Our History
In early 2004, the men and women of the 1/211th Aviation Battalion - "Task Force Pirate" - landed in Bagram, Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom V.
Assigned alongside coalition forces to an old Soviet airbase, this "Apache" attack helicopter unit was prepared to face the uncertainties of war.
What they found waiting for them was much more devastating. Decades of starvation, poverty, war and oppression had crippled the country and it's people, reducing it to the second poorest country in the world.
Almost immediately, these soldiers, and many more like them, began looking for ways to help...
Operation Shoe Fly began as a small, simple effort to make a difference in Afghanistan "one child and two shoes at a time".
Spearheaded by 1st Sgt. Jim Thomson, the humanitarian effort was formed by the soldiers and families of Company B, 214th Aviation Regiment "Hillclimbers" that deployed to Afghanistan in March of 2003.
Jim and his "crewdogs" noticed that many of the Afghan children were shoeless. Petitioning for support online, their families in Hawaii oversaw the collection and shipping of some 30 boxes of donated shoes per month. Once in Afghanistan, the "Hillclimbers" distributed them by dropping them from their CH-47 Helicopters as they flew missions over the remote villages.
CW5 Layne Pace[i] of the 1/211th, found out about Operation Shoe Fly, and approached Jim.
Layne's group, Angels for Afghanistan[i] (soldiers' families based out of Utah), was doing similar work.
Operation Shoe Fly and Angels for Afghanistan quickly joined forces and began sending humanitarian aid to the Bagram base in force.
Layne and his volunteer company of soldiers began delivering the much needed supplies directly to orphanages, villages and coalition hospitals.
From these first steps, an incredible journey of support, love and healing would begin as these soldiers searched for ways to bolster the good people of this beleagured country....
On the Coalition base in Bagram, Afghanistan, both the Egyptian and Korean forces have hospitals that provide basic medical attention to the local Afghan people.
After being briefly introduced to the Egyptian hospital by (CW3)R.O. Williams two weeks prior, (CW5)Layne Pace, (CW5)Gary Wallin & (MAJ)Thomas Greene walked down to the Egyptian compound and asked to speak with their commander.
Unsure of how they would get past the language barrier (no translator was available), it took almost an hour to get clearance into the compound.
Soon, they found themselves sitting in front of the Egyptian commander...
Luckily, the Egyptians brought in a translator.
Layne & Co. explained to the commander that they wanted to continue the humanitarian aid efforts and distribute items through the Egyptian hospital.
After some deliberation, the Egyptian commander agreed to let them return. One week later, Layne & Co. returned with a truck full of humanitarian aid.
The Egyptian forces helped them setup a small area, where they could begin distributing the humanitarian aid.
Without much organization, the small American crew was quickly overwhelmed by the excited, outstretched hands of the local Afghan children.
They were immediately energized as they handed out clothing, blankets, shoes, food and school supplies to Afghanistan men, women and children.
Layne asked permission to return again with more humanitarian aid. The Egyptians welcomed them whole-heartedly.
In the beginning the supplies that the soldiers delivered were direct contributions from their families in Utah, organized as "Angels for Afghanistan". Later Layne was contacted by the U.S. Air Force.
The Air Force was unable to deliver all the humanitarian aid that was flooding in from families, and asked if they would help distribute it. Layne & Co. eagerly accepted and began distributing these supplies as well.
Over the next few weeks, these efforts steadily developed friendships.
They found the Egyptian forces kind, generous and very interested in helping them accomplish their humanitarian efforts.
The U.S. Soldiers began visiting and socializing with the Egyptian troops, sharing stories about their families and talking about world events.
They later learned that not many (if any) Americans had made attempts to socialize with the Egyptian staff members.
It was these friendships with the hospital staff that would prove invaluable, as the U.S. Soldiers would later struggle to find help in treating Afghan children suffering from serious ailments.
Encouraged by the success with the Egyptian Hospital, Layne and Co. decided to try approaching the Korean Hospital, and in much the same way, they found themselves sitting in front of the Korean commander.
The Korean Commander seemed a bit hesitant, but kindly allowed them to return with a truck full of humanitarian aid.
Although the Korean staff was a bit overwhelmed (and seemingly understaffed) by such an interruption, they graciously allowed the U.S. Soldiers to bring in and distribute shipments of supplies on a monthly basis.
The Korean Hospital continues to do a wonderful job of providing health inspections, inoculations and health education to the people of Afghanistan.
As word spread of their efforts, they began to get calls from many of the active-duty U.S. Soldiers wanting to assist with the humanitarian aid.
Some of the key contributors in these efforts were:
- Egyptian Hospital Commander & Staff
- Korean Hospital Commander & Staff
- U.S. Air Force
- Angels for Afghanistan
- MAJ Gordon Behunin
- MAJ Thomas Greene
- CW5 Layne Pace
- CW5 Gary Wallin
- CW3 R.O. Williams
- 1LT Jon Richardson
- SPC Jill Stevens