Operation Soccer Smiles brings joy to Afghan children

By Julia LeDoux
Special to the Eagle

A group of local Soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan hopes the sights and sounds of soccer games will replace gunshots and bomb blasts in that war torn country.

“In our patrols with the Afghan National Army throughout [Zabul] province, we come into contact with a lot of children that live in some very poor and challenging conditions,“ Lt. Col. James Overbye wrote in an e-mail to the Potomac News & Messenger. “Nearly 50 percent of Zabul Province is under the age of 18, so there are a lot of young people here. We continue to be impressed by how friendly and open they are to us, and everyone wants to try and do something to help them and make their lives just a little bit better.“

Overbye, of Gainesville, is assigned as a team leader of a 14-man brigade embedded transition team that deployed to Afghanistan in November. The unit is headquartered at Forward Operating Base Apache, near the city of Qalat in southern Afghanistan.

“Our mission is to coach, teach and mentor the 2nd Brigade, 205th Corps is Zabul province to become capable of conducting independent military operations,“ he said. “We live in close proximity to, train with and fight with our Afghan brothers.“

One of the officers on Overbye’s team, Maj. Aaron Wolfe, received some soccer balls from someone here in the United States a couple of weeks ago, Overbye continued.

“On a recent patrol, we had the Afghan National Army soldiers we were with pass out these balls to the children we encountered in the villages,“ he wrote. “The soccer balls were a great success with the kids and they really enjoyed them. An Afghan National Army officer mentioned that it is ‘better to have the children learning to play soccer than learning to fight.‘“

Overbye and his team then began brainstorming ways to get more soccer balls into the hands of Afghan children. Then he heard from a woman in Texas who sent the unit care packages through the anysoldier.com program.

“In her note, she asked if there was anything else she could do to help, and I mentioned our desire to obtain some soccer balls,“ he continued.

The woman, a graduate of Texas A&M, lives near the campus and approached the university about making a donation. She also thought other schools, sports organizations and churches might want to get involved with the effort.

“Since the goal of the program is to collect soccer balls for young people, she aptly suggested that we call the program Operations Soccer Smiles,“ noted Overbye, who stressed the operation is still in its early stages and expects to receive a second shipment of soccer balls in the near future.

“Once that is done, we will provide photos to those organizations contributing, so they can see the benefit of their contribution. Who knows, perhaps there is someone out there that may be interested in supporting this program by developing a Web site or something,“ he wrote. “I really don’t know the best way to move forward, as I am a Soldier and not a businessman or marketing person. I do know, however, that providing soccer balls to young people may potentially have a very positive influence on their lives here in southern Afghanistan.“

For anyone interested in donating soccer balls to the effort or assisting in another way, Overbye’s contact information can be obtained by going to the anysoldier.com Web site and searching by using his last name.