A Big Birthday in Theater

Those candles traveled along way!

Prior to deploying, I was able to speak with my manager a few times over the phone. In our first conversation, she mentioned that she would be celebrating a birthday in theater. I won’t mention the age, but it was one of those “0” birthdays, so we had to do something special. My co-worker Neelum was the mastermind behind most of the birthday events. She went out of her way to have the three other deployment teams sign a card prior to leaving the States. Even more amazing was the birthday balloons, banners and presents she toted thousands of miles in her already stuffed duffle bags!

The night before the birthday we were decorating the office and a service member came in to turn in a volunteer application. Neelum was quick to recognize his birthday had just passed so we decided to throw him a small celebration as well. He kindly obliged to our shenanigans by wearing a birthday hat, beads, and accepting a birthday balloon and goodie bag. I’m not sure he knew what he was walking into by visiting the office!

We finished decorating, and then went on a covert operation in our Red Cross van to secure a birthday cake. Can’t go into details, but let’s just say Neelum and I will be laughing about this story for a long time. 

Morning came, and Jocelyn was surprised to walk into the office with us lighting candles and singing happy birthday. We also had a pizza party that evening. Wherever you are in the world, there is always pizza to be found. Our new friends and volunteers were happy to join in the fun as well…and we made everyone wear birthday hats.

The Life of the Party!

 Birthdays, by the way, are going to be a big focus in our office. They are after all, a chance to make someone feel loved and appreciated. So I am happy to announce that our manager ordered two easy bake ovens for our office. In a few weeks time, our service members will be able to bake and decorate their own birthday cake in our office!

Wait, are we are in danger?

Learning how to operate the essentials at Fort Benning, just in case.

Thanks to my teammate Neelum for taking these photos!

Ironic as it sounds, there are days here that seem like we are just on a regular base. In talking with service members, many feel the same way. But then there are reminders. LOUD reminders. Last week, I had probably been asleep for two hours or so when I heard a large drilling noise. It seemed like someone was literally on top of my roof using an electric drill. My first reaction was to get up out of bed, and check my roof. Nothing. I was dumbfounded.

Later that day I consulted my teammate,Neelum, who lives right next door, about the noise. She had heard the same noise. Someone was kind enough to inform us that what we had heard was a weapon intended to intercept anything that is fired in our direction. My brother equates it to a fire breathing dragon. Wright, one of our volunteers told us to check the sky the next time we heard the noise, and there would be a firework show quick to follow.

 There are other reminders as well. An intercom system relaying the messages of indirect fire. And helicopters flying over and making your whole chu vibrate. Lucky for us though, my flak jacket and helmet are gathering a bit of dust, as these types of things don't happen too frequently.

Heart Stop

A Deeper Glance into Casework

A series of events took place this past Friday that reminded me of my own mortality. The human heart has its more vulnerable moments, especially when it comes to the subject of death. We avoid thinking about it, and when it is suddenly brought to the forefront, like it was in my world today, no one can walk away unscathed. It must be the humanity in all of us makes our heart hurt when we hear of death, even the loss of perfect strangers.

Two service members lost their parents tonight, and one service member lost his own life. All were sudden or unexpected, making them even more tragic.

My first case was about a service member’s mother who had passed away after a battle with cancer. Only a few hours earlier, a Red Cross message had been delivered, and the doctor had estimated she had only a few days to live. The mother was in bad shape, but still alive. There was a glimmer of hope that the service member would return home in time to say goodbye. But when I opened the case, that hope was lost. The update on the message was the sister informing us that the mother had just passed away. Though he was scheduled on a flight, it was too late. All I could think of was that it was too late. He would have to say goodbye in a different way, and was left with a long plane ride home. I hope and pray that he was able to think about the happy memories he shared with his mother, and was not totally overcome with sadness.

Only a few hours later, I received another case of lost parent. In this case, a sudden and unexpected accident had taken a father’s life. And to make matters worse, the intended recipient of the message was in transit; he was at the beginning of the deployment and at JBB awaiting a flight to his permanent deployment site. When service members are just traveling into theater, it is like finding a needle in a haystack. With the help of two wonderful soldiers at the transient housing office, I finally confirmed a room location for the service member, but had no way of contacting someone in his chain of command. I was left with a tragic message and a room number.

 The family had requested a chaplain be present at notification, so luckily my manager Jocelyn had come in and she assisted me with contacting a chaplain. With the two soldiers from housing in one car, and my manager, the chaplain and I in the next, we drove toward the service member’s chu.  I was desperately hoping he would be there; I had worked very hard to try to find him and wanted to do all I could to get him home to his family. Since it was an all male housing area I had to wait in the car, but the chaplain and other soldiers went to knock on the door. No servicemember. 

But, they did find someone in his unit (I was so grateful he wasn’t traveling as an individual) and he joined our convoy in search of the service member. It took two more stops before we finally found him. Though I never saw him, I was able to speak with an officer from his unit. He was intent on getting him home quickly, and mentioned that the service member was probably the person most close to his family in the unit. Back in the US, the service member only lived about an hour away and would visit his parents frequently. Now that he was half way across the world, he would have to turn right back around, faced with grief not even caused by war. 

My heart all ready heavy, I was shocked to hear that earlier that morning, the chaplain was faced with another loss; this one a soldier from his own unit who had passed away unexpectedly. 

It was a day of loss. But even in my sadness for these soldiers, I was encouraged by help I received in getting out the messages. A good picture of the military helping to take care of their people, something I have always respected. And it was an experience in casework very different from what I am use to. Unlike the older days of Red Cross messaging, we usually don’t find or even contact the service member directly, but relay it to the chain of command. 

Today I saw my work come to life, and it will be something that I remember for a long time.

One and Two Happenings

Phone Friends

I think we are all familiar with the term face friends. It’s those individuals who you run into frequently; either they travel on your same bus route, or pass you in the hallway, or maybe you always run into them at the grocery store. Whatever the encounter, there is usually an underlying tone of friendliness, but with a mutual understanding that you might not ever have a conversation. With two weeks under my belt, I have started to establish what I label as phone friends. It’s those soldiers on the other end of the line that take the Red Cross messages. I know their name, but not a whole lot else. During the course of delivery, there may be one or two personal tidbits but nothing more.  There is still an air of friendliness, despite the fact that we usually pass along bad news. I was thinking to myself that it would be nice to put a face with a name. After all, they help us accomplish our goals by getting the message into the appropriate hands. Lucky for me, out of all the soldiers that I could run into on the base, I have bumped into two of my phone friends. Actually, more accurately, they have run into me…thanks  to the Red Cross patch on my shoulder.

Soldier Stories

One of the best parts of this position is having the opportunity talk with our service members, who come into the office on a regular basis.  Our experiences are often defined by who we meet along the way, not just to the destination to which we travel. Anyone agree?

A quick glimpse: We have an airman that comes to our office quite frequently. He is with security forces, as are many of our volunteers. He is originally from Georgia, and wasn’t quite ready to take over his family’s business. Tired of a mundane work routine, he joined the Air Force. Now he finds himself in Iraq, frequenting the Red Cross office to use our internet café to talk with his family. He has a fascinating position which allows him to have a bird’s eye view of Iraq and surrounding countries. He has even had the opportunity to go on a humanitarian mission. In some respects, he is our eyes to the outside world. We don’t know too much about the terrain or the cities beyond the fence line, because we don’t leave the post. Like most soldiers we chat with, he plans to use education benefits to go back to school. Not sure he knows exactly what he wants to do after the Air Force, but isn’t that a question that we all usually spend a lifetime trying to figure out?

Disappointment

As I mentioned before, my brother is in the Army, deployed to a FOB not too far from JBB. As soon as I found out I was coming to Iraq, everyone asked if I might have an opportunity to meet him. As luck would have it, he was supposed to come visit only a few days after my arrival. I waited in eager anticipation for him to walk into the Red Cross office, but he never came, leaving me feeling sorry for myself. There is this glimmer of hope that next week, on Thanksgiving, he might just make it here…that would be something to truly be thankful for. 

Perimeter Road, Iraqi women and sunflowers

For my first few days on base, I couldn’t really find my bearings. I wasn’t sure how close we were to the fence line, or even what the lay of the land looked like from outside the gates. Then came the drive around perimeter road (Thanks Jocelyn!). We of course would never go gallivanting near the perimeter without a purpose; we were headed to take a postal class. As we drove, I happened to look upon a peculiar sight (in my mind at least): sunflowers. I hadn’t expected to see any trees or vegetation either, but the area around base is actually full of farmland. And sunflowers! Driving down a little further, I saw an Iraqi woman in a rather bright cover (neon color, I think) who was just starring in at the base. If I had to put words in her mouth or guess the thoughts in her head, I would say she was remembering what the land was like before it was a huge installation. Or maybe she was wondering if there would be an end to this conflict. I don’t know what her life was like before we arrived, but I like to think it is better now than it was. I guess I will never quite know her story, but only hope that she has experienced some joy during her lifetime. 

A care package from MOM

One of the week’s highlights was a care package from my mom. I don’t think I necessarily qualify for a care package, having spent only two weeks deployed. But, this package had more than enough, making it perfect for sharing. Most importantly it had holiday decorations. No Black Friday shopping opportunities here, so to get everyone in the holiday spirit, we are having a decorating party. A topic you can look forward to in next week’s post.