Capt. Neils Barner describes an F-15C Eagle to a group of Romanian school children Nov. 5, 2010, at Campia Turzii Air Base, Romania. The children visited from a local youth center where Airmen had volunteered to play games and perform repairs. Captain Barner is a pilot with the 493rd Fighter Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman David Dobrydney)
by Senior Airman David Dobrydney
48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
11/15/2010 - CAMPIA TURZII AIR BASE, Romania (AFNS) -- In between flying missions and maintaining jets, Airmen participating in Operation Golden Lance here took time out to give back to the local community.
Airmen from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom, played sports and board games with children and renovated the local youth center run by the Romanian Foundation for Children, Community and Family.
"A project like this shows we can perform our duties and still reach out to the community," said Tech. Sgt. Shawn Kerr, a 48th Maintenance Group aerospace ground technician craftsman, who headed up the project.
The facility has been helped in the past by Airmen on previous exercises. This year provided the chance to build on that success, Sergeant Kerr said. Besides organizing for volunteers to visit the facility, he arranged for the combat communications Airman to upgrade the center's computer systems, which had been donated by a previous group of Airmen.
"It's an extraordinary example of being human and helping those in need," said social worker Anca Lorena. The Golden Lance Airmen were the first Americans she had met since starting work at the center, and she said greatly appreciated the positive effect their visits had on the children.
"(The Airmen) aren't ashamed to play, which is very important to them," Ms. Lorena said. "Every day the children asked me 'when are the Americans coming back?'"
As a final gesture before the Airmen departed for home, 30 children visited the flightline to see the American and Romanian aircraft up close, and sat in the cockpit of an F-15 Eagle.
Approximately $2,000 worth of clothing and toys were donated to the center. However, Sergeant Kerr said no dollar amount can be put on the bond between the children and the Airmen.
"Good memories are something you can't really buy."
