Girl Scout Troop 508 and the Army Reserve's 611th Engineer Company surprised each other Monday night.

What promised to be a routine delivery of Girl Scout cookies turned into a memorable evening for the 18 scouts, a few soldiers of the 611th and about 30 volunteers who gathered to assemble the packages.

The Girl Scouts from Summit Country Day School arranged with Sgt. Pete Kohlmorgen of the 611th to donate cases of cookies to send to U.S. soldiers serving in Kuwait and Iraq. What they didn't tell the sergeant was that they would present a choral concert of patriotic songs, accompanied by troop member Alexandra Amend on the violin.

Along with the donated cases of cookies, the girls included messages such as "Kick Saddam's butt," as well as a video recording of their performance and a check for $300 to ship the cookies to Iraq.

"They touched the hearts of the volunteers," the sergeant said. "It is so wonderful to see these young patriotic girls go beyond the call of duty."

In return, the girls got to try on backpacks, helmets, gas masks and night-vision goggles and climb on Capt. Jon Brierton's Humvee. The captain then pinned an unofficial service medal on the lapel of each girl.

The video and cookies will be shipped to the 478th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Thomas, whose members are in either Iraq or Kuwait.

Rebecca Goodman