Soccer Gear Delivered to Iraqi Kids, as Promised by Battalion Commander

By Lance Cpl. Ray Lewis, Regimental Combat Team 5

Sgt. Maj. Michael L. Scarbrough, battalion sergeant major for 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, carries a soccer goal and a soccer ball to the neighborhood kids in Mudiq, Iraq, Aug. 21. Scarbrough was helping Lt. Col. Todd S. Desgrosseilliers, battalion commander, fufill a promise to Iraqi children there. Desgrosseilliers guaranteed the kids new soccer equipment if they cleaned up a local trash dump. Desgrosseilliers is from Auburn, Maine and Scarbrough is from Detroit, Mich. Both are currently serving a seven-month deployment in the Habbaniyah area under Regimental Combat Team 5. Photo Lance Cpl. Ray Lewis, Regimental Combat Team 5

MUDIQ, Iraq (Aug. 22, 2006) - "Betio Bastards'" top officer stuck to his word.

Lt. Col. Todd S. Desgrosseilliers, battalion commander for 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, and his Jump Platoon Marines brought two soccer goals and armfuls of soccer balls to the kids of Mudiq Aug. 22.

"We promised to bring them, so we're going to bring them out," said Desgrosseilliers, from Auburn, Maine.

He guaranteed the sports supplies as a reward for transforming a local trash dump into a soccer field during a community assistance mission there ten days earlier.

The Iraqi children got excited about the soccer field as soon as Marines started unloading the gear. A recreation area like this is rare in an urban neighborhood such as Mudiq.

"You should have seen the kids," said Cpl. Mario O. Huerta, a 22-year-old from Dallas, who serves as platoon sergeant for Desgrosseilliers' jump team. "I was patrolling up and down the street and the whole town was happy."

Huerta said he could relate to the young soccer stars. He shares their passion for the game.

"Soccer is my life," he said. "I'm a soccer player, so if someone did that for me when I was a kid, I know it would make my day."

Huerta and his cousins used to play soccer as children during Easter gatherings at a park near his childhood home.

"I would always be ready for that," he said. "I'd be ready to show off."

Iraqi children were ready to put their skills on display too. Kids were more than anxious to kick around the checker-patterned inflated ball the Marines had in hand.

Children grabbed for the "footballs," as they call it, but the Marines didn't mind.

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alan@newsblaze.com

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