'Chief Wiggles' reaching out to Afghans

Operation Give is branching out.

Operation Give is the brainchild of Paul Holton, the Utah National Guard chief warrant officer who became famous as "Chief Wiggles" when he served in Iraq.

Holton first came to the public's attention for his well-written Internet postings, "Straight from Iraq." When he launched "Operation Give" to help the impoverished Iraqis, particularly children, generous Americans contributed thousands of articles of clothing, personal hygiene, toys, books and other items.

It was such a success that in February President Bush mentioned Holton during his national prayer breakfast, using him as an example of the American servicemen and women who "understand the high calling they have answered."

Recently, Operation Give was stalled for about two months because of difficulties with a shipping company. But an Atlanta law firm is working to get money back, and the project has found other ways to send the donations overseas.

"So we're making some progress there," Holton told the Deseret Morning News.

"We're back to business at hand. We'll continue to collect things, continue to load up containers and get them shipped." Recently, Operation Give sent out two containers, each 40 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet, loaded with 50 pallets of items.

When a container reaches Kuwait, "the military picks it up and takes it either into Afghanistan or into Iraq," he said.

Assistance in Afghanistan is a new development for Operation Give.

"There's an organization that soldiers started called Operation Shoe-Fly," he said. The soldiers are collecting shoes for Afghans. Other items are sent to that country, too.

"They can send us their stuff and we'll make sure that it gets to Afghanistan," Holton said.

The charity's Iraq operations are based in a warehouse in Baghdad. Holton spoke with people on the scene in that country last week, "and they were heading out on a distribution run," he said.

"They were heading to the poorest schools, the areas of the poorest people . . . where they need the supplies the most. And they were also going to go to some children's hospitals in the area and deliver some toys."

Parts of Iraq are so dangerous for Americans that mostly Iraqis deliver the items. These people include two doctors and other volunteers.