Puma Team Army Letter

Puma Team Army Letters

This fall Ms. York’s 7th grade math classes wrote letters to soldiers-in-training at Ft. Leonard Wood Army Training camp in Missouri. The soldiers were in basic combat training to become combat engineers.

The Puma students wrote “Dear Soldier” letters to be given out to soldiers who didn’t get very much mail. Apparently, it’s a highlight of their day, after a long day of training, to get mail.

Puma students told the soldiers a little bit about themselves and then asked the soldiers questions about their daily life in the army. They asked questions like, “What is the food like?” “What is your favorite activity at basic training?”

Seventy-five letters were written and sent. A few weeks later, the responses from soldiers started showing up in Ms. York’s mailbox. They heard from real army soldiers about the rigors of army life. The soldiers shared that the food is very much like what students would eat in the YMS cafeteria. They also need to eat really fast, like York Middle Schoolers do, since they only have twenty minutes to eat. They shared that they don’t get much personal time, only about thirty minutes before “lights out”, and that they are usually exhausted by that time.

Be sure to ask some of the Puma students what else they heard about army life from soldiers who serve our country and keep us safe and protect our freedom. The Puma students also thanked the soldiers for their service.

Look closely at the sleeve of the person reading this letter. It is a soldier from the U.S. Army Engineering Battalion at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. The letter was written by our own YMS 7th grade Puma student.