Local students learn about military
FAYETTE CITY – When two local staff sergeants with the United States Air Force are deployed overseas in August, students at Central Elementary School in the Frazier School District will have a better understanding of their duties in the armed forces. Paul H. Farrow II of Perryopolis and Chad Orr of Scottdale paid a recent visit to the school along with Staff Sgt. Richard C. Oliver of Illinois, in response to the numerous support letters and items the trio received from students in kindergarten through fifth grade.
The three men noted they have volunteered to be deployed while their destination remains classified until the day they board the plane.
Farrow, Orr and Oliver are stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey while each are educated as fuel specialists in Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL), which provides gas to various aircrafts.
Oliver returned home in May after being deployed two years ago, serving in three locations since Sept. 23, 2001, including Afghanistan, where he spent the last six months.
Both Farrow and Orr, on the other hand, serve military rotations of up to six months.
The idea to write letters to the three men was spearheaded by Paul Farrow’s mother, Peggy Farrow, who is a first-grade teacher at Central.
Peggy Farrow said with her son being in the armed forces she always made it a point to keep in touch with him, but with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, her contact with Paul became even more vital since he could be deployed at any time.
“It was the last thing I wanted him to do, but he had his mind made up,” said Farrow of her son’s decision to join the Air Force.
In support of the men and women stationed at McGuire, Farrow came up with the idea to get the entire school involved, so she developed a program called “Adopt a Troops” approved by the school district administration.
According to Farrow, a different grade participated in writing the troops letters each month.
Farrow added that since some of the troops were deployed on such short notice, the students also brought in personal hygiene items as well as books and other amenities they mailed with the postage paid for by the Central Parents Organization.
“The entire year, we sent boxes of books, newspapers, pens…whatever they needed,” said Peggy Farrow.
Although Oliver was serving in Afghanistan, he wrote a letter to the students stating that he would personally visit them upon his return to show his appreciation.
On May 24, Oliver, Farrow and Orr showed students first hand just what their military duties entail and the various types of clothing associated with their jobs.
Oliver focused on a stay in the desert, where his shelter consisted of a tent that housed 10 people. “We had no glass for mirrors, no toilet doors or shower doors,” said Oliver.
For the first 30 days, Oliver said there was no shade, only 120-degree temperatures that he worked in to fill a 4,500-pound fuel bag the size of a football field.
Oliver, 29, joined the Air Force in 1993 as one of three generations in the armed forces.
“I’m a military brat,” said Oliver. “My family’s created your freedom and your parents’ freedom for this country.’
Oliver said he received two days’ notice for deployment to Afghanistan following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, noting that he was the only officer at the base with knowledge in fuel additives.
“I was in shock at Sept. 11, but being the military for nine years I knew something of this magnitude could happen,” said Oliver, adding that he was not able to contact his parents until one month after his deployment.
Unlike Oliver, Farrow has not served in Afghanistan, but as far as the war on terrorism, Farrow said he pumped fuel into an aircraft at McGuire several days after Sept. 11, while President George Bush was at the base.
To demonstrate what would happen in the event of chemical warfare, Farrow had one student put on the necessary 15 pounds of additional clothing and gear he would be required to wear.
“On Sept. 11, they (terrorists) showed us they have the ability to disrupt the way we live,” said Farrow. “This is why it is important what the military does.”
A 1988 graduate of Frazier, Farrow, 32, said joining the armed forces was the best thing that ever happened to him.
“I’ve seen both sides of the fence as an adult,” added Farrow, who enlisted during the end of Operation Dessert Storm.
Farrow’s position on the opposite side of the fence was not getting to meet his now-3 1/2-year-old son, Paul Farrow III, until he was a year old.
“My son was 9 days old when I was assigned to Korea,” said Farrow.
While Oliver and Farrow tackle their POL duties during the day, Orr works at night as a member of special operations.
Orr brought with him two kinds of chemical sticks, one used during the day and one at night, which military helicopter pilots rely on to determine where to land. Orr refuels the aircraft while they are still running.
“Our slogan is death by night,” said Orr.
Orr, who has been stationed at McGuire for the last three years, said his job involves wearing night vision goggles and flying cargo planes at tree top levels, where they aren’t detected by radar. Orr, or the pilot, then lands the plane in a secluded area several miles from where any military action is taking place to provide fuel to incoming planes.
On Sept. 11, Orr said he was getting ready to board an aircraft for a training mission when terrorists struck one of the Twin Towers in New York with the plane they had hijacked.
Orr said after his commander received official word on what had happened, they were detained in an underground bunker for the next 10 to 12 hours, where they remained on standby.
Ironically, Orr said his wife was traveling the Pennsylvania Turnpike on her way back to Scottdale when Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, but he had no way of contacting her to make sure she and their 11-month-old daughter, Julianna, were safe until later that night.
Orr said the terrorist attacks never impacted his decision to take commercial flights because, after all, he is still an American.