Principal finds perfect gift for his old Army unit

Chester—Ernest Jackson has found the perfect holiday gift for his old Army unit: Operation Direct Support. Jackson, who took the reins as Chester’s middle-school principal just two weeks ago, came up with the idea of video-conferencing live performances from several different school holiday concerts to his old unit, the 7th Infantry Regiment “Cotton Balers,” which is being deployed to Iraq for a fourth time. “We have the technology—why not leverage it and make a few soldiers feel good about what’s going on,” said Jackson. Technology is key to getting this project off the ground. Jackson envisions BOCES as providing the video-conferencing bridge between the schools and the regiment in Iraq. Everything comes down to timing. Jackson admits that video-conferencing to a war zone has inherent problems. “This is obviously not a front-burner thing over there,” he said. “To make the project work will take great timing and lots of luck.” He’s gotten enthusiastic responses from many. Jackson said there are six schools lined up, including Chester Academy; C.J. Hooker Middle School in Goshen; his former work home, Warwick Valley Middle School; Minisink Middle School; Monticello Middle School and Anna S. Kuhl Elementary School in Port Jervis. Jackson said video cameras will be in each of the six schools. He will coordinate the musical numbers each school will do and the order in which each school will participate. BOCES will provide the bridge, transmitting the live performances to Iraq. “We don’t want six renditions of Jingle Bells,” Jackson said. And the project doesn’t end with the performance. Jackson is hoping to have a live feed from Iraq back to the students, so not only will the soldiers get to see the performances as they happen, they also will be able to respond to the students. “That would be a great thing for the kids,” he said. And Jackson hopes to have the community involved as well. He sees the Christmas concerts as a wonderful treat for the troops, and as a great opportunity for the kids and community members to have actual real-time contact with soldiers serving in Iraq. He himself spent 20 years in the Army and many holiday seasons away from his loved ones and he knows how much contact with faces and voices from home can mean to soldiers. People who have a family member or friend in the unit can come to any of the schools participating and possibly see and talk with their loved ones. There is lots of prep work yet to be done to actually get this project off the ground. Depending on what is going on in the unit, the performance will take place sometime between Dec. 14 and Dec. 20, probably in the late morning. When it is 10 a.m. in the U.S. it will be 6 p.m. in Iraq. Jackson is cautiously optimistic and sees much more coming out of this than just songs for the troops. “We can provide our troops with entertainment and boost their morale. We will educate our students about service to our country. We will promote video-conferencing technology. And, we will have fun,” said Jackson. “It may not happen. But if we can pull this off, it would be a great thing”