Adopt-A-Platoon Team

1-26 Blue Spaders Recon Unit

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1-26 Blue Spaders Recon Unit

The Blue Spaders are a Sniper Recon Unit that operated in the Korengal Valley (the Valley of Death) for over sixth months receiving support from the BVA AAP the entire time. We supplied them with cold weather boots and gear for the harsh winter.  During this time we lost three of them and one wounded.  Boots cost us dearly at $230 a piece for 30 men, but was worth it considering the job that these brave warriors were performing.  Typically they watched and waited, called in drone strikes and then picked off surviving Taliban scrambling out of caves. The National AAP helped to fund the purchase of the boots and JC Penny donated the sneakers.  Lt Deen and his crew were very generous with pictures and emails keeping us up to date on how they were doing.  They also took part in working with in the towns working with the village elders to protect them from the Taliban. 

Pictured from left to right - SPC Richard Dyal, Lt. Sam Deen, SPC Lenneth Kim.  Look closely and you are staring into the botton of the Korongal Valley.  There is a town down at the bottom left.  This is the units COP where they would typically go out in small units on recon and sniper missions. 

Recon unit in Afghanistan (photo above and below).

 

Kym Jennings (right) of the JC Penney store at Roosevelt Field presents Ken Erickson of Brookhaven Lab's Adopt-a-Platoon program with 32 pairs of new sneakers, which will be delivered next month to U.S. soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.  2/27/09 

The members of U.S. Army reconnaissance platoon 1-26IN will be able to run faster and jump higher next month. On February 13, the JC Penney department store of Roosevelt Field donated 32 pairs of new sneakers to the soldiers through the local chapter of the Adopt-a-Platoon program, which is based at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

"We are so grateful for the donation from JC Penney, and the sneakers will go directly to soldiers in the front lines," said Ken Erickson, a Ridge resident and Brookhaven Lab employee who heads the local Adopt-a-Platoon chapter. "Most of these soldiers in the platoon are about 19 years old and they're somebody's kids. We want to do whatever we can to boost their morale and make them comfortable while they're there."

The sneakers are scheduled to arrive in the Middle East next month and will then be delivered via helicopter to the soldiers who are stationed in the mountains of Afghanistan. While the platoon originally requested 32 pairs of sneakers (one for each soldier), only 29 will be used. Since the original request, two members of the platoon have been killed and one has been injured.

Adopt-a-Platoon Soldier Support Effort is a national nonprofit organization that helps civilians to "adopt" a soldier or an entire platoon of soldiers by providing them with letters and items that they request including winter boots, shaving razors, magazines, snacks, and even backup generators. Adopt-a-Platoon accepts supplies and financial donations from individuals as well as local, regional, and national businesses.

The Brookhaven Veterans Association's Adopt-a-Platoon team has supported several platoons as well as deployed BNL employees and their children since its inception two years ago. Anyone who would like to adopt a soldier or a platoon, or contribute to the Adopt-a-Platoon program should contact Ken Erickson.

2009-1103 | Media & Communications Office

October 15th was the Fourth Annual 'Unity Day' for DOE’s Brookhaven Site Office (photo below).  For them, Unity Day was a time to reflect upon their different genders, ethnic and racial backgrounds and celebrate how they unify us and make us a wonderful office. This year’s theme was “We Are All Americans” and “Adopt-a-Platoon” was the main event. They collected and shipped items to the Recon unit and thanked them for representing our Nation so very far from home. 10/15/08

Last Modified: March 15, 2010
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One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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