Candy Bombs Away

[Pirate1974]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - From a high-performance perch above the Iraqi countryside, Johnny Taylor is looking for targets at 145 mph.

He spots one, banks his Army Black Hawk in a 180-degree turn, and his machine gunners let loose.

Goal! Soccer ball away.

About 150 feet below, two Iraqi boys quit waving and bolt from a mud-brick farm compound to collect their spoils of war, bouncing high into a crop field.

Taylor, 59, a chief warrant officer with the Salisbury, N.C.-based Bravo Co. of the N.C. Army National Guard 126th Aviation Battalion, has been dropping treats to kids in rural regions since his yearlong tour began in January.

"It doesn't hurt anything, and someday this kid will grow up, and somebody will ask him to be a terrorist and he'll think back on a soccer ball from a helicopter," says Taylor, a Vietnam veteran from Gastonia.

"And how many people will he tell about this?"

In the struggle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, U.S. soldiers are concentrating on the country's children. It is there, they say, they have the best chance to leave a lasting positive impression.

"We believe changing the attitude of kids, 6 to 12, will benefit us long-term most," says Brig. Gen. Tom Lawing of Matthews, who commands the Charlotte-based N.C. Army National Guard 30th Engineer Brigade at Camp Anaconda in Balad, the helicopter's base.

"We want the next generation of Iraqis to have national pride, but also see the U.S. as a good thing."

Taylor and his machine gunners -- Spc. Andrew Boyce, 23, of Winston-Salem, and Spc. Joe Elmore, 20, of Salisbury -- also drop "candy bombs," zipper-locked bags with Beanie Babies and candies adorned with a flowing red ribbon to mark their landing spot.

To avoid enemy fire, they fly fast and near the ground, so low that the powerful Black Hawk must pull up to avoid high-tension power lines on their mission from Balad to Baghdad.

Kids they spot along the way get the goodies, supplied by a unit in Fayetteville, if it won't interfere the chopper's mission and there's no sign of insurgent activity.

"I'd like to just have a Black Hawk to myself," Taylor says, "and just go around and do candy bombs."

(The Charlotte Observer, May 23)

[dmiller]

[ex70sHouston]

This shows where our troops hearts are.

[Galen]

And here I thought that we were supposed to do it in this order:

First the panty-hose,

Then the chocolate bars,

Then the nuke.

[Get the women running out into the streets, then the kids, then vaporize them.]

Just kidding folks.

:-)

[That is what we used to say was inside the 'empty' warheads. Dozens of missiles, with hundreds of pay-loads; but not all pay-loads carry nukes. Some are empty just to foul up the air and add confusion to an enemy's radar and get them to waste some of their anti-missile resources. So we would say that the emptys are filled with pany-hose and chocolate bars.]

[ckeer]

here is another example- "The Power of a piece of Candy". note- these picture are high resolution if you click on them.

[Belle]

This is awesome! :D-->

I love that blog site and I'm going to donate! It's sure a lot nicer and fun than having TWI blackmail it from me. ;)-->

Thanks!!

[Watered Garden]

God bless the Tarheels! I used to live in Salisbury aka Smallsbury. The people are kind and generous and just wholesome small town America!

WG

[excathedra]

thanks pi

[Pirate1974]

You're welcome, excathie.

Missed you around here lately.

[SafariVista]

Article and pictures brought on tears... thank you~