Deployed Assistant Principal Helps Rebuild Schools in Iraq

Nebraska

One deployed Nebraska Army National Guardsmen is doing in Iraq what he normally does back home in his civilian job: helping educate children.

Sgt. 1st Class Michael Hart put his job as assistant principal at Norfolk (Neb.) Junior High School in March to deploy to Iraq as a member of the 41st Rear Area Operations Center.

The 41st was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division in northern Iraq where it has, ironically, overseen a number of school projects.

The 41st spent much of the summer contracting local construction companies to rebuild schools ruined by years of neglect by Saddam Hussein's regime.

Unit members' families back home are also involved, donating notebooks, pens, markers and other supplies.

With Iraqi students back in class since last month, Hart said he already has seen a turnaround.

"The local system here was controlled by the Baath Party, and all emphasis was on praising Saddam," he said. "Since we've shown up, I think we've done an adequate job of flushing that material out."

Hart said he misses his students and his school in Nebraska. But the teacher in Hart hasn't gone anywhere.

"It's a lifestyle," Hart said. "Everywhere I go, I try to be around kids, because I love what they're about. When I'm teaching, just to see a light bulb go on in a kid's head-'Oh, I got it'-makes my day. That's why I do what I do back home. It's not just for the money."

-By Pfc. Thomas Day

Copyright National Guard Association of the United States Nov 2003
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