By Angie Thompson
TIFTON, Ga. -- A soldier believes putting stuffed animals in the hands of wounded Afghan children gives them a little happiness -- a feeling some have rarely felt or expressed.
Stephen Boggs, a field engineer assigned to the Combat Aviation Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan, has seen first-hand the toll war has taken on children.
When he arrived at Camp Cole, Tarin-Kowt Afghanistan last July, he quickly learned a valuable lesson.
"What I saw really amazed me," Boggs said. "They were holding an open call at their medical clinic for the local Afghan nationals and to me it seemed like there was an unusually high number of sick and injured children."
Boggs said that his superior explained that the people most affected and most often targeted by Taliban and Al Qaida violence were the Afghan children. Boggs said the medical team and special forces people, along with an interpreter, were busy tending to the children and "my heart was touched by the compassion of our troops."
Boggs said he asked the sergeant major what he could do to help.
"His response was simple and straightforward," Boggs said. "He looked me in the eye and said, 'These kids don't have anything. They have never had anything. Most of them won't live to be teenagers. Some of them are missing arms and legs and some are even paralyzed. If you could find a way to get stuffed animals, dolls and maybe some coloring books and crayons, that would help tremendously.'"
Boggs said he then saw something that brought tears to his eyes. One of the members of the Special Forces pulled a small teddy bear that his own little girl had sent to him out of his pocket and gave it to one of the Afghan children.
"The girl's parents were utterly amazed," Boggs said. "It was apparently the first time that they had seen their little girl smile. That was the moment that I began to understand that winning the war in Afghanistan wasn't enough and that our brave and compassionate troops were also building a brighter future for the people of Afghanistan and trying to give the children of Afghanistan a little bit of happiness."
That night, Boggs contacted his friend, Marty Gray, who is the pastor of Covenant Community Church in Elba, Ala. He explained what was going on and Gray asked members of the church to send a box of stuffed animals. Boggs received the box several weeks later and "Operation Teddy Bear" was born.
Boggs said the project has grown into an international humanitarian aid campaign and churches and civic groups in eight states and two foreign countries (Scotland and the Bahamas) have joined in.
"Whenever I am on a work-related road trip to another firebase or forward operations base, I always try to take a few moments to speak with different military units about Operation Teddy Bear," Boggs said.
Boggs can be reached by mail at: Stephen J. Boggs, D-co. 1-82 ARB, Taskforce Wolfpack, Tarin Kowt, APO AE, 09380. His e-mail address is stephen.boggs1@us.army.mil.
Angie Thompson writes for The Tifton (Ga.) Gazette.
