 Task Force Falcon BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, May 10, 2011 - As an usher for Baptist services on Sundays at the Enduring Faith Chapel here, Army Spc. Turquoise Dawson makes it her business to make her fellow worshipers feel welcome.
The property book office clerk for Task Force Falcon, 10th Mountain Division, said her desire to serve in a spiritual role during her deployment speaks not just to her faith, but to a larger approach to her well-being in keeping with the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program. "CSF strengthens soldiers, civilians and families by making the most of five dimensions of strength through assessment and education. These are physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and family," said Army Chaplain (Maj.) Bill Scritchfield. Scritchfield, of Waynesburg, Pa., said he believes Gen. George Marshall explained the significance of soldier spirituality best: "The soldier's heart, the soldier's spirit, the soldier's soul are everything. Unless the soldier's soul sustains him, he cannot be relied on and will fail himself and his country in the end." Dawson's "good thing" doesn't just strengthen her own spiritual fitness. The smile she wears every Sunday also plays a role in strengthening the shared beliefs of those who join her each week. "It does make me feel better to see her there smiling," said Army Sgt. Derek Sherrill, a paralegal noncommissioned officer with Task Force Falcon and a native of Carbondale, Ill. "You can tell she is genuinely happy. It gets things going in the right direction." Dawson said the fellowship allows her to aid in the spirit of worshipping and also brings her some peace. "It's a good refresher for the start of the week," she said. "I show thanks for getting through the week and gain strength to get through the next one." | ||
| Related Sites: NATO International Security Assistance Force | ||
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Soldier Assists Spiritual Fitness
Monday, May 09, 2011
Come to help & save Twinkle
6yr old Twinkle (Hospital Number: C7313514) presented with a large swelling on her neck for the last 2 months. She was admitted 1 week ago and lymph node biopsy revealed Hodgkins Lymphoma (a type of blood cancer). This is a curable type of cancer with appropriate treatment with ABVD chemotherapy.
Her father is a daily wage labourer with 4 children who earns less than Rs 2500/- per month. The estimated expenditure of the treatment is approximately Rs. 1, 00,000/- over 6 (six) months.
This is to request the well wishers to come forward to help this girl. You may please contact Clinical Haematology, Haemato-Oncology & Bone Marrow (Stem Cell) Transplant Unit, CMC, Ludhiana. Phone number: 0161-5037957, email: cmcbmt@gmail.com.
Saturday, May 07, 2011
Engineers in Afghanistan Oversee Base Expansion
By Karen Parrish American Forces Press Service FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan: When 30,000 U.S. troops surged to Afghanistan, space for them to live, work and store equipment became a critical need.
Army Maj. Aaron Wolf leads the team, which has been here for three months. Before the surge, the base was a third the size it is now, he said. "Everything after the surge has been constructed," Wolf said. "It's a massive engineering effort, in facilities that have been built along with those we're still building." Living space for troops was the first priority, Wolf said, and four tent villages have been added to the base. The villages are made up of Air Force "Harvest Falcon" tents, including floored, heated and cooled sleeping tents and latrine and shower facilities, he added. "Other things that have been programmed include larger facilities to hold supplies and ammunition, and the new Soldier Center West that we're building," he said. The soldier center complex will include a chapel, a large gym, a post exchange, a coffee shop, a barber shop and a legal center with offices for other functions such as equal opportunity, Wolf said. "It's geared to facilities for the soldiers themselves," he said, noting the complex also will house a morale, welfare and recreation building large enough to hold a phone and computer center where troops can talk to their families, as well as pool and pingpong tables and conversational-seating areas. Wolf's team plans and oversees construction, he said, while building on base is accomplished through three means: troop labor, local labor and LOGCAP, the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program that provides contracted contingency support to the Army. The soldier center employs all three, Wolf said, adding that he hopes the complex will be complete in three to four months. "Troop labor depends on what's available, and [with] local national labor, it's sometimes difficult to get them onto the base to build," Wolf said. Local workers also sometimes have internal supply issues and religious holidays that can make scheduling a challenge, he said. "It's very unpredictable," Wolf acknowledged. "If we were back in the states, we'd have a contractor and we'd have everything laid out, and the contractor would meet all those milestones. We'd have great confidence in saying we would be done on a certain date. It's a little different here." The other main construction effort is a C-17 landing strip, Wolf said, although smaller projects, including canine team kennels and a power plant, also are under way. A quarter of the way into their yearlong deployment, Wolf said, his team is comfortable with the particular challenges of doing their job in Paktika province. The team includes nine Army engineers, a civilian acquisition analyst, and seven civilian inspectors, draftsmen and engineers, each of whom has more than 20 years of experience in the field, Wolf said. "We all know what our job is, but until we get on the ground and understand what the environment is, ... we really don't understand all those little things that will make the job better," he said. Much of the team's primary effort involves working with local laborers, Wolf said. "Some of the local national contractors are very good at construction, and they've got great foremen," Wolf said. "Others are not so good, and that's a challenge for my guys to ... provide some mentorship." Army Capt. Justin McMillan is the master planner for the team, and he is working to program the passenger terminal, fire station and other facilities for the landing strip. Programming involves planning "the placement of structures, their build-outs, power and utility requirements," he explained. Wolf noted contracted U.S. workers complete the power and utility work and most of the finishing work. Army Sgt. Maj. James G. Scullion, the team's senior enlisted advisor and operations sergeant major, said the deployment has been a learning experience for the detachment's junior members. Scullion said three team members -- a second lieutenant, a specialist and a private first class -- are all on their first deployment and have been in the Army for about a year. "These young soldiers came here with no 'hands-on' experience," he said. "I believe they now understand how to apply the skills they were taught in the school environment to real-world missions." Scullion said the team's work with Afghan contractors is a unique opportunity. "The team gets to provide them technical advice and perhaps better ways of doing certain construction tasks, as well as learning from them," the sergeant major said. "In return, we get quality construction for all the soldiers to benefit from, ... from force protection to facilities that allow them time to relax and unwind." (Issued on May 5, 2011) | ||
| Related Sites: NATO International Security Assistance Force |
Friday, May 06, 2011
'Real Warrior' Finds Path to Physical, Emotional Healing
By Elaine Sanchez American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON: Black-and-white photos of Vietnam-era veterans line the wall at a Veterans Affairs center. Some are smiling and others are gazing at a distant point, but in all, an unseen light catches the emotion in their eyes.
"Their stories are amazing," she said. This line of photos on a wall in a VA center in Charleston, S.C., serves not only as Pearsall's veteran tribute, but also a milestone in her recovery from physical and emotional wounds of war. Just a few months earlier, Pearsall had nearly given up hope of working as a photographer again or of taking photos that didn't serve as a haunting reminder of a painful past. Pearsall's photography career took off while she was in the Air Force. As a combat photographer, she took thousands of pictures over the course of her Air Force career, earning her accolades and awards from leaders at all levels of her chain of command. She traveled extensively for her job, so she felt prepared when she was tasked to deploy to Baghdad in September 2003. As part of her duties, Pearsall documented a school rebuilding process, and when the school marked its opening with a ceremony in February 2004, she attended. After the ceremony, as the unit prepared to head out, the Humvee she was riding in was making a tight turn on a dead-end street when a roadside bomb detonated. Pearsall was sitting behind the driver's seat. The impact threw her forward, and her head hit the back of the seat. But more concerned about her ears, which were bleeding from the concussive sound, she didn't feel the neck pain until hours later. She was seen by a doctor who chalked it up to whiplash, and she was back out on a mission the next day. Months later, the headaches and vertigo lingered, as did the severe neck pain. But concerned about her Air Force career, Pearsall didn't seek treatment. Her deployment ended in March, and she became a student at Syracuse University for a year to hone her photography skills. She had become accustomed to hiding her pain and the emotional after-effects of combat from others, but was unable to keep them from a friend -- a fellow photographer and Vietnam veteran -- who recognized the signs of post-traumatic stress. He connected her with a Vet Center, where she began counseling. "It definitely helped me work through a lot of emotions and stress," she said. "I knew whatever I said to [my therapist] wouldn't go back to my active-duty command. There was no threat of losing my career." After school, Pearsall went on back-to-back deployments, first to Africa, then to Lebanon and finally, back to Iraq. The difference between her first and second Iraq deployments was like night and day, she said. In 2003, she never fired her weapon, but in 2007, she fired it constantly. Her unit experienced heavy casualties in Diyala province. Pearsall saw bodies of Iraqis who had been executed and mutilated, and comrades shot just a few feet away, which she later had to photograph. People getting wounded or killed was a daily occurrence, she said. A series of back-to-back events took their toll. Pearsall lost three teammates, and a day later, her video partner was wounded and evacuated. Another friend had been shot in the head right in front of her. "Nothing prepares you for the death of your friends," she said. Her photos from that time are haunting. In one photo, three soldiers are gathered in a dimly lit room, faces downward as if in reflection, a single light shining through a window. Two days before, their teammate had been shot in the head just 10 feet away from where they were standing. In another photo, two soldiers are comforting each other, one close to tears, after the loss of a friend the day before. "I'm eternally tied to the photographs that I made and those soldiers who were in those photographs," she said. The photographer said she had to keep her emotions in check, for her teammates and for the troops who served under her. "I think I handled things pretty well by just not addressing the emotions at the time," she said. Pearsall was injured again -- further damaging her neck -- when a roadside bomb detonated during a mission. A few months later, her unit was ambushed. She was running out to help a wounded soldier in the street when a cord attached to her helmet snapped her back. Her head slammed on a Stryker vehicle, again injuring her neck. The next morning, she felt neck pain unlike anything she had felt before, and she knew it was time to get help. The doctors did an X-ray and she was on a helicopter that day. Her neck injury had grown so severe, the doctors told her, that if she had jolted her head one more time, it would have severed her spinal cord. Pearsall's greatest fear -- losing her career -- was now at hand, she said. And her husband, a strong source of support, was deployed at the time. "It was a really ugly time in my life," she said. The years of wearing 85 pounds of gear had wreaked havoc on her neck. The doctors told her she wouldn't be able to work as a photographer or pursue another passion, riding horses, again. But Dr. Patrick Lovegrove, an Air Force flight surgeon at the time, offered her hope through prolotherapy treatment -- which involves insertion of a 4-inch needle down to the bone -- that lasted for more than two years. Pearsall was able to get off of the pain killers and finally on the road to physical recovery. Invested in her recovery, her doctor separated from the Air Force, but continued to donate his services to her until the therapy ended in 2009 and she switched over to the VA system. "I'll always owe him a debt of gratitude," she said. The therapy enabled her to ride horses and take photos again, but she knew she'd always have some degree of pain from her degenerative condition. "It was either adapt to life or shrivel up and die," she said. Pearsall chose to adapt. But the loss of her Air Force career affected her, as did the emotional wounds of war that she had pushed aside to focus on her physical recovery. She started seeing a mental health therapist about a year after her deployment. "The military told me I couldn't be a photographer for them anymore," she said. "Mentally, that put me on a roller coaster. What am I good for?" Pearsall found an answer at the VA medical center in Charleston. While she sat for hours in waiting rooms, she began to notice the men and women around her. Most of the veterans there were from the Vietnam era, and she reached out to hear their stories. She felt inspired to bring her camera and take their portraits, leading to the project that now fills a wall there. "Just because I was disabled, didn't make me unable," she said. "Once I wrapped my own mind around that, I could do more." Pearsall plans to keep up her veteran portrait work at VA hospitals in Georgia and North Carolina, then here, and to Maryland and Virginia as well. In another effort aimed at helping veterans, Pearsall provides horse therapy to veterans through a nonprofit group. Most recently, Pearsall offered to have her story documented for the Defense Department's "Real Warriors" campaign in hopes of encouraging other veterans and servicemembers to seek help. The campaign in sponsored by the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury, and it features stories of service members who sought psychological treatment and continued successful military or civilian careers. Her profile is now posted on the Real Warriors website, http://realwarriors.net/. "My hope is that if they watch my story, they'll find a way to offload their burden," she said. "Everyone wears a different amount, but it's not necessary to carry it around with you all the time." Pearsall said the stigma that kept her from getting help has been greatly reduced through projects such as the Real Warrior campaign and through efforts by the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments. For servicemembers still leery about getting care, Pearsall recommended online support networks, blogs and forums where people can go and shed their burdens. "You'll see you're not alone," she said. "The loss of sleep, nightmares, anxiety, road rage -- they're products of war." Pearsall also hopes leaders will gain a greater understanding of mental health issues and, above all, avoid judgment. "Be positive and supportive," she said. "You're the first in line for that service member." While it's been difficult to discuss, Pearsall said, she believes it's important to share her story. "If I get one person to get help if they're having issues, then I feel like I've been successful," she said. (Issued on May 4, 2011) | ||
| Related Sites: Video Profile Real Warriors Campaign Real Warriors Resources Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury Warrior Care Blog | ||
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Families React to bin Laden's Death
By Elaine Sanchez
American Forces Press Service
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON: I heard the news of Osama bin Laden's death when doing my usual late-night workout in my kids' play room. My husband burst through the door and told me the president was about to make an announcement.
I turned on the news and watched as the country celebrated the demise of the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, which claimed 3,000 lives in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.
Those attacks are what led this nation to a war on terrorism that continues today, and prompted me to re-enlist in the Air Force, even though I had just separated from the service to pursue a civilian career.
Over the past decade, as a journalist, I've written about the wars and seen firsthand the wounded servicemembers recovering from life-altering attacks. I've visited Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and watched as fallen servicemembers returned to U.S. soil from combat in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
But my experiences pale in comparison to those who have direct ties to the 9/11 after-effects – families of the fallen.
I reached out to several families to find out how they felt in the wake of bin Laden's death, and wrote about their responses in the American Forces Press Service article, "Survivors Call bin Laden's Death 'Bittersweet.'"
After talking with several families, I realized there were mixed emotions about the news – a sense of elation coupled with a sense of caution about what lies ahead.
Wendy Duffman, whose brother died in Afghanistan, said she first felt elated when she heard the news.
"I woke up for the first time in four years feeling like my brother didn't die in vain," Duffman told me.
"I woke up for the first time in four years feeling like my brother didn't die in vain," Duffman told me.
However, she also cautioned against complacency. "I don't want people to forget there are others like bin Laden," she said. "The war isn't over. We still have troops in harm's way."
Lisa Dolan called the news "bittersweet." Her husband, Navy Capt. Bob Dolan, was killed in the Pentagon on 9/11 when Flight 77 struck the building,
"Nothing will bring back my husband and the almost 3,000 men, women and children that were killed on Sept. 11, 2011," she said. "Is there some vindication in the death of bin Laden? Maybe.
"However, I do feel incredibly proud of our military," she continued. "They have sacrificed so much for our freedoms."
You can read more responses from families in my article. For more on bin Laden's death, visit the AFPS special report, "The Demise of Osama bin Laden."
If you have a related story to share, please don't hesitate to write in.(Issued on May 3, 2011)
Soldier Gives Back to Supporters
 U.S. Division North CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE WARRIOR, Iraq : Smiles crossed the faces of students at Kingman Academy in Kingman, Ariz., as their anticipation and excitement finally ended and they put a face to the name.
Army Pfc. Kenneth Johnson, a Las Vegas native, spent an afternoon with students of the Kingman Academy earlier this year discussing the Army's mission in Iraq during Operation New Dawn. An intelligence analyst serving with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, Johnson took a day during his environmental morale leave from Iraq to thank the people who supported him from afar. "They took the time to put together care packages and write letters to the soldiers of the battalion, so I wanted to give them something back to let them know their efforts were appreciated," Johnson said. Johnson presented the students and staff with the flag flown over the 2nd Battalion's headquarters at Contingency Operating Site Warrior in Kirkuk, Iraq. He also gave students 12th Cavalry Regimental crests in appreciation of their continuous efforts to support the "Thunderhorse" Battalion soldiers. "I asked permission to thank them before I left [Iraq]," Johnson said. "My chain of command thought it was a great idea, and they fully supported it." Johnson spoke to the students about the role and mission the Army fulfills during Operation New Dawn as American forces continue to advise, train, and assist their Iraqi counterparts as well as the challenges, experiences and realities of being a deployed soldier. He wrapped up his discussion with a lively question-and-answer session with the students. "They were very excited, and [my visit] motivated them to continue to do what they are doing for us," Johnson said. Johnson's unit recently recognized his efforts to give back to unit supporters, presenting him with an Army Achievement Medal. But the real reward, he said, was to know how much people care. "Throughout the whole experience, I felt slightly overwhelmed and prideful to know people at home still care about us," he said. (Issued on May 3, 2011) | ||
| Related Sites: U.S. Forces Iraq | ||
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
"I don't want people to forget others like bin Laden"
By Elaine Sanchez American Forces Press Service  WASHINGTON, May 3, 2011 - When Wendy Duffman first heard that Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida's leader and the mastermind behind 9/11, was dead, she felt a sense of elation, then relief. Her brother, Air Force Tech. Sgt. Scott Eric Duffman, died four years ago in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan -- a war launched in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks. And as an American Airlines flight attendant in 2001, she lost friends and colleagues on the planes that crashed into the Pentagon and Twin Towers, and onto a field in Pennsylvania. "I woke up for the first time in four years feeling like my brother didn't die in vain," Duffman said. The news of bin Laden's death May 1 set off an emotional chain reaction across the nation. As the president prepared to brief the nation, hundreds of people gathered in front of the White House to celebrate the news and display their patriotism, waving American flags and singing the national anthem. Since then, social media networks have lit up with celebratory comments. The reaction has been somewhat more subdued among surviving family members who lost a loved one on 9/11 or in the subsequent and related wars. While elated at bin Laden's death, Duffman said, she feels it's a "small victory." "I don't want people to forget there are others like bin Laden," she said. "The war isn't over. We still have troops in harm's way." Many survivors have mixed emotions about the news, said Ami Neiberger-Miller, spokeswoman for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, a support group for survivors of fallen military loved ones. Neiberger-Miller noted that some people have talked of a sense of closure because of bin Laden's demise. Yet, "there's not a sense of real closure; you can't have closure from something like this," she said. Lisa Dolan understands that firsthand. Her husband, Navy Capt. Bob Dolan, was killed in the Pentagon on 9/11 when Flight 77 struck the building. The news of bin Laden's death seemed surreal at first, Dolan said, then bittersweet. "Nothing will bring back my husband and the almost 3,000 men, women and children that were killed on Sept. 11, 2011," she said. "Is there some vindication in the death of bin Laden? Maybe. However, I do feel incredibly proud of our military. They have sacrificed so much for our freedoms." Dolan's son, Beau, was at college -– he's a freshman at Notre Dame -- when he heard the news. At first he felt "dumbstruck," he said. Then, "I started to realize how great it was, [and] the feeling of being dumbstruck transformed into sheer excitement. "I couldn't believe that it was finally over," he said. "There seemed to be a chapter that had been finally finished in my life." In a display of unity, scores of students ran up and down the campus "quad" chanting "USA" and singing patriotic songs, he recalled. "It really was an awesome experience and display of love for the country," he said. Dolan's daughter, Rebecca, is coupling her excitement with caution. "I've always had it in my mind that Osama bin Laden ... might always be there looming," she said. "I'm excited to think that there is one fewer terrorist out there. I also feel that there is still work to be done -- that bin Laden's death does not signal the end of terrorism as we know it." . Trish Lawton also is concerned about the repercussions of bin Laden's death. "It's a little scary," she said. "How many groups are going to want to avenge his death? How is that going to affect our normal day-to-day life? It brings me to wonder what lies ahead." Lawton learned of bin Laden's death yesterday morning, while getting her two sons ready for school. Her husband, Marine Capt. Garret Lawton, was killed in 2008 by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. The boys were ages 4 and 6 at the time of their father's death, she said. "I know that my late husband would have been elated that our servicemembers had a successful mission," she said. As for her sons, "Maybe they will feel some sort of peace that their dad played a part in eventually making today possible," she said, close to tears. While emotions seem to be running the gamut from elation to caution, Miller has traced a common thread of patriotism among survivors. Many people within the survivor community have changed their social networking profile picture to a patriotic symbol or to a picture of their lost loved one, she said. Miller changed her Facebook profile picture to a picture of her brother's tombstone. Army Spc. Christopher Neiberger was killed Aug. 6, 2007, in Baghdad. "I would hope I would never celebrate the death of another human being, but I do feel that justice was served," she said of bin Laden's death. "I'm very proud of my brother and the military and all of those people who have given so much. "It's a momentous day for a lot of people," she said. |
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