thedrifter
02-16-07, 02:03 PM
Students welcome teacher back from Iraq
By Maria Garriga - New Haven Register
Posted : Friday Feb 16, 2007 13:35:34 EST
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Sixth-graders at the Truman School were glad to hear that teacher Michael Vollero won a Bronze Star for gallantry in Iraq, but they were far more grateful that he had returned to them alive.
“I’m just happy he’s back,” said Angel Camejo, 11.
Vollero, 54, a National Guard member and helicopter pilot and safety officer for his unit, returned in September and recently shared his experiences with students at a ceremony in his honor.
He received the Bronze Star last month in recognition of his consistent help in keeping soldiers in his unit alive.
In addition to a series of major events in which he assisted, Vollero won it for his contributions to a military action for which he wrote a risk assessment order on a “major air assault operation” in which no lives were lost, school officials said.
“We call it going to the Super Bowl. We won. We brought everybody back,” Vollero said.
Vollero served in Iraq from June 2005 to September 2006 as a chief warrant officer with the 126th Aviation Regiment and was battalion safety officer for what GIs affectionately call the “Screaming Eagles,” the 101st Airborne Aviation Regiment.
Vollero added the star to his collection of 15 military medals. But Vollero also has a long career as a gym teacher at Truman; many of the students have known him since kindergarten.
“What I really thought was that he could have gotten hurt, and I’m glad he came back alive,” said Mileena Rivera, 12.
School officials recently awarded Vollero a plaque for his courage and service, and gave him the chance to share his experiences in Iraq with the students.
“He was serving our country so that you can enjoy freedom and democracy,” said Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo.
For 12 long months, all students saw of Vollero were the photos he sent from Iraq. They saw the metal storage container that served as his “home.” They saw the barren sands that stretched endlessly before his camera. And they saw him smiling even when the weather was 130 degrees Fahrenheit. He told them of the scorpions and cobras hidden in that landscape along with explosive devices buried by insurgents to kill their opponents.
He treasured the letters and packages from home, especially the cookies sent by his students.
“Every time we got a package from home, it was like Christmas. You know what I wanted: soap, toothpaste, and most of all toilet paper,” he said, prompting a chuckle from the students.
Yet he remembers Iraq with grace.
“The Iraqis treated me with kindness,” he said. “They have never known freedom. It’s worth it for us to be there. In a generation or two, we will see a better life there just like we did in Germany, Japan and Vietnam. Thirty years from now we will look at Iraq the same way.”
Despite the dangers, Vollero said he was never afraid.
“I have been blessed to do the two things I wanted to do most: to teach and to fly,” he said. If there were only one thing that he hopes his students remember, it’s to follow their dreams.
“Dreams do come true. I never thought I would be a full-time pilot, but I was.”
Mayo reminded students that to live a full life, as Vollero has, requires planning.
“Plan ahead,” Mayo said. Then he urged them to remember the soldiers still in Iraq. “Say a prayer that all our troops will come back alive and soon.
Ellie
By Maria Garriga - New Haven Register
Posted : Friday Feb 16, 2007 13:35:34 EST
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Sixth-graders at the Truman School were glad to hear that teacher Michael Vollero won a Bronze Star for gallantry in Iraq, but they were far more grateful that he had returned to them alive.
“I’m just happy he’s back,” said Angel Camejo, 11.
Vollero, 54, a National Guard member and helicopter pilot and safety officer for his unit, returned in September and recently shared his experiences with students at a ceremony in his honor.
He received the Bronze Star last month in recognition of his consistent help in keeping soldiers in his unit alive.
In addition to a series of major events in which he assisted, Vollero won it for his contributions to a military action for which he wrote a risk assessment order on a “major air assault operation” in which no lives were lost, school officials said.
“We call it going to the Super Bowl. We won. We brought everybody back,” Vollero said.
Vollero served in Iraq from June 2005 to September 2006 as a chief warrant officer with the 126th Aviation Regiment and was battalion safety officer for what GIs affectionately call the “Screaming Eagles,” the 101st Airborne Aviation Regiment.
Vollero added the star to his collection of 15 military medals. But Vollero also has a long career as a gym teacher at Truman; many of the students have known him since kindergarten.
“What I really thought was that he could have gotten hurt, and I’m glad he came back alive,” said Mileena Rivera, 12.
School officials recently awarded Vollero a plaque for his courage and service, and gave him the chance to share his experiences in Iraq with the students.
“He was serving our country so that you can enjoy freedom and democracy,” said Superintendent of Schools Reginald Mayo.
For 12 long months, all students saw of Vollero were the photos he sent from Iraq. They saw the metal storage container that served as his “home.” They saw the barren sands that stretched endlessly before his camera. And they saw him smiling even when the weather was 130 degrees Fahrenheit. He told them of the scorpions and cobras hidden in that landscape along with explosive devices buried by insurgents to kill their opponents.
He treasured the letters and packages from home, especially the cookies sent by his students.
“Every time we got a package from home, it was like Christmas. You know what I wanted: soap, toothpaste, and most of all toilet paper,” he said, prompting a chuckle from the students.
Yet he remembers Iraq with grace.
“The Iraqis treated me with kindness,” he said. “They have never known freedom. It’s worth it for us to be there. In a generation or two, we will see a better life there just like we did in Germany, Japan and Vietnam. Thirty years from now we will look at Iraq the same way.”
Despite the dangers, Vollero said he was never afraid.
“I have been blessed to do the two things I wanted to do most: to teach and to fly,” he said. If there were only one thing that he hopes his students remember, it’s to follow their dreams.
“Dreams do come true. I never thought I would be a full-time pilot, but I was.”
Mayo reminded students that to live a full life, as Vollero has, requires planning.
“Plan ahead,” Mayo said. Then he urged them to remember the soldiers still in Iraq. “Say a prayer that all our troops will come back alive and soon.
Ellie