FORT STEWART, Ga. - Two local high schools received an unexpected gift, Feb. 21, when the Fort Stewart chapter of the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club donated more than 100 uniforms to the schools' Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.
The idea to collect Class A Uniforms for the programs came from a monthly meeting where Sgt. 1st. Class Rhonda Lawson brought up that a school had contacted her because they were short on uniforms. The SAMC put the word out, and for the entire month of January the club collected uniforms.
"The uniforms are getting ready to phase out by 2014," said Sgt. 1st. Class Deoneza Payne, the President of Fort Stewart's Sergeant Audie Murphy Club. "Soldiers are buying the Army Service Uniform, and are not using the Class A Uniform anymore."
They collected more than 100 complete sets of the Class A Uniform, plus many extra shirts, pants, and even shoes. They delivered the uniforms to Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, Ga., and Robert W. Groves High School in Garden City, Ga. Both schools could not express their gratitude enough.
"We were very thankful for the help of the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club," said retired Lt. Col. Timothy Fox, the senior instructor of Groves JROTC program. "This year we had a rapid increase in numbers and were not able to order enough uniforms to accommodate all of them."
For the past 14 years, Groves High was on a four-period-a-day block, scheduling so it limited the number of people who could be in JROTC. This year, Groves High went back to seven periods, so the program could accommodate all the students who wanted to be in the JROTC program.
Each jacket costs the program about $100, so not everyone in the program had a complete uniform.
"It is a great morale booster that we will all be in the same uniform," said retired Lt. Col. Fox, a former Hunter Army Airfield garrison commander. "At the most recent Veterans Day parade, half the cadets were in Class A's and the other half in the black jackets. Now everyone will be in matching uniforms."
The Sergeant Audie Murphy Club is a non-profit organization committed to contributing to the community, and is comprised of the top two percent of the Noncommissioned Officers in the Army. They are selected to the club based on demonstrated leadership, professionalism and overall general military knowledge.
"It is all about giving back, it's not about us anymore," said Sgt. 1st. Class Payne. "We are all parents and it was a great feeling giving back to the kids; something that we wouldn't think twice to do."
The club is looking to make the uniform collection an ongoing program. For more information, contact Sgt. 1st Class Lawson at 912-767-8727.
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