The active military's role is to secure areas and enforce law, but once they return home, some veterans are more concerned with humanitarian efforts. The Auburn Student Veteran Association (ASVA) is beginning to take advantage of this humanitarian idea as it gathers toys to send children in Afghanistan.
Adam Fountain, former president of the ASVA, said the idea came from something similar that he did while stationed in Fallujah, Iraq in 2005. The troops would go out to give medicine to the townspeople while they were on patrol and give out toys to students at the schools they helped build.
"Of course as soon as you start handing out toys, it's absolute pandemonium," Fountain said. "The teachers have no control over the kids. They're running around screaming and playing. It's great to see."
Soon, the inhabitants of Fallujah were becoming used to the soldiers' presence, and they even began helping the troops find locals involved with terrorist groups.
"The population started really helping us out," Fountain said. "They saw that we weren't these big demonic figures that they'd been told we were. We proved to them that we're not there to take advantage of them. We're here to help them."
Eventually the military presence in Fallujah began to see a change in the makeup of the terrorists they were fighting. Because local terrorists were being turned in by the people of Fallujah, terrorist groups were forced to recruit foreign fighters.
Because of this success, the ASVA has organized a toy drive that will enable another battalion in Afghanistan to pursue the same strategy.
"We'll use Barbie instead of bullets," said Dan McClain, the website manager for the organization.
The ASVA was not originally set up for big charity events like this, and its ability to sponsor such a large endeavor shows how much it has grown.
"It started with just four veterans," said Phillip Williams, current ASVA president. "It was really just to get more of an awareness for veterans."
Yet the ASVA was aware that the events in Fallujah were an anomaly, and they would need to get involved if the military was going to be able to obtain the resources it would need to do something similar.
"The Marine Corps is teaching hearts and minds," Fountain said. "But it's hard to justify buying toys on a battalion's budget when you need gear and stuff like that to go to the Marines."
The charity has been wildly successful, bringing in about 500 pounds of toys. The Naval ROTC was also involved, and, before the organization had collected such a large amount of donations, the collection was held in its supply room.
Because of safety and cultural differences, about 100 pounds of the toys were sent to the Lee County Youth Development Center instead.
Luckily the services coordinator for the Veterans and Transfer Center, Johnny Greene, was able to arrange space for the toys in the attic of the Student Center.
The ASVA has already begun packing the toys for shipment, and the members involved said they are very excited about the contribution they making.
"I feel like God's looking down on me, like this is a blessed thing to do," Fountain said.
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