By Sarah Stultz, AlbertLeaTribne.com

For several months, third-graders in Sandra Meyers&8217; class at St. Theodore Catholic School have been corresponding with an Iraq War soldier.

Writing him letters, sending him a care package and praying for him every day, the students adopted the soldier as if he were their own older brother.

On Thursday they got to meet him for the first time when he stopped by the school.

The soldier, who is Sandra&8217;s nephew Curt, is on leave until next Tuesday when he must return to Iraq for 2 1/2 more months.

Curt, a private first class with the Minnesota National Guard&8217;s 851st Vertical Engineer Company based in Camp Riley, said he joined the military two years ago, got out of basic training in March of 2007 and as been in Iraq since October of 2007.

After anticipating his visit, the students got the opportunity to meet their pen pal and to learn a little bit more about his experiences with the war.

He explained aspects of his life like where he lives when he&8217;s in Iraq, how long he&8217;s on each mission and what he does if he gets a day off.

It&8217;s not very often that he gets a day off though, as has usually gone 15 to 20 days without a break, Curt said.

He described Iraq as a very dirty place with very little green grass. There&8217;s a lot of palm trees and date trees, and it snowed there for the first time in 60 years this year, he said.

It seems as if the Iraqi people are finally starting to clean up on their own, Curt said. But most of the country still looks like a landfill.

One student asked whether the Iraqi people like the U.S. soldiers.

Curt responded that some do and some don&8217;t.

In the schools the kids are taught not to like them, but then the children&8217;s parents teach to like the soldiers.

It&8217;s the younger generation that tends to dislike them the most, he said.

&8220;They throw rocks at us, spit at us,&8221; he said.

Some other students asked what happens to a soldier if he is captured by Iraqis and what Curt is planning to do with his life when he&8217;s done with his time.

Curt said he plans to &8220;just continue on like I had never been gone.&8221;

Nine-year-old Adriana Guerra said it was fun meeting Curt after all that the class had sent him before. She said she was surprised to hear many of the things he shared with the class.

Sandra said they started writing Curt because it was a way for the students to get involved in this country.

&8220;It&8217;s good that they can write to someone like that,&8221; she said.

After a question-and-answer session, the students ate cookies and drank punch.