Manila, Philippines. (October 15, 2022): In this photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Jarmiolowski, Electronics Technician 3rd Class Ian Reynolds, left, from Virginia Beach, Virginia, goes hands on in a tug of war with children at Gentle Hands Orphanage as part of the Navy’s community relations effort. Sailors volunteered for the event to play games and create hand-drawn paintings with over 100 children. The Sailors are assigned to the guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, part of the Ronald Reagan Carrier Group. Young, enthusiastic Sailors like these often make the best ambassadors for our country.
Heilbronn, Germany. (October 1, 1978): It was my first week stationed in Germany as an 18-year-old private assigned to the 237th Combat Engineers in a strange and exciting foreign land. I had barely unpacked when a gruff old sergeant appeared asking for volunteers to help local farmers harvest their crops. Although new to the Army, I realized that any troops hanging around the barracks over a weekend would certainly end up with some unpleasant extra duty.
Around 5 a.m. the next day, about thirty of our number fell out for formation and were sent via deuce and a half truck to the vineyards surrounding Heilbronn. None of us had ever picked grapes before so we thought; “How hard could it be?”
The welcoming German farmers quickly strapped huge plastic barrels to our backs and sent us hiking up the hills between rows of grapes as the sun finally broke the horizon. Our job was to walk back down the hill collecting bunches of grapes from what seemed like hundreds of school age kids, and then climb ladders to dump the contents into huge portable vats. It turned out to be back breaking work and some of the most precious moments we ever spent with our German hosts.
When the work was done, the sausages sizzled on the grill, the marching music played, and the wine flowed. It is hard, even to this day, to describe the warmth and generosity of these people we were sent to protect. We made a lot of great friends that day, and we left an indelibly positive image of America with our civilian neighbors. The Army understood that the presence of thousands of foreign troops may lead to tension with our German hosts and these potent community support activities were part of the cure. For the GIs, it was a chance to get to know the German people and to forge relationships that last a lifetime.
It is true. The most effective “ambassadors” for America may very well be the men and women of our armed forces deploys overseas.
Jim Spearing, SSG (Ret), Support Our Troops