46th Special Forces Company (Airborne) Association

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I was a young soldier who had the honor of serving in the United States Army Special Forces. Of all my assignments, the best was the two years I spent with the 46th Special Forces Company (Airborne) in Thailand. I am now a proud member of the 46th Special Forces Company Association. The association is involved in two projects that really are worth mentioning and supporting.

    a. The Wounded Warriors which I’ll invite you to read about at http://www.46thsfca.org/

    b. The Remote Schools of Thailand program, which we'll talk about today. 

There is one of these in every school the 46th Supports

The association supports some 26 remote schools throughout Thailand. The criterion is simple, they must be remote by Thai standards (way remote by American standards) and they must be poor and need help. There a 6 schools in the Chiang Mai area and I got to go visit one a couple of weeks ago. We went to Pangterm school about two hours drive, or 90 kilometers from Chiang Mai.

Caption?  We don't need no stinking caption!

The school has 105 students and 10 pre-school students. Why they don’t just count them as 115 is a mystery t me, but the schools exclude pre-school kids in their counts. Given that the association tries to bring supplies for all the kids, means we have to be aware of the distinction.

Assembled and Photographed in less than 5 minutes!

What does the association provide?

a. School supplies. Want to help? Please bring an extra suitcase full of simple school supplies with you when you come Thailand. Give them to me and I’ll give them to Reed. If you are headed to Pattaya, give them to Reed yourself. Pencils, pens, math flash cards, crayons are perfect. Writing paper and note books are too heavy and can be purchased locally.

b. Baby Blankets. There is at least one wonderful lady in the States who knits baby blankets and sends them to the Association. They are distributed to the people near the schools.

Young Mother and Baby receive blanket

from Mrs. Johnson

c. Specific Needs: Each school is different. At the Pangterm school the association provides plastic sheeting which is used to make fish tanks. The fish tanks are then used for fish to help feed the children.

When the association visits a school, we provide lunch for the children. It’s always a special treat, usually something the school cannot afford and often something the kids have requested.

Lunch time for the little kids

"Big" kids, the boys table

This is what a boy can do with his lunch before eating it!

Bean sprouts in blood

One thing I was able to do was spend about ten minutes teaching English to one class. It went so well we repeated the process in two other class rooms. Classroom time is special!

Class Room (Houng Rian)

There are more photographs from this special day at:  http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/46thSFCA_20100817/   Enjoy!

My hope is to spend more time with the schools program and also help with the other activities. I’m truly delighted to be involved.



Abundant Blessings,