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A28 U.s. news
Dialuna 14 Maart 2022

More US troops deploy overseas in wake of Ukraine invasion

Georgia, was among those the 3rd Infantry’s command-
in attendance. He was seen er, said recently that soldiers
“fist-bumping” many of the are being told to prepare for
soldiers as they boarded the six months overseas, though
plane. deployments could be
lenghtened or shortened per
The battalion’s soldiers are developments in Ukraine.
in addition to the estimated
3,800 soldiers from the Ar- The Pentagon has ordered
my’s 3rd Infantry Division roughly 12,000 total service
who have deployed in re- members from various U.S.
cent weeks from nearby Fort bases to Europe, with a cou-
Stewart, said Lt. Col. Lindsey ple of thousand more already
Elder, the division’s spokes- stationed abroad shifting to
person. other European countries.

Spec. Danton Belucio, who The soldiers’ mission is to
has served in the Army for train alongside military units
three years, said he looked of NATO allies in a display
forward to going on his first of force aimed at deterring
deployment. further aggression by Russia.
The Pentagon has stressed
(AP) — U.S. soldiers con- About 130 soldiers from the marching outside and board- “I’ve always wanted to actu- U.S. forces are not being de-
tinued to deploy Friday to 87th Division Sustainment ing their chartered flight. It ally go on one to do some- ployed to fight in Ukraine.
Europe, joining thousands Support Battalion, 3rd Divi- departed amid grey skies and thing different,” he said. “It
already sent overseas to sion Sustainment Brigade, rain. makes me feel like I’m help- Belucio, 24, of Orlando,
support NATO allies lined up with rucksacks in- ing somebody.” Florida, said he was not wor-
amid Russia’s invasion of side a terminal at Hunter Republican U.S. Rep. Earl ried at all about participating
Ukraine. Airfield in Savannah before “Buddy” Carter, of Pooler, Maj. Gen. Charles Costanza, in the mission.

What happens when all the student volunteers disappear?

(AP) — When the pan- tentially fading, school ad- of work that’s not getting vice requirements, volun- student volunteers that she
demic shut schools two ministrators are anticipating done and the community is teer-oriented groups like the had to cut it off at 60 people.
years ago, Scott Losavio returning to the pre-COV- not being served,” said Adam Key Club faced the same
faced a problem afflict- ID-19 days of unhindered Weiss, community service problem. The community service re-
ing students, administra- volunteerism. Not a moment coordinator for Oceana High quirement is rare at the state
tors and communities ev- too soon at Catholic High School in Pacifica, California. Her school doesn’t have a level, with only Maryland
erywhere: What happens School. “I work with teenag- For students, volunteering volunteer requirement, but (and the District of Colum-
when all the student vol- ers all day, and I know what “gives them work experience its Key Club members still bia) mandating it. But indi-
unteers disappear? kind of knuckleheads they and gives back to the com- worked to find safe ways to vidual schools, both public
are,” Losavio said. “But I also munity and helps them get contribute — organizing and private, frequently insti-
As service coordinator at know that when they’re out out of their teenage bubble.” donation drives to gather tute them.
Catholic High School in there helping other people, canned goods, socks and toi-
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, that’s when they’re at their Weiss’ school dropped its letries for homeless shelters. With no real coordination
Losavio helps students fulfill best.” community service require- when the pandemic struck,
the school’s requirement to ment from 100 hours to 32. Outdoor volunteer activities these schools and school dis-
perform community service Across the U.S., the pandem- Even that, he said, runs on also became a huge draw. In tricts had to make their own
hours. Juniors must do 40 ic forced school administra- “much more of an honor sys- December 2020, when Den- decisions on how to handle
“Type A” volunteer hours, tors like Losavio to slash or tem these days.” son helped organize a clean- things. That applies, too, to
where they have direct con- eliminate student volunteer up at Louisiana’s oldest Black reinstating community ser-
tact with the people being requirements. Students ei- Even at schools without ser- cemetery, it drew so many vice requirements.
served, and seniors must do ther abandoned volunteering
20. or strained to find safe ways
to serve their communities in
Packing boxes in a food bank a time of isolation and crisis.
warehouse doesn’t qualify,
but serving meals in a soup Catholic High cut the vol-
kitchen does. “We want them unteer hours requirement
to have a real human inter- by half across the board and
action and develop a sense waived the Type A stipula-
of passion and empathy for tion. And the definitions
people that are suffering,” for what qualifies as volun-
Losavio said. teering have been creatively
stretched.
All of that, of course, became
nearly impossible when the The pullback hurt broadly.
coronavirus pandemic sent For communities, thousands
students home in the midst of dependable volunteer
of the 2019-2020 school year hours vanished at a moment
and kept them home for the of spiraling need. And the
following year as communi- students lost out on the kind
ties shut down and people of empathy-building experi-
were told to avoid direct con- ences that such requirements
tact. were designed to create.

Now with the pandemic po- “There’s thousands of hours