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SOCCER STYLE: If you are a kid in Iraq you grow up playing soccer, even if you have to use a rock or a piece of trash as a ball.
Some soldiers from Fort Wainwright are trying to improve the situation.
Soccer balls are being collected today and Sunday at two local churches and are to be shipped to Iraq next week by the Army.
The 2nd Battalion 1st Infantry Regiment of the Stryker Brigade has collection boxes at the Door of Hope Church and the Friends Community Church....
Lt. Col. Chuck Webster, who is deployed to Mosul, is among those who sent word back to Fairbanks that it would be great to have more soccer balls to hand out to kids.
"Every kid in Iraq from the day they can walk up until they are in their 30s plays soccer," said Capt. Tim Sawyer, who is the rear detachment commander for the regiment at Fort Wainwright.
"They play with everything they can find, whether it's a rock, a tin can, a piece of trash or an old ball," he said.
"When the units go on patrols through these little towns, the kids just swarm them. The soldiers like to pass out candy and that kind of thing," Sawyer said.
Sawyer said that the kids would appreciate getting soccer balls and it also helps the U.S. soldiers. "It builds relationships with the young Iraqis, which is important," he said....