In addition to providing online courses for military students, Empire State College supports the military through its participation in the Adopt-a-Platoon program. We are currently supporting a platoon of 32 soldiers from Ft. Drum’s 10th Mountain Division who are serving in Afghanistan.

In the last issue of CDL Connection, we provided a journal of the platoon's deployment from Ft. Drum, New York, to their destination in Afghanistan. The platoon’s experiences as shared through the journal gave us a better understanding of, and appreciation for, the sacrifices they are making. To express our appreciation and to help the platoon celebrate the holidays away from home, several Empire State College employees worked together to create a gift box for each individual soldier in the platoon. In each box, volunteers included small gifts along with photos and personal letters explaining a little bit about who they are and what they do. Two local elementary schools also participated in the holiday box project by providing drawings and letters written by the children to the soldiers.

In return for the holiday boxes, squad leader SSG Matt McKenzie sent a very nice letter of thanks along with a few photos of his squad. In his letter he said, “I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for doing this and to everyone else for all the effort and time they have put into this platoon!”
SSG Matt McKenzie and 1LT Sean McQuade

Empire State College keeps in touch with the platoon and continues to send regular shipments to them in Afghanistan.