Feb 14, 2008 - It all began with an act of kindness and a show of support.

Students in Judy Walker's fifth-grade class filled a box with stuffed animals, candy, greeting cards and toiletries, then shipped it to U.S. Army Maj. Kevin Rice and the soldiers in his unit stationed in Karbala, Iraq.

In return, the class at Emma Love Hardee Elementary School had an opportunity to meet Rice and shake his hand on Jan 24 during his trip home to Fernandina while on leave.

"This is awesome," said one student, reacting to the surprise.

Rice, a friend of Walker, surprised her and her students when he walked into their classroom. He wanted to thank the class in person for sending the care package.

"I can't tell you how much we appreciate it," he said about the package, including cards and hand-drawn pictures. "We stuck them up all over the camp."

Rice, who stood in front of the class answering questions for about an hour, also brought a gift for the students. He presented the class with a challenge coin. The coin symbolizes "unit morale and unit cohesion," he said.

"Every morning touch it for us and wish us good luck," said Rice, who lives and works with the Iraqi army as an advisor.

The coin features the insignias of the U.S. and Iraqi divisions on one side and a buffalo, the unit's mascot, on the other.

The students inquired about everything from cultural differences, such as language and traditional attire, to food and weather conditions in the desert region. Rice pointed to Karbala on a classroom map.

Karbala is "a big city, a very holy city for Muslims," he said. "Surprisingly, Iraq doesn't look all that different from here."

Iraqis call August "the month of fire," Rice told the students. "It got so hot it broke our thermometer" when temperatures rose to 140 degrees. But when the temperature drops at night, the dry cold air "cuts right through the bone," he said.

"We buy the local food because it's an important thing to help the local economy," Rice said. As for Iraq's cuisine, "It's great food. I love it."

"What's the biggest war you ever fought?" asked a student.

"This one." It is "a big force-on-force war," Rice said. "We get attacked very often," he said. "I don't tell my mama that."

His mother, Sylvia Slebos, brother and other family members joined Rice on his visit to Emma Love Hardee. While overjoyed to have her son home for a brief visit - "We were all in tears when he came home" - Slebos continues to shield herself from information about the war.

"I don't watch a lot of news," she said. "I have to give him to God. That's the only way I get through it."

"I've been very lucky. Nobody's gotten too close to me," he said about surviving combat.

Rice, a career soldier with more than 20 years in the U.S. Army, has served in uniform on the African continent and in 26 countries, including Bosnia, the Philippines and Thailand. "My next job is in England."

As an advisor to the Iraqi army, "We take them out and teach them to do operations," he said, explaining that some training is done using video game-like simulators. And, "We train the officers to take care of their soldiers," he said.

"I like what I do," Rice said. "Your army . . . is doing a great job over there . . . no matter what you hear."

gjenkins@fbnewsleader.com