Children at Learn and Grow Depot in Abilene reported for duty on Monday as they learned how to be a soldier.

Captain Stacy Birkel gave a short presentation on being a soldier in the United States Army. Captain Birkel has been in the Army for about eight years, with five of those years being stationed at Fort Riley. She is a lawyer for the United States Army and has also been deployed to Afghanistan.

Captain Birkel gave a little bit of history on the United States Army and also discussed the Army uniform before the real fun began. After the brief history lesson, Captain Birkel took each child through “Basic Training” where they learned how to do a proper salute, Army crawl, and did some Army exercises (five jumping jacks). After each student graduated from “Basic Training”, they received their very own dog tag with their name on it. There were plenty of smiles all around after the “hard work”.

After “Basic Training”, the children formed a circle and played a game of Hot Potato with a ball while listening to the “Army Song”. Captain Birkel wrapped up her presentation by giving each child a picture of a soldier that they could take home and color.

Learn and Grow Depot hosted speakers representing several professions during Community Helpers Week.

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Story by: Billy Hansen / Memorial Health System