Photo by Carly Pearson
Everything that can fit inside a USPS flat rate box can be shipped anywhere in the world for a flat rate.
HELLO from Iraq!
My name is Master Sgt. Sherry Hertlein (from Emporia) and I am currently serving at LSA Anaconda in Balad Iraq. I am assigned to the 332nd Medical Group working at the hospital. The troops need your help! There are few items that we can only get by donation and we are running low on supplies so I am asking for your help.
It is extremely hot here and one of the injured troop’s favorite things to get for a cool treat is freezer pops. We hand these out during the afternoon but the supply is running short. They easily fit into a pre-paid box from the post office. Some other items that are needed are pillows, toys for the kids (we also treat Iraqi civilian children), flip-flops for the patients to walk around in, books and magazines for the troops to read to pass the time and used hand-held video games. These are just a few of the supplies that are great to have to just put a smile on a wounded soldier’s face.
I know that Emporians always step up to the plate when people are in need, so I offered to write this letter and send it to The Gazette in hopes of getting some donations. Boxes take approximately seven days to get here. Below is the address, and if you do send a box, just throw a short note in it to let us know where they came from.
THANK YOU in advance for help!
Master Sgt. Sherry Hertlein
332nd EMDG/ICW
APO, AE 09315-9997
• • •
A Plea from Iraq
Master Sgt. Sherry Hertlein has been in Iraq only two weeks, but in typical Emporia fashion, she’s seen a need and initiated a drive to remedy it. Information about the project is in the illustration above.
Hertlein, a medical technician, works on a hospital ward in Balad, Iraq.
“We are the trauma hospital for Iraq,” Hertlein wrote in an e-mail from Balad. Injured Americans are flown out through Balad to Germany and then back to the United States.
The hospital has three intensive-care wards and four wards that can accommodate up to 16 patients per ward. The three operating rooms can hold two patients at a time, if necessary.
“We do not have the luxury of diverting when we are full, though,” she said. “... We are working out of tents. There is a hardened facility being built at this time and it is supposed to be ready soon...”
“There is no air conditioning. It is a cooling system that is designed to keep the tents 20 to 30 degrees cooler than outside ... but yesterday it was 123.”
Hertlein has been in the Air National Guard for 12 years and is a member of the 190th Air Refueling Wing out of Topeka. This is her first deployment to a combat zone, she said, and because the Air National Guard deploys differently than the Army, her tour will be only two months.
“The longest we can generally be deployed at this time is 180 days,” she wrote. “I was fortunate to get the short tour. Which, I might add, is not a popular phrase here!”
In Balad, Hertlein starts IVs, changes dressings and takes care of patients’ other medical needs. When time allows, they play games and talk. The patients include wounded soldiers, civilian children and some detainees.
“Sometimes we can volunteer to work on the pad also,” Hertlein said. “That is where the helicopters land and the techs run out to meet the patient and get them into the ER.”
The hospital in Balad is a Level Three-Plus trauma hospital; last year, more than 8,000 patients were treated there.
“In the two short weeks I have been here, I can see why,” she said. “The children that we are treating are all trauma victims. The youngest I have seen so far is 16 months. (We think that’s her age. Her parents were both insurgents.)
“I actually cried when I had to change her dressings yesterday because they are just innocent victims and it’s hard when I have kids of my own to see the little ones suffer. ...”
Hertlein’s husband, Tim, and their two sons, Tyler, 9, and Eric, 7, are waiting for her in Emporia.
Comments
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Posted by vankamp (anonymous) on June 27, 2007 at 4:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Okay Emporia. Step up to the plate and show the soldiers we are behind them!!
Posted by outsidethebox (anonymous) on June 27, 2007 at 4:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Isn't holding there jobs for them while they are gone protecting us from the Phathom Menence, enough?
Posted by vankamp (anonymous) on June 27, 2007 at 5:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Fine. Don't do anything. WIth your attitude I'm sure they would rather you didn't send anything anyway.
Posted by kmm (anonymous) on June 27, 2007 at 5:11 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I completely agree. Keep in mind, if we didn't have soldiers protecting our nation you might be working 4 or 5 jobs. I was taught, if I didn't have anything nice to say, to not say anything at all. I guess you were gone that day when that lesson was taught.
Posted by zoahjoe (anonymous) on June 27, 2007 at 6:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
We are sending a box of freezer pops and kids toys out tomorrow.
To - outsidethebox: No need to be such a JERK. I have a brother over in Iraq, I may not agree with the fight.But I will fight to the end to support him.
Posted by horsequeen (anonymous) on June 27, 2007 at 10:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To - outsidethebox
Obviously you don't think about anyone but yourself. Too bad YOU weren't born in a 3rd world country because you have no idea how good you're life is here in America. Maybe we need to ship you off and drop you off there because you are just a leech on our society. There are soldiers fighting and dying to protect losers like your uneducated thick hide. Think twice before you badmouth a soldier because it is the soldiers who protected you in WWI & WWII and the battles of today. It's because of soldiers that you are not speaking German or Arabic. Holding a job for a soldier is the very least we could ask of you and you even complain about that. Take a second to reflect that 6,000+ people went to work on September 11th and were slain for no apparent reason other than just being American so maybe you too should stand up and support soldiers or live in fear everyday like the other half of the world does. When you are standing on the soil of a mass grave where not hundreds but thousands were killed because they didn't agree with the beliefs of their government and you look down to see an infant, maybe then you will think it is time to support a soldier fighting so that you will never have to see that.
SSG Goza and family
Posted by outsidethebox (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 12:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I did my time so I can say what I wish. How can I be a leech to society I'm white. Emporia seems to place all of their ills on people who aren't white, or even from Emporia. The only soldiers who fought for our freedonm where the Revoltionary soldiers and that was even about money like every other war since.
Posted by outsidethebox (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 12:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh, for the uneducated part, which degree that I hold would you like me to post on here. I guess being uneducated is equal to having an idependent thought process(Think for yourself). I know that is very difficlut for some people. Please discuss the issue of our government and their poor choices about war with my father who did 2 tours in Vietnam. I am sure he will have some nicer things to say then I do. (thats sarcasm). Our country is in the shape that it is in not because of illegals or Islam, it is because we as a nation are arogant, self-centered, egotistical, lazy, people.
Posted by zoahjoe (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 6:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Outsidethebox - Let me get this straight, you did your time, so now you can sit at home SAFE, on the couch, and be negative about the soldiers, whom are now doing their time. Grow up! You sound lilke a very angry person, set on having a pity-party for yourself. Oh, and a white person certainly can be a leech on society. Since, you have denoted all the ills of society, why not try and come up with solutions.
Posted by outsidethebox (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 7:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The process to correcting the social ills of our country involves having a government that is willing to make attempts to do so. However, our government is more concerned of making our society live fear for no reason. Our government is more interested in pursuing hot topic issues like gay marriage and immigration and our society falls for it. Our country was founded on questioning our leaders and holding accountable for their action, but yet when some one does do it that are considered uneducated and not patriotic. We live in a country where the previous president was impeached for having an affair and not telling the truth about it. Now our president has admitted there was no link in Iraq to al-Queda but collectively our nation said OK.
Posted by zoahjoe (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The process of correcting social ills, comes from The People.
It is through the will of the People that change occurs.
Immigration is a hot button issue, that deserves a great deal of debate.This issue will not only change the face of the nation, but will effect the direction of this country.
Posted by sherryh (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 9:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
outsidethebox - Sir you are totally missing the point of the article. I did not ask for your support in WHY we are here. I asked for help BECAUSE we are here. Some of the soilders may not agree with the war either but they are still here fighting because, as a prior military person you should know, they are told to. Most people did not join the military to come directly here and fight. But, since we are here sending over a few articles to help out seems like a nice idea. If you did not agree with it maybe you should have jsut kept reading......thanks anyways.
Posted by MelissaE (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 10:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm always surprised when I see/read these sorts of things (from outsidethebox).
But, I'm sure with your many college degrees, outsidethebox, that you were probably an officer so really, don't put yourself out there. It's fine by the rest of us.
(But we do all get good laughs).
I would have agreed with you regarding society today but I can't stand behind someone so willing to put down something s/he once was.
M
Posted by sedington (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 4:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
First of all, outsidethebox is entitled to his own opinion and to express it as he sees fit, as guaranteed by the first amendment that so many soldiers fought and died for. While it may be distasteful or inappropriate in this context, he is nevertheless allowed to express it. Many Kansans seem to forget this only when someone has something to say that they doesn’t fit into their narrow-minded, conservative point of view (as a former Kansan and a very outspoken liberal, I know this first hand). Secondly, this is way off topic. No one asked if you agree with the war or the not. Supporting our soldiers DOES NOT mean you support our war. If you have any common sense, you are easily able to distinguish between the two. It means that you understand that sometimes people have to do what they are told, even if they don’t want to or don’t agree with it. That is a unique sacrifice that our service men and women make every single day. Have a heart and conscience. This is just basic compassion – if someone needs something and you have the means to provide them with it, then by all means do so. If you don’t want to, you are not obligated to. But don’t belittle or demean those who choose to give. Just like you have a choice not to, they have a choice to. There are two sides to every story. Always try to think about how you would react if the situation were reversed. Next, I doubt outsidethebox has any college degrees, or he would know how to spell, use punctuation, capitalize words and read what he just typed before hitting the post button. Educated people, like myself, are aware of all of these things.
Now finally, to MelissaE: HOW DARE YOU demean the role of officers in the military. Every single enlisted soldier could have been an officer, had they chosen to go to college and gone through ROTC, or if they had chosen to apply for an officer slot after having put in time being enlisted. My fiancé, a first lieutenant in the AF, is going to Baghdad in October for six months and I will be damned if his job won’t be just as dangerous as anyone else’s. No one’s life is a picnic over there. Without leadership, no organization runs effectively and efficiently. Someone must be in charge, and everyone has a fair chance at it in the military if they work hard. And officers work very hard – trust me. They must take time away from their families to complete extra training, work long and hard hours when all the enlisted people get to go home to complete duties above and beyond their normal scope of work and have the extra responsibility of being in charge of people’s well-being as a leader. So, maybe you should think twice before you assume anything about a job that you have never done. Thanks. Stephani from Spokane.
Posted by MelissaE (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
You're right, Stephanie. I was wrong. Kudos to your fiance.
I hope he supports his enlisted guys. They're the ones watching out for your fiance.
M
Posted by elbejay (anonymous) on June 28, 2007 at 7:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Hold on, everybody. I think that the real issue has been completely missed here. The question that I have, is "How come a person with multiple degrees cannot spell either 'Phantom" or "Menace'? Jim from Idaho
Posted by madhouse (anonymous) on June 29, 2007 at 9:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think this is a good idea. My brother is a HM over there running a hospital. He sends an email asking for what he or his guys need and we (as a family and community) do what we can to help him out. I don't necessarily agree with the war but the men and women who are over there need our support. Most of them probably don't want to be there either they would rather be home with their friends and families. However while they are gone I will support them all I can. I am a vetern, my dad and father-in-law were in Korea, family in Vietnam etc all of them are supportive of the TROOPS not necessarily the war.
Posted by emporialifer (anonymous) on July 2, 2007 at 11:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
To paraphrase - you said our gov't is most concerned about making us live in fear for no reason?! No reason?! Really? Where were you on 9/11 when we all saw what terrorits were really capable of? I remember the fear I felt that day and I don't see how anyone could not feel some amount of fear regarding what terrorits will or could do. I guess I don't see the loss of all those lives as "no reason". That's our problem, when we start forgetting that this stuff could happen, we start getting more relaxed and comfortable and go back to our everyday selfish lives fighting over petty little things that in the big picture don't matter - guess what - that's when we are weakest. If there is one thing I remember from all those history classes - it is that history repeats itself, so yes I believe there is a reason to fear people whose only intention is to hurt you.
Posted by daveedailey (anonymous) on July 2, 2007 at 12:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Outside the box, go back in the box. The things you have said are horrific. Those men and women are fighting for you! You say you were in the service, then where is your compassion and understanding? To me you are a very horrible person thinking you are the only one who served. If it were not for our armed services beginning way back when we would not be where we are today. How do you think it is that you get to even post on this article? I have family over there and believe me what they are doing is not easy. I wish them all the best of luck each and every single day!!You are the type to bitch instead of act. Oh by the way, one of my relatives over there carries a coffee cup around telling all the others what to do?? Believe me, he admits "they protect his ass".
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