Operation Teddy Drop
"We are waiting for the paperwork to be processed and approved, but Tedd E. Bear will receive the Purple Heart and he has been nominated for the Army Commendation Medal."
by Randy Kirgiss
Chief Warrant Officer Four
United States Army
In December 2004 prior to our movement to Iraq, I started thinking about previous deployments and some of the humanitarian efforts I have been associated with. On previous deployments I have been involved with giving away packages of candy and collecting school supplies for newly formed schools in Bosnia. For this operation the goal was to get permission to drop Stuffed Animals to children all over the country every time we went out on missions. We wanted to model the air drop of Teddy Bears after the candy drops executed by the Candy Bomber, COL Gail Halvorsen during the Berlin Airlift. We were able to receive full support from the Chain of Command and I would like to thank them for their support of our efforts. So with that, preparations for Operation Teddy Drop started.
I needed to get the word out that we needed donations of Stuffed Animals for us to drop to the children. I am associated with a couple of message forums online and I dropped the idea to the people there, a group of motorcyclists I ride with (the Wild Pelicans) and people on my e-mail list. I was overwhelmed with the enthusiasm and support I received from wonderful people all over the United States, especially from the Hugs4SmilesUSA (you guys are the best). Slowly the donations started coming in. It was starting to look like this might even work. Next, I needed some kind of material to make parachutes out of to attach to the Stuffed Animals so they could parachute down to the children. My wonderful wife was able to find some desert camouflage material that she sent to me. Additionally, my Mother In Law talked to a skydiving school, Rigging Innovations of Eloy, AZ, and they graciously sent me an unserviceable parachute that I cut up to make little parachutes for the Stuffed Animals. I was able to obtain some string here and went into parachute making production. It is a bit time consuming, but it is fun to be doing something positive. Since operations began a parachute manufacturing company, Performance Designs, has agreed to help us out and send us parachutes and material from their company. But a lot more is certainly needed.
After a couple of months of receiving donations and making parachutes, we kicked off Operation Teddy Drop. Instead of doing static drops over one spot, we decided to randomly drop Stuffed Animals throughout the countryside as we flew around. We primarily work the Baghdad and surrounding area, but on occasion we are able to get to other areas and share a Teddy Trooper or Para-Bear with the children in the outlying areas. We wait until we see a small group of children and then try to drop the same number of toys as there are children on the ground. It is truly amazing to watch the children hesitate for a split second to determine if they should run to, or from the object falling, but once the chute opens there is no doubt. The children will take off running as fast as their little legs will carry them, and some are even quick enough to catch the toys before they touch the ground. It is something to see and will bring a smile to anyone that is fortunate enough to see it.
If anyone is interested in assisting us in Operation Teddy Drop and would like to donate some stuffed animals or material for parachutes, we would be grateful. Donated stuffed animals do not have to be new, we only ask that they be clean and serviceable - free of stains, rips, cuts or tares. To make a donation, just drop me an e-mail at rmk@rmkonline.com, leave your e-mail address and I will send you my contact information.
More information at: http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/20050715_2081.html
What a great idea! Have to see if I have any good stuffed animals I can send in!