SCHWEINFURT, Germany — Batman and Spiderman dropped in on the students of Schweinfurt Elementary on Wednesday and Thursday.

But after the pair slid down from the rafters in front of the 550 kindergarten through fifth-graders, another pair of men in distinctive clothes made an appearance — two soldiers from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division in full battle rattle.

Members of “Dagger Brigade,” including commander Col. J.B. Burton, were visiting the school and giving the kids hands-on lessons of what life is like for their family members and friends who are deployed far from home to places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We have the responsibility to ensure that family members are well-informed of what soldiers are doing … there’s concern in the minds of school-aged kids,” Burton said. “Many of them have seen their moms and dads deploy two, or even three times.”

More than 20 soldiers from 1st Battalion, 7th Field Artillery Regiment, who are the sponsoring unit for the school, spent time with the kids, showing them everything from how soldiers eat and sleep to pictures of Iraqi schoolchildren. They were even given a little information of Middle Eastern culture, history and geography.

“They explained everything (the soldiers) are going to do,” said 10-year-old Kelly Villwock, whose dad, Rian, has deployed before. “I don’t think they’ll get hurt, because they have all this equipment,” she said after trying on a helmet and body armor.

Some of the participating soldiers, like Spc. Martin Aparicio, had children go through the training.

“They know what I do; they see my stuff all over the house,” Aparicio said of his own kids, “but seeing us demonstrate and show what we do when we’re in Iraq reinforces their ideas.”

“We want to teach (the children) skills and strategies to get them through deployments,” said Bill Fisk, the school guidance counselor who coordinated the two days. He added that nearly 90 percent of the six- to 12-year-old students will see their parents deploy.

“We want these kids to know that their parents are the best-trained, best-equipped soldiers in the world,” Burton said.

Dagger Brigade’s most recent deployment to Iraq ended in February 2005. Having completed 10 months of training, they are awaiting orders to again deploy to Iraq.