By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
FAITH ó To bring supplies to America’s front lines fighting in Iraq, Tony Gaines drove tanks from Kuwait to Baghdad.
The 27-year-old South Rowan High graduate shared tales of his yearlong tour of duty in the Iraq war with his nephew’s fifth-grade class at Faith Elementary School Friday morning.
The school hosted a patriotic program and breakfast for about 30 veterans in honor of Veterans Day, which is Tuesday.
After breakfast, Gaines, who now lives in Rockwell, showed the class pictures of one of Saddam Hussein’s palaces in Baghdad and another picture of a dust storm that 10-year-olds in the United States could only imagine.
Gaines displayed a medal he earned for sharpshooting and explained that his job of driving trucks in the Middle East was dangerous.
“We were just rolling targets, basically,” Gaines told Kristen Thomas’ fifth-grade class.
But pictures of one of the world’s most infamous dictators’ digs and stories of peril weren’t what really got the attention of these youngsters.
Nope. They seemed most intrigued by Gaines’ tales of an insect.
When a student asked him what he was most afraid of during his time at war, Gaines said simply, “Camel spiders.”
Then he went on to say he knew of a soldier who got half his nose eaten by a camel spider while he slept. Camel spiders, he explained, get their name because they begin their lives in camel droppings.
That really got the kids going. They flooded Gaines with questions and their own stories about arachnids.
Thomas assured her curious students they could look up more information about the spiders later on the Internet.
Some say it’s an urban legend that flesh-eating, feces-springing camel spiders like the ones Gaines described really exist.Oh sure, they exist in deserts, the Web site says, but they don’t go on the prowl for sleeping humans. And camel-spider eggs hatch in the ground, it says.
So once Gaines managed to steer the conversation away from insects, students learned a thing or two about the military.
Gaines explained the military alphabet, used as a code so the enemy won’t know what’s being said.
“Did you eat that stuff that tastes like cardboard?” asked fifth-grader Cameron Eller, who was dressed for the occasion in Army fatigues. In fact, he looked like he might have eaten one or two meals-ready-to-eat in his day.
Ray Charleston, 53, of Granite Quarry, talked to Thomas’ class about his experiences in the U.S. Coast Guard.
After he graduated from East Rowan High School in 1974, Charleston said, he had dreams of flying planes ó or at least working with them in some way.
After two years of electronics school, Charleston said, he inquired with the Air Force.
But officers couldn’t guarantee he would work directly with planes.
On his way out of the office, he spotted a poster for the Coast Guard, Charleston said.
“I said, ‘Sign me up,’ ” he said.
Charleston became a flight engineer and fulfilled his dream of working with planes.
“I liked that job so much I couldn’t believe they paid me to do it,” he said.
The celebration Friday was the second year Faith Elementary has honored veterans. Principal Jacqueline Maloney said it’s important for young people to grasp the meaning of the day.
“The students don’t have a full understanding of what it means to serve the country yet,” Maloney said.
Hearing stories from veterans brings the issues to life, she said.
Veterans accompanied students outside the school while two fifth-graders raised American and North Carolina flags.
Music teacher Lucy Shue sang the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
Gaines is retired from the military. He now attends Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.
“I figured I made it out of Iraq alive the first time,” he said. “I didn’t want to jeopardize it by going back.”
Gaines’ days of dodging improvised explosive devices are gone, and he’s OK with that.
He doesn’t miss those camel spiders one bit.