Archive for the 'Military' Category
February 4th, 2010 by Mike Redding
Many of them gave her hugs and thanked her for being there. Some soldiers got off the bus and avoided her. They had been in Iraq for many months but when they stepped off the bus in North Carolina they didn’t say a word to Rebecca.
Later a few sent her e-mails or left voice mails explaining. It was guilt. They felt they had failed her. One said, “I promised you I’d bring Carlos back and I didn’t. I couldn’t face you.” Of course Rebecca feels none of that. She is only grateful to these men and women who stood next to Carlos on the wall. The wall between us and chaos.
When Rebecca arrived earlier in the day it wasn’t until she parked the car at the armory when her heart started pounding. That’s when it became real. She said a silent prayer to Carlos and asked for strength. She talks to him frequently.
It was Wednesday evening and Rebecca Baldeosingh was standing behind a group of military families waving banners and signs welcoming home their husbands and wives from Iraq. The NC National Guard 1/120th Infantry left for Iraq nearly a year ago. In the middle of their deployment four of them were blown up by and IED (Improvised Explosive Device) in Baghdad. Carlos Baldeosingh was one of those four.
I’ve written at length about Carlos’ tragic death (just hours after he told Rebecca by phone from Iraq that he felt nervous about his mission that day)… and how Rebecca found out what happened to him and what would come of her three young girls in the aftermath.
But Wednesday was six months after Carlos was killed on the streets of Baghdad. Rebecca was supposed to be standing here in a cold February rain with butterflies in her stomach waiting to catch the first glimpse of her soul mate and husband stepping off that bus. On a dark chilly evening all these families will go home happier than they have been for a long, long time. But one wife will go home alone tonight.
She put on a brave face through it all. She was there because she had given her word. Come hell or high water Rebecca would go and welcome home Carlos’ brothers and sisters. She hugged and talked to whomever greeted her. Patiently waiting for each soldier to grab his family and head home.
Then after it quieted down, she found an empty room, sat down alone… and cried.
This is war… MR
January 26th, 2010 by Anna Redding
Just wept when I saw these… so you people at work, better grab some tissue fast! This morning more NC National Guard troops arrived home and in their family’s arms. Today’s homecoming Lincolnton, NC.
- Father and daughter reunited
First hug just hours ago in Lincolnton, NC
NC National Guard soldier embraces his child Tuesday morning
The little things so easily taken for granted like taking a family picture
January 25th, 2010 by Mike Redding
I know we’ve been promising to launch our second sponsor early this week. I think all our ducks will be in a row for a Wednesday launch. Cool beans? Cool beans.
Now, I have to tell you the brief and funny story of the cupcakes.
I got word about the NC National Guard coming back from Iraq through several sources. They don’t publish this stuff. In fact they don’t send out the press releases until a few days before they are bussed to their home cities… long after they have landed on American soil.
I had a pretty good idea on when they would get in country and then when our local soldiers would get to Charlotte. They don’t talk in exact dates until they are very close to U.S. soil. That’s partly because if they put a date out there and everyone back home gets jacked up and then the Army changes things the delays can feel like a kick in the gut. It’s also partly die to the fact they don’t like to give out too much information because, well, it’s just safer that way. And it’s partly because they don’t want to jinx it.
One of my sources (who is rapidly working her way onto the SASTP imaginary payroll) made mention that it would be nice to have some food or snacks on hand when the buses arrive in Charlotte. I don’t have the free time I used to have. I go non-stop from about 7 Am to 7 PM each work day. I love my work and the time zips by but it’s still time I don’t have to work my peeps in Charlotte trying to get some food lined up for this amazing homecoming.
2973 cupcakes not pictured.
But I do happen to have a great relationship with the people at Harris-Teeter Inc. I shot an e-mail to Harris-Teeter CFO Jeff Sherman. Jeff and I have become friends through a fundraiser we team up for every year… eight or nine years running now. He got Jennifer Thompson, Harris-Teeter Communications Director, involved. Jennifer and I go back even further. We worked together at WCNC-TV back in 1998. The two of them snap their fingers and voila! 3000 cupcakes are on their way to Charlotte! Let me spell the out: t-h-r-e-e t-h-o-u-s-a-n-d. WOW!
When Jennifer told me that on the phone two nights before the buses would arrive i said,
1500 cupcake air-fresheners...
“What? I’m sorry I thought I heard you say 3000 cupcakes. Did you mean 300?” Nope. 3000! I belly laughed out loud. That is a lot of cupcakes!
Ironically our future unpaid employee, April Blasky, called SASTPUE#5, Brian Christiansen, to help pick up the 3000 cupcakes. Brian could only get half of them in his SUV. But even 1500 cupcakes was enough for every soldier to have plenty to take home and enjoy with the family.
So hooray for Harris-Teeter stepping it up for our soldiers!
And a special thank you to my old friends, Jeff Sherman and Jennifer Thompson.
Peace… MR
January 25th, 2010 by Anna Redding
Check out this story by FoxCharlotte, and this one by WSOC capturing the homecoming! Not to spoil the joy here but I searched the Charlotte Observer and WCNC and WBTV websites and couldn’t find stories about this homecoming.
I know WBTV was there. WSOC went live at noon Saturday. WCNC was close enough to walk there and chose not to. Can’t tell you how disappointed I am in my alma mater.
Okay, enough rant. Let’s jump out of the gutter and onto the joy train with some more photos of the homecoming here in Charlotte. Oh! A reminder to SASTP Nation: If you’re having a soldier homecoming in your town, send us some pictures with names, we’ll post them here! Also, if you missed yesterday’s post “When Johnny comes marching home,” check it out! Once again, to #5 (you know who I’m talking about) for the incredible photographs.
Children who haven't hugged daddy in along, long time!
The waiting is the hardest part...
April Blasky starts to mildly freak out as busses pull into view!
Let the hugathon begin!
Cody and Leah Fowler reunited!
When Harris Teeter found out the troops were coming home, they sent cupcakes for the party! 3000 cupcakes!
Enjoy these images today and we’ll make our big SASTP announcement tomorrow! We are bringing a new sponsor on board. You’re gonna like him!
Peace,
MR
January 24th, 2010 by Mike Redding
Yesterday, today and tomorrow… for days now this scene is playing out all over North Carolina. The end of the constant ache. The feeling of being whole again. Our soldiers have come home.
I sat down to write something that would capture what it feels like for these families. But after looking at the photos, I’m going to put my laptop down. Brian Christiansen (SASTP Unpaid Employee #5) is a brilliant photographer. Take a few minutes and soak these images in. The story is right there… in their faces. Want to learn more about the folks in some of these pictures? Click here to read Cody’s story. Click here to read about Silent Rank champion April Blasky. And click here to read about Chaplain Tommy Watson in his own words.
ALSO if you want to share your hometown homecoming pictures, please e-mail them to me and we’ll post them right here on SASTP. One more thing… WELCOME HOME!!!
Contentment.
Don't let go. Cody and Leah Fowler together again!
Where Chaplain Tommy Watson belongs... back in Jackie's arms.
My God, you're really home! April Blasky welcomes home husband, Danny.
Where she belongs.
The Blasky Family
An American Family...
Some days you just can't hug daddy tight enough.
God bless our soldiers… and their families… MR
January 23rd, 2010 by Mike Redding
This is just one picture SASTP has received from SASTP UE#5, Brian Christiansen. This is joy. More to come later…
Chaplain Tommy Watson back where he belongs: in the arms of his loving wife Jackie.
Today is the day.
They landed on the coast earlier this month. Today they arrive in Charlotte. Of the 4000 North Carolina National Guard soldiers who have been away from their families for more than a year and in Iraq for almost a year of that, the ones returning to Charlotte are the ones I know by name.
Anna and I have had the great pleasure of becoming friends with some of these men and women and their families.
I’m a pacifist by nature. But I’m a realist also. I know war is inevitable. I know someone has to sign up to go. Someone has to stand on the wall and protect people like me. I couldn’t do that job but my respect for those who do is greater than it is for just about any other group of people on earth.
Today the ones I know best come home. Their wives and husbands have lived the lonely torment for a year or more. Today the tears will be the happy ones.
SASTP Unpaid Employed #5 is there. He has his camera and 3000 cupcakes. I’ll explain the cupcakes later… along with posted photos of this emotional reunion.
Today… joy… MR
January 17th, 2010 by Mike Redding
Welcome Home!
After many months in Iraq, more than a year away from their families, thousands of our NC National Guard soldiers are home. It will take a few weeks to get them all back here but the planes have started arriving. Sunday chartered planes full of our soldiers landed in Savannah, Georgia. Some of the first pictures are coming in… and special thanks to SASTP unpaid employee #5, photographer extraordinaire, Brian Christiansen.
Touchdown!
A Chartered plane carrying NC National Guard soldiers arrives in Savannah, Georgia
The first stop: Soldiers will spend several days in Savannah, Georgia’s Ft. Stewart until they are reunited with their families.
Hard to hide this smile!
Welcome Home Chaplain Tommy Watson!
Chaplain Tommy Watson (left) and Specialist Timothy Gilbert return home.
A sight that will bring tears to our eyes every time: a stream of courageous men and women returning home after sacrificing so much for our country.
Chaplain Tommy Watson
NC National Guard Soldiers on U.S. soil again...
USO Volunteer Angela Hines, arms outstretched, hugs our soldiers home!
USO Volunteer Angela Hines welcomes home a hero
And they just keep coming! What an incredible sight. Soldiers home from war.
This is the line between terror and security
January 17th, 2010 by Mike Redding
The first planes were supposed to arrive last week and they kept getting bumped a day at a time. But UE#5 has just texted to let me know our North Carolina National Guard troops who have been in Iraq for what seems like 10 years are walking off planes this morning and kissing American soil!
We will have pictures soon. Chaplain Tommy Watson is back for sure. We’re awaiting word on the others.
I gotta tell you, it puts tears in my eyes to think about these men and women and all they have sacrificed. I pray every night for these wars to end and for the world to find peace. Children shouldn’t have to wonder if daddy or mommy will be blown up and never come home. Husbands and wives have enough on their plates without dealing with a war some power hungry jackass started after killing thousands of innocents, only to then run off and hide in caves.
I’m fairly certain that peace will never happen. But I pray anyway.
I’ll update you soon on the reunions happening right now and over the next few days.
In the meantime… we may not have peace, but we can still live peace… I’m trying, MR
January 15th, 2010 by Anna Redding
The larger groups of our North Carolina soldiers headed home should start hitting the tarmac today! As soon as we have pictures, we will post them. Please keep these men and women and their families in your thoughts and prayers. Some of the very people you’ve come to know right here on Stopandsmellthepeople.com will soon be reunited with their families. People like Cody and Leah Fowler, Chaplain Tommy Watson and his family, April Blasky and her husband Danny will soon be back together in the Tarheel State! Many of the troops’ first stop is Savannah, GA. As you know, honorary unpaid employee #5 is on the ground and snapping shots for us. He’s Brian Christiansen, the talented man who brought us so many memorable shots from Arlington National Cemetery this summer.
Of course, it bears remembering that we’ve also come to know some who will not be coming home, soldiers like Sgt. Carlos Baldeosingh. Our thoughts are with his wife Rebecca and their three daughters. I know many of you would like an update on how she and the girls are doing. We hope to have that for you soon. Check the site for updates throughout the weekend.
Also, on Monday, I have a salacious and tawdry announcement for you! So get excited…. it’s part of a promise, a proclamation, a..uh..can’t think of another word to put here. But, bottom line, you don’t want to miss it.
Also, very much on mind is the plight of the children in Haiti. I am searching for the right way to help. I’ll let you know what I come up with. In the meantime, I feel like I can’t pray enough.
Okay, Crowley is calling! He’s busy trying to walk! Which mean I am busy chasing him down : )
One last thing. Just want to give a shout to our sponsor, Andy Bovender of The Bovender Team. He and his team are a part of the solution and are helping us bring you relief from a cynical world. If you haven’t had the chance to tell Andy what you think of his support of StopandSmellthePeople.com. Just click on his ad on the right site of the page.
Peace from Smellville,
Anna
January 13th, 2010 by Mike Redding
Hundreds and hundreds of our neighbors and friends, who have been in Iraq serving, are almost home.
Most don’t like to talk about it before they walk off a transport onto American soil. Can you imagine what that must feel like? You sign up to serve your country, get shipped off to a war that has no defined geographic boundaries, no enemy in an identifiable uniform, and your rules of engagement are shall we say complicated. Your life hangs in the balance every day but you don’t know where to point your gun. “Who goes there? Friend or foe?” No way of knowing.
The insanity that is war today is nothing like the WW2 movies we all watched growing up. The saying used to be, “War is hell.” If hell is “the absence of hope” as one old friend once told me, than I’d say this war is every bit of hell. It must be maddening to sit over there and feel like you’re playing Russian Roulette with your life. God bless the men and women of our armed forces. The things we ask of them are impossible to accomplish. And they accomplish it anyway.
Later this week and much of next Anna and I will be writing about these homecomings. SASTP Unpaid Employee #5 will be on the ground at the homecoming shooting pictures and you’ll see the tears and the joy right here in this space.
These are the days where husbands and wives are reunited and children squeeze mommy or daddy’s neck so tight they might never let go.
But please keep them all in your prayers. These men and women have been exposed to stress like none of us can relate to. If you think their transition from war to home is a snap, it won’t be. There will be marriages that were once strong dropped on the rocks. There will be sleeplessness and anxiety beyond what any of us civilians have ever experienced. They didn’t just march off and play war somewhere. They spent 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for months on end wondering if they’re number is up. They sat in blistering hot tents on the phone, tears rolling down their cheeks listening in as their babies celebrated birthdays… only to have the line go dead because of another sand storm.
We all sit here and bitch about health care reform and wonder whether or not our politicians are hypocrites. Let me connect the dots for you. The answer is yes, they are. Get over it. They’re just like you and me. Imperfect. On the other hand, our servicemen and woman are sent to hell and back. Drop what you are doing and tell them thank you. Tell them you’re honored and humbled by their sacrifice. The family down the street who sit waiting for daddy or mommy to come home, bring them a meal, a hug, a kind note in the mailbox.
The “Gratitude Waves” this website has spawned were awesome but too easy. We type a few words and move on with our day. Well, our soldiers are coming home this week and next. By the end of the month, all 4000 of our North Carolina National Guard will be back where they belong. Make sure they know the people they have been protecting (you and me) are thankful.
Do something that says “I’m grateful.” MR
