CBRN Sunrise Service

Yesterday morning Kevin and I attended a Sunrise Service in honor of our Fallen CBRN Heroes. (It is still Chemical Regimental Week.) Here at FLW we have a Memorial Grove that honors the fallen of the Engineers, Chemical & Military Police Corps. Each has their own section and yesterday we went to the Chemical area and paid tribute to the Fallen CBRN Soldiers. It was very touching. There were many in attendance, I really thought it was nice that they brought CBRN Soldiers who are still in training. I enjoyed being there with my husband, it definitely is a reminder that I have much to be grateful for.

I scanned the program and I ask my readers to please enlarge the images by clicking on them and reading the names of the fallen. Remember, it is up to us to Never Forget those who have sacrificed so much. We had a few of the Gold Star Families in attendance and that always touches my heart. The Burgess family was there and the younger brother who is currently here for training was there. To sacrifice so much and yet still be willing to give. It was a humbling sight.

It was a beautiful ceremony.

Green Dragon Mama

As I mentioned in my previous post, this week is Chemical Regimental Week. The entire week is set up for CBRN Soldiers and their families. They had a golf tournament, a run (well that was cancelled since it was pouring down rain), they will have a sunrise service to honor the Fallen CBRN Soldiers, tons of exhibits and many other events. They have events just for the Chem Spouses as well. Today we had a luncheon where our guest of honor was Mrs. Carol Ann Watson. Her husband is a retired Major General who served for 35 years, all of which was spent as a Chemical Corps Officer except for two years when he did his combat branch time. Mrs. Watson shared with us that she married him two days before he went in the Army so she served right along side him during his entire career. Her husband started the Chemical Corps Regimental Association and she has an award named in honor of her. She was introduced to us as the mother of the Chemical Corps (and she joked that she was glad that they didn't say Grandmother, I just loved her humor!)

I really enjoyed listening to her speak and listening to her words of wisdom. There were many things that she shared with us but what really stood out to me was when she said "we" served. I love that because that is how I feel with Kevin. "WE" serve together, he does his part and I do mine. Our journey in Army life is a joint effort, we may have different responsibilities but we travel together.

She also had us chuckling about some mishaps and moments of where maybe she shouldn't have said this or that. I loved it because everyone in the room could relate to having some of those moments. It was really an intimate setting, there was maybe 20 of us in the room so it was really fun. We all could have probably listened to her all day long. She was just fun.

What I loved most was that she was so approachable and was a reminder that no matter what rank any of our husbands are that we are all human. I feel that it truly a pleasure and honor to get advice from such a wonderful example. She is 75 years old and still going strong.

As an added bonus, I figured out that her son is stationed here at FLW and her daughter-in-law is another AFTB instructor who I really respect. I might be the only person on FLW who didn't put two and two together. I had a good chuckle to myself about that!

Green Dragon Ball

One of the advantages to being stationed at FLW, is being able to to attend Chemical Regimental Week. They kicked it off this week with the Best CBRN Warrior Competition. Kevin didn't participate in that because as he puts it "I'm too old for that" but we did have a couple Soldiers from his unit who participated. They didn't place in the top ten but like I told one of them, I think it's awesome she did it at all. They announced the winners at the Green Dragon Ball last night and let me tell you, they went home with quite the loot. I might have to get the hubby back in shape just for the prizes (just kidding baby...maybe). No matter what you're my favorite Dragon Soldier forever and always!

Anyway, last night was the ball and it was a time for all Chemical Soldiers to get all gussied up and have a night of fun. Apparently Kevin and I are getting old because we were home by 9:30 p.m. That's how it has been the last few balls we've attended. I really tried to figure out why that is because we haven't always been that way and I think I finally figured out the reason. We aren't close to that many people here at Fort Leonard Wood. That is our doing, after leaving Fort Hood, I made the conscious effort not to get too close to people because the goodbyes when we left there were so hard. As a result of that, when we go to functions there aren't that many people we want to hang out with long enough to shut down the ball with. That doesn't mean there aren't awesome people out there, we just sadly haven't put forth the effort to get to get to know people like that. Don't get me wrong, we have friends here, we've just been selective.

That being said, we went, we talked to the people we do know, had a great dinner, enjoyed the form aspect, got our picture taken and came home to the boys. The table we were seated at was interesting. We were the only couple that was still active duty. The others were all retirees and worked for Homeland Security. They were LOUD, they talked through every speaker and made it hard to hear what was going on. They all knew each other so we were the odd ones out. They tried to include us and were friendly for the most part (when they weren't being obnoxiously loud during the speakers and awards).
We left shortly after the form portion of the ball was over. I don't feel bad. Sometimes there's a lot of politics involved in occasions such as this and I don't like it. I also don't like the drunkenness that is also a common thing at balls. That's why we choose to exit when we do.

I think one of the best parts of the night was when one of the other instructors from AFTB came and talked to me (she gave me a great compliment that is for me alone to ponder on) and asked me if I was thinking about the Customs & Courtesies class we both teach and thinking about all the things that were done wrong that evening. I had a good chuckle over that because that is EXACTLY what I was doing as we went through the events and I watched people come and go. It as all quite fun.
Overall it was a great night and Kevin and I had fun. I am very proud of him and his 22 years of service to the Chemical Corps. It was nice to hear about the history and be a part of the many traditions that go along with the evening. The country of Bulgaria was celebrating the birthday of their Chemical Corps and they had some Soldiers from their Corps there representing. I love all the international students that come through FLW. I especially loved the two men who were dancing to Thriller, I can't remember what country they were from but they were having a really good time.
I feel blessed to be able to attend such events with my husband. This upcoming week should be fun, it's all about me getting to brag about being married to a CBRN Soldier but really, I don't need a special week to do that, I am proud and brag every day.

Elementis regamus proelium

Fallen Hero: PFC Matthew England

The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example. ~Benjamin Disraeli

Today I had the privilege to line up in the street to render honors to a Fallen Hero. Word went around yesterday that a Hero was going to be escorted through FLW and they were encouraging everybody who could to go out and line up along the route he would be traveling on. I knew instantly that I would be there. This morning the boys and I met up with others at the USO, gathered some flags and waited for the procession to start. Kevin was lined up somewhere else on post with the Soldiers in his unit.

Where we were along the route we had many companies of Soldiers who are currently in Basic Training and AIT. I was pretty emotional when they started lining up. Many of these Soldiers are only two years older than my oldest son. PFC Matthew England was only 22 years young.

Kevin & I are so proud of our boys who are always ready to do their part. Neil held the American Flag and even saluted with it when the hearse went by. Michael held the USO flag to show the support that our great FLW USO has for our Soldiers and their Families. Daniel held his little flag and stood so reverently. I get so choked up with emotion when I think about PFC England's mother, I cannot imagine the pain. I know how much I love my boys.

I feel truly humbled to have been able to stand in honor of PFC Matthew England. To stand among Soldiers, Veterans and other Military Family members. I am not ashamed of the tears that I shed today in honor of a hero.

I love our community and I love that so many came out to support PFC Matthew Joseph England. I hope his family felt the love through all of us who lined the streets.

I truly believe that we must honor our Fallen Heroes...we must say their names, read their stories and carry out their legacies. That is the LEAST we can do to honor their Sacrifice!
God Bless PFC Matthew England


Soldier from Ozark County dies in military service

Matthew England was scheduled to return home in August.

GAINESVILLE, Mo. -- Private First Class Matthew England, who graduated from Lutie High School in 2007, has died in an IED explosion in Iraq. England was the son of Pamela Hengen of the Gainesville area and Daniel England of Bartlett, Tennessee.

Joe and Pamela Hengen were looking forward to their son Matthew's return home this summer. The Hengens live between Gainesville and Theodosia. "He loved it out here in the woods. He was always out here. We had to go find him half the time," says Joe Hengen, Matthew's step-father.

But Matthew isn't coming home the way they had hoped. "Told her he was sending stuff home because his deployment's up in August," says Hengen.

They just learned Wednesday night that Matthew was killed in an IED explosion while on an escort mission in Iraq. "You never think it's going to happen to your kid," says Hengen.

Matthew was the kid that graduated from Lutie High School, was great with computers, and always wanted to fly. "Ever since I've known him, two years old, once he started talking, he wanted to be a pilot," Hengen says.

FLW USO Easter Egg Hunt

Today was such a fun day! We spent most of the day hanging out at our USO here helping with an Easter Egg Hunt for the Soldiers. We got there early enough to hide over 1000 eggs. We had eggs EVERYWHERE! We had about 70 prizes, all designed to be items they could either eat/enjoy on site or that they would be able to take back to the barracks with them. Most of the patrons of the USO here are still in the training environment so we didn't want to give them anything they would get in trouble for.

We had a great time and I think the Soldiers did too. We had our special friend Moo Cow with us. Moo Cow is quite popular around FLW. It's kind of funny because we borrowed this cow suit from a friend to promote a book event we did earlier this month. Since then we have just had Moo Cow make appearances around post. Last week we attended the post Easter Egg hunt and Moo Cow stole the show from the Easter Bunny (oops)!

Here I am with Moo Cow last week at the post Easter Egg Hunt...after passing around candy, he needed some sugar of his own!

This week we brought Moo Cow back to help entertain the Soldiers during the Easter Egg Hunt, he was a big hit! (You can check out the FLW USO Facebook page to see more pics from the event)

Some of our awesome volunteers!

We really had a great time! Can't wait to do it again next year!

Trying to Get Back to Normal

So it's been over a week since the tornado ripped through my neighborhood and other parts of FLW. Well originally we thought that our house did not sustain any damage but after looking through the house today during our snow day we realized that parts of the ceiling appear to have done some shifting. My husband went and looked around our house and can't see any visible damage (although he didn't climb on the roof or anything) but he did notice trees down just a few feet from our back yard in the treeline. It's scary to think the tornado was closer than we initially thought. We are still truly grateful for our safety and that our home is still standing. We didn't come straight home after our utilities were restored though. We stayed with a good friend while our house had no power and then after driving back home through the devastated area chose to just stay with her until the weekend. If the boys had it their way they probably would have stayed there forever!

Kevin has been running around doing most of the claim stuff because even though our house didn't get damaged (I typed this before we noticed the damage in the ceiling) the power outage caused us to lose everything in our freezers and fridge. Kevin also received damage to his windshield and we had to claim that and it's already been replaced. The boys were able to go back to school right on time and I cannot say enough about the school district and the way they handled all of this. We received personal phone calls from each of their schools checking on our boys. Because we live in the housing area that was hit the hardest our boys names were on a list that we lost everything. Thankfully that wasn't true but the care and tenderness in which my boys were handled upon their return to school was overwhelming for me.

My friend and I spent a lot of the time after dropping kids off at school helping out at our USO with the tornado recovery. Oh my goodness, there are no words to describe the amount of support we have received from our Military families, our community and even those from far away. We've had trucks come from KS, LA, IL. I mean seriously, the building is overwhelmed with goods for our families.

Operation Homefront Missouri has been a wonderful support for us, clearing out their warehouses to help take care of our Military Families. (Sidenote: if you have items you want to donate to help rebuild their reserve, please do so, they are a wonderful organization!)

Life is slowly getting back to normal or was until we ran into snow days! Maybe I'll finally get the Christmas decorations down!

Here are a couple videos of the aftermath of the tornado and one of the actual tornado (can you say crazy person!)

An Exciting NYE (FLW Tornado)

I have been so behind on blogging, my plan was to catch up yesterday but mother nature had other ideas. Yesterday was quite exciting. I feel incredibly blessed.

Yesterday morning a tornado ripped through FLW and surrounding areas and states. It came out of nowhere and happened so fast initially we didn't even know what was really going on. Kevin had headed out that morning to get a haircut and I was supposed to go with a friend to visit another friend. I hopped in the shower thinking I needed to hurry or she'd be waiting on me. A few minutes into my shower the power went out and everything was dark. I thought crap, now I have to shave my legs in the dark. Almost every time it rains hard our power goes out so I didn't think anything of it. A few minutes after that I hear Kevin crash into the house yelling for me to get out of the shower and for the boys to get out of bed and into our room. Almost immediately after that the house shook and it sounded like a freight train was coming through our house (Kevin says it sounded like a jet was in the middle of our house). I jumped out of the shower to see what was going on and then we heard the emergency sirens. It was raining but relatively calm right after. Kevin went to see what was going on and noticed a tree had been uprooted and had fallen on our neighbors shed/carport. It was insane, had it fallen a few inches to the right it would have crashed into our extra bedroom and possibly Neil and Daniel's rooms where they were still sleeping.
Kevin met up with some neighbors and they walked the neighborhood and saw the damage just a few hundred yards away from our street. The damage is devastating. Houses completely gone, vehicles strewn all over, power lines down. Thankfully it was the holidays and so many people were out of town on leave. It's scary to think what might have been had people been home. I am proud of our community who's first instinct was to make sure everyone was okay. Thankfully any injuries were very minor.
I give major kudos to our chain of command here at FLW and the response time of our emergency personnel. They were patient and tried their best to answer our many questions amidst a bit of chaos and confusion. We had to evacuate because our power was out and gas lines were leaking. Not sure when we will be able to go home but I feel lucky enough to know that my home is still standing and we are safe. We are staying with a friend and feel lucky to have her.

It's not the way that I would have planned to bring in the new year but it was still great. We spent it in a 1 bedroom hotel with 3 adults, 7 children, and a dog eating snacks and chatting the night away. It really was a great night!

Not sure what 2011 has in store for us but I feel pretty blessed so far.

Guest Blogging

I recently had the opportunity to guest blog on another MilSpouses blog. I really enjoyed writing my article and even the Garrison Commander here at FLW sent it around cyberspace. You can check it out here.