KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – When she saw the soldiers in her unit get sent home early with injuries from IED blasts, Spc. Adrianne Snyder knew she needed to do something to help them. She eventually encouraged other service members to use the arms and legs they were lucky enough to still have to raise money for those who no longer had theirs.

Deployed here in support of Operation Enduring Freedom with the 14th Combat Engineer Battalion from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., Snyder put together a fundraising t-shirt sale, culminating the two-month event with a 10K-run here April 28.

“I noticed that a lot of people were doing runs around here and figured we could put one together since we also had some wounded guys,” said Snyder, who currently works as a liaison officer with the battalion’s Headquarters and Headquarters Company. “We just designed a few t-shirts and started selling them, and things just started selling really fast.”

Deployed here since July, the unit comprises mostly of combat engineers whose daily missions include clearing Afghanistan’s routes of IED’s and as a result, has seen its fair share of injuries sustained from IED blasts. The purpose of the fundraiser was to raise enough money for injured soldiers and their families to travel to and from JBLM during the battalion’s reintegration process and welcome home ceremony, said its commander, Lt. Col. John Buck.

“As a battalion, we’ve encountered more than 500 IEDs and given out 567 [combat action badges] and 58 Purple Hearts,” said Buck. “This will help bring soldiers back to participate in these ceremonies because we still see them as being a part of the team and want to connect them with the battalion.”

Though the fundraiser began with intentions of supporting solely wounded soldiers, Snyder said it has also helped the ones left behind – those who still patrol Afghanistan’s roads on a daily basis after having said goodbye to their injured comrades.

“It’s a morale thing,” she said. “It keeps morale up for the soldiers around us who are still doing route clearance everyday in country.”

In all, Snyder and the 14th have raised more than $13,000, and all proceeds will go to the funds in support of the wounded soldiers, she said.

Aside from the more than 300 participants from various NATO countries currently assigned to KAF, the run also included Buck, who said he was not only impressed with Snyder for the work she put forth, but also members of the many troop-contributing nations.

“She was absolutely passionate about this,” said Buck of Snyder, who was awarded an Army Achievement Medal the previous day for her efforts. “Talk about a young soldier who’s dedicated and driven; she did a magnificent job putting this together and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

“The support for our wounded warriors has been unbelievable,” he continued. “It says a lot about how everyone is connected [to the mission.]”

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