EL PASO, Texas -- Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 360th Infantry Regiment, Task Force Warhawg, 5th Armored Brigade, Division West, recently volunteered to help Collins Elementary School during the school's annual career day here.
Task Force Warhawg and Collins Elementary School, with children ages five to 11 in kindergarten through fifth grades, are partners in the Army's Partners In Education program.
The event showcased the Army, the El Paso Police Department, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, El Paso County Libraries, and El Paso Electric Company. Children learned about the daily activities that each organization performs and saw the tools and equipment used to do those jobs.
The Warhawg Soldiers brought a High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle with mounted radios and explained to the students how it functions and what tasks and duties each crew member performs. The children also learned about two physical fitness activities: the push-up and the sit-up. They were invited to perform repetitions of each exercise, but some children were shy and declined.
Approximately one-tenth of the children who came to the Warhawg display were children of Soldiers, and they were very familiar with Army life. All of the children, though, had questions about Army life, and what Soldiers do on a daily basis. Some of them expressed a desire to serve in the military when they grow up.
Staff Sgt. Anthony Robb and Staff Sgt. Javier Oropeza, both with Task Force Warhawg, acted as role models to the children by answering questions and demonstrating exercises.
"The event was rewarding for both the children and the Soldiers," Robb said.
Kids were jumping and touching everything in the HMMWV, Oropeza said.
"They enjoyed competing and seeing who could do more push-ups and sit-ups," Oropeza added. "They were wondering where all of our weapons were at."
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