'Tis the season to give so band students from Harker Heights High School gave more than 400 holiday cards to about 180 soldiers assigned to the Army Wounded Warrior Program at Fort Hood.
Given the numbers of cards and soldiers, each soldier will receive about three cards from the students.
Two soldiers representing the wounded warrior program, Sgt. William Harris, formerly assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Infantry Division, and Staff Sgt. Terry Saffron, formerly with 1st Battalion, 21st Field Artillery Regiment, 41st Fires Brigade, were at the high school on Friday morning to receive two large holiday bags containing the cards.
Harris, a soldier since 2002, was twice deployed to Iraq. Harris was injured during both of his deployments. The injuries will force him to be medically retired from the military soon.
"Not all wounds are visible," Harris told the band students, explaining that one of his injuries was a head injury and his other injury is post-traumatic stress disorder.
Saffron, who will retire soon, was badly injured when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in May 2004.
Almost five years since the incident, Saffron still receives treatment for his injuries, which included a broken arm, broken jaw, and shrapnel wounds to both of his legs and to the side of his body.
You may think that amputations are the number one injury for soldiers, said Yvonne Michek, an advocate with the Army Wounded Warrior Program on Fort Hood. She said the number one injury for soldiers is actually "closed head injuries" like PTSD and traumatic brain injuries.
"Soldiers may not be missing a leg or an eye, but they'll be dealing with the effects of their injuries for a long time," Michek said.
Band students Timothy Liechty, a 17-year-old junior, and Travis Cox, an 18-year-old senior, said that giving holiday cards, although it's a small gesture, is the band students' way of giving back to their military community.
"At Harker Heights High School we really love to give back to the community," Cox said.
She added that the cards for soldiers were just one of several projects. Others include the Knight of Giving Jazz Concert and laying wreaths on tombstones at the veterans' cemetery.
"This is a gesture of respect for the soldiers who gave so much to us," Liechty said.
Contact Iuliana Petre at ipetre@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7469.
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