University. His father, Randy, served in the U.S. Air Force, while his grandfathers and several uncles had military back- grounds, but his mother said she was surprised he wanted to join the Army. He felt like it was his patri- otic duty, she said. "I guess that's why it was easier to let him go because he felt so strong about what he was doing," Shelley Michel said. "He's really bright. He's the cream of the crop -your Abercrombie kid. Now he's sitting in a tent in a sandy desert. He doesn't have any- thing. That just blows my mind." Recently, Michel shared some stories about her son's experiences with her long- time friend, Anne Boykin of College Station. "He told his mother he'd gotten her mail, but some of the other guys didn't get any," Boykin recalled. "It made me tear up. My heart goes out to these kids who don't get any mail." So when Boykin returned to her part-time job as a histo- rian for College Station, she Spoclal to The Ease Sgt. Mark Michel and the rest of the 509th Infantry Alrbome, cur- rently stationed In Iraq, have been "adopted° by a group of College Station volunteers. rounded up a group of city employees to "adopt" Mark Michel and the rest of the 30- member platoon with the 509th Infantry Airborne. Last month, the city Unit employees sent a 32-pound care package filled with flash- lights, beef jerky, hand-held fans, pens, cloth diapers for weapon-cleaning and items to give to Iraqi children. "We're going to do it every month until they come home," Boykin said. The 509th, stationed out of Alaska, has been in Iraq since October and has. been told it will be there for one year. The group of city employ- ees will gather again next week to prepare a Christmas package, which will include a felt Christmas tree that can be displayed inside a tent. Brian Hilton, the city's emergency management coordinator, is a former para- trooper in the 82nd Airborne. So far, he's the only male who's joined Boykin's group of volunteers. Shelley Michel said she's grateful for the kindness of people who don't even know her son. "When I told [Mark] that Anne said they would adopt the whole platoon, Mark said, `I can't tell you what that means,"' she said. "They liter- ally are in a tent with a cot. I think that's why letters are such a big deal. They're so hungry for normal." Boykin, who has been mak- ing a scrapbook of her father's World War II experi- ences, marvels at how things hav2 changed in the past few decades. "My dad was so fortunate that his mother corresponded with him," she said, flipping pages in her scrapbook adorned with yellowed letters and Western Union telegrams from 1945. "I look at this and think they might have com- pleted aconversation in a month. Now the news -the communication - is instan- taneous." Shelley Michel uses an instant message feature on her home computer to "talk" to her son. Some days she gets long a-mails filled with sto- ries. Some days go by with no word at all. "The hardest thing for me is when I don't hear from him," she said. "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing. There are times when it's really scary, and if I think about it too long, I could get really upset about it. But I really do believe in the sover- eignty of God. You can't pro- tect them. They are totally 1n -God's hands." What's definitely a good thing, she added, is the way this experience has opened her eyes to the blessings she has in her life. She's been at home this week recovering from knee surgery but said she fmds it difficult to com- plain when she thinks about her son and his platoon. "I don't 'have to worry every day that my Humvee is going to get blown off the road," she said. ` Iri one a-mail to his mother, Mark Michel wrote that he actually can feel the prayers she and others are sending his way. "They want to know people are supporting them, that we haven't forgotten them, that they're doing something that's worth their time," she said. "That's why letters are so important." As Shelley Michel, her hus- band and their daughter Natalie gather with their extended family for the win- ter holidays, she said Mark is always in her thoughts. "I won't be able to eat pumpkin pie without think- ing of him," Shelley Michel said. "He loves pumpkin pie, but I guess he's gotten used to those [Meals Ready to Eat]. "At Thanksgiving, we just pray for those that aren't with us, so we'll be praying for him. We're just so proud." ^ April Avison's a-mail address is april.avison@theeagle.com.