Clear Creek students perform during event Posted On: Friday, Mar. 13 2009 06:23 AM By Rebecca LaFlure
Killeen Daily Herald

Thursday evening was bittersweet for many students at Clear Creek Elementary School as they ate, sang and performed at the school's second annual deployment dinner.

The Clear Creek Deployment Club organized the event to welcome home the huge influx of soldiers from the 4th Infantry Division and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment returning to Fort Hood from Iraq.

"I think it's important to showcase what the kids have done and show the families that we appreciate what they've done," said Nadine Albrecht, co-founder of the Deployment Club. "It's a given that about 99 percent of our students here at Clear Creek are from military families. This is our way of life."

The students sang "God Bless My Soldier Too," presented a welcome home slideshow and even performed a play titled "Deployment Days" about the mixed emotions some children feel while their loved ones are overseas.

Second-grader Ariona Yates' father returned from Iraq three days ago, and was excited about the picture of him presented in the welcome home slideshow.

"I missed him. He spoils me," Yates said with a shy smile.

The united families cheerfully devoured a spaghetti dinner – for some, one of their first meals together in over a year.

Hand-written signs encompassed the room with messages like, "God bless you," and "Welcome home."

For others, it was an added reminder that their loved ones were not there to experience the occasion. However, most of the students did not participate for themselves, but instead to support their friends and honor the present soldiers.

"The most amazing thing about tonight is 95 percent of the children who are participating, their parents are still deployed," Albrecht said, whose husband is currently on his second tour of duty in Iraq. "They're throwing this banquet for their peers."

Jodeci Norton, a fourth-grader, took part in the evening's performances. Her father has been in Iraq for more than a year, but is scheduled to return this weekend.

"Sometimes I worry if he's going to get hurt," Norton said.

Fourth-grader Destiny Sorazo's dad recently left for Iraq in January.

"The hardest part is not being able to play with him," Sorazo said.

Albrecht and Polly Harvey, a fourth-grade teacher, created the Deployment Club in the winter of 2007. The two military spouses wanted to offer a support group for students from military families.

"Our husbands were deployed together, and we saw that they (our children) felt alone and they wouldn't talk to us," Albrecht said. "Sometimes children can't relate to adults, but they can relate to one another."

The group meets at Clear Creek after school on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month.