Seventeen-year-old Peyton Smith has never traveled outside the United States.

On Tuesday, the Cumberland Valley High School senior, a future international relations major, was transported from the video conference room in the back corner of the Capital Area Intermediate Unit’s Summerdale office to the flat landscape of the Camp Taji military base in Iraq.

Through the Freedom Calls Foundation, Peyton and seven classmates from Cumberland Valley High School, along with students from Red Land High School in the West Shore School District, participated in a video conference with soldiers deployed in Iraq.

Primarily known for uniting families via video conference for daily catching up and milestone events like graduations and births, Freedom Calls Foundation has since 2006 offered the FACT (Freedom Calls American Classroom Teleconferencing) program to students in kindergarten through college, FACT program chair Kathryn Harlow said.

The organization hosts between 25 and 50 FACT conferences each month, she said.

Curious

The participants from Cumberland Valley were a mix of students from an Advanced Placement geography course and those interested in military service, district spokeswoman Tracy Panzer said.

Of the eight participating students, two have already enlisted and one is considering enlisting, she added.

Senior Corey Troy, 17, is thinking about the military, inspired by his grandfather and uncle who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, he said. Hearing about the daily work and activities of the deployed soldiers only further piqued his interest, he said.

“They make you realize stuff that’s going around, and it changes you,” he said.

The participating high school students were curious about the Iraqi people (there are a few rock throwers in the north, but the people are mostly open, friendly and inviting, the soldiers said), the advice the soldiers would give to a student considering the military (be patriotic, disciplined and have a good attitude, they said) and how the soldiers use their free time while on base (“Yes, it’s true,” one of the soldiers said. “We can get movies before they hit the theaters.”)

New appreciation

Cumberland Valley 10th-grader Victoria Orlando, 15, had imagined that the soldiers would be in a harsh, uncomfortable setting, she said. Instead, they seemed relaxed. She was surprised to learn that the people in Iraq are kind to them, she added.

“I thought it was interesting that they said that everyone was kind and welcoming,” Peyton said. “That’s really good to know that they’re over there and people are being nice to them.”

The goal of the FACT program is to allow students to learn about the life of a deployed soldier and the culture of a different place, to pick up details not often shared in reports from the field and to ask “softer” questions about the Iraqi people and the day-to-day duties of a soldier, Harlow said.

“Seeing the face and voice of a deployed person instills a sense of respect that isn’t learned otherwise,” Harlow said.

Deployment to Iraq typically lasts one year, the soldiers said. When they return home, they will bring with them the kindness shown to them by the Iraqi people, an appreciation for the United States and a larger worldview, they said.

“I’ve never left the country. It’s good to hear that we are fortunate,” Peyton said. “They (the soldiers) are appreciated.”

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