Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino, a command post controller with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia, prevented a tragedy when she acted quickly to help a female comrade who collapsed from dehydration. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nathanael Callon

Department of Defense
By Air Force Senior Airman Michael Charles
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

While preparing for her night shift, Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino noticed something odd about the shower stall next to hers.

The shower supplies, visible through the half-opened curtain, had remained untouched for the entire time she had been there.

“It was strange,” Trevino said. “I had seen nobody else in the facility so it was odd that an entire set of supplies would be left.”
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Royal Naval Reservist Aircraft Engineer Mechanic Michelle Ping was mentioned in dispatches for her bravery during her first tour of Afghanistan last year. Ping usually works for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in Leeds, but during her tour she was a paramedic attached to various foot patrols. When one of her team was shot while on a rooftop, she lay on top of him to protect him from further injuries.

Members of the Naval Service took four of the ten awards presented at the Sun Military Awards – better known as the Millies – a glittering event in London also attended by royalty and celebrities. …

Billed as ‘a night of heroes’ at the Imperial War Museum in London the fourth annual awards – endorsed by the Ministry of Defence and better known as the Millies – saw soldiers, sailors and airmen rub shoulders with royalty, military and political leaders, including Prime Minister David Cameron, and celebrities such as footballer David Beckham, Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, Little Britain’s David Walliams and Strictly Come Dancing judge Alesha Dixon.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were guests of honour with four of the ten awards being presented to members of the Naval Service.

Navy News

Undeterred by the blizzard of gunfire around her, paramedic Michelle Ping sprinted on to a roof to shield a stricken comrade and give him first aid.
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While this category is normally used to recognize women in the U.S. military, we do find our allies providing their best to the fight as well.

Canadian Forces Medical Technician Cpl Christine Borkowski measures the blood pressure of a soldier stationed at Camp Alamo in Kabul, Afghansitan. Image by Master Cpl. Chris Ward

With a smiling, reassuring face, she places the thermometer in the soldier’s mouth and tightens the wrap around his arm to take his blood pressure. “Most likely, you’ve got the virus that is going around the camp,” she says, “but we’ll check you out.”

Cpl. Christie Borkowski, from 150 Mile House, B.C., is living the twin goals she set for herself in her youth – a medical and military career.

A medical technician with 1 Field Ambulance from Canadian Forces Base Edmonton, Cpl. Borkowski is serving in Afghanistan with the Canadian Forces contribution to the NATO training mission.

Cpl. Borkowski works in the unit medical station at Camp Alamo, the coalition camp located within the Afghan National Army’s Kabul Military Training Centre on the east side of Kabul. She has served in the Army – wearing an Air Force uniform – for four years and plans to make the military a career.

Cpl. Borkowski’s introduction to medicine was first aid training during a babysitting course she took at the age of 12.

“I always enjoyed the medical field,” said Cpl. Borkowski. “I kept up with my first aid training all through high school and I took some athletic first aid courses. I was part of a volunteer fire department back home for four years, both as a first responder and as a firefighter.”

“I grew up near my grandfather’s ranch where I had to do a lot of veterinary type of stuff for the horses and cows,” said Cpl. Borkowski. “It was great.”

Her family encouraged her passion for the military. “Both of my grandfathers were in the Royal Canadian Air Force… with my interest in medicine, I just sort of fell into combining the two.”

Although some Canadian Forces medical personnel serving on the training mission have duties advising Afghan Army doctors and support staff, Cpl. Borkowski’s role is different. “I serve in an integral support role, supporting our troops,” she said. “This deployment has been different than what I had expected.”

“I came prepared to treat injuries like they had seen in southern Afghanistan battling insurgents,” said Cpl. Borkowski. “But our mission is now in a training role. That means we see things like viruses and sprains – things you normally see back in Canadain a walk-in clinic on a base.”

Cpl. Borkowski’s smile these days likely seems even brighter because she is nearing the end of her five month deployment. By the end of March she will return to Edmonton where she and her fiancé will finish planning their summer wedding. Like Cpl. Borkowski, her fiancé Pte. Adam Blackwell of St. Thomas, Ont., is a medical technician in the Canadian Army.

By Gary Hengstler
Kabul Military Training Centre
Nato Training Mission – Afghanistan

U.S. Army Spc. Tiffany Larriba, team member from Civil Affairs Team 4902, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion, raises six fingers to children during the "Soldier in the Classroom" program at Karabti San, Djibouti, Jan. 3. The program is designed to teach children basic English. DoD Photo by Senior Airman Jarad Denton

U.S. Army Spc. Tiffany Larriba held her hands in front of her, fingers closed, as children from Karabti San, Djibouti, waited in eager anticipation Jan. 3.

Suddenly, Larriba smiled and raised six fingers.

“Six,” the children exclaimed in unison.

This was the children’s second exposure to learning the English language through a program Larriba, a team member with the U.S. Army Civil Affairs Team 4902, 490th Civil Affairs Battalion and Dallas, Texas, native, calls: “Soldier in the Classroom.” The program broadens the horizons of the children, while giving them a long-lasting memory of their relationship with U.S. soldiers. Karabti San is the first village to experience the program, which was introduced Nov. 29. Larriba said she hopes to see “Soldier in the Classroom” introduced in other villages throughout Djibouti.

“We wanted the kids to remember us for something good,” she said. “So we came up with this project where we go to schools or villages and teach some lesson they can’t learn anywhere else. It’s simple enough that the students understand, but yet it helps open their mind and leaves a standing memory.”

Just as Karabti San is the first Djiboutian village to receive eco-dome materials and construction training from the Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa, it is also the first place to experience “Soldier in the Classroom.” Larriba hopes the participation she sees here will extend to other villages.

“They are all involved in it,” she said. “Every kid [in the village], young or old, all came. They wanted to come. They made some pretty good progress.”

According to Larriba, who is affectionately referred to by the children as “Lorouba,” which means “cowgirl” in Somali, the progress will provide these children with opportunities previously unavailable.

“[We want to] help them see there is a big world out there and a lot of opportunities,” she said. “That’s our goal.”

The children are not the only ones learning from this program. Larriba said her outlook on life has changed dramatically since coming to Africa and interacting with the local population. She hopes her friends and family back home will see the change in her and embrace it themselves.

“You can be happy with the smallest things, she said. “This village, for example, they’re happy. You can live without a lot of things and still be happy.”

Larriba said the happiness she shared with the children of Karabti San is compounded and reinforced with each new lesson, with every new number learned.

“It was good. I liked it all,” said Mohamed Bourito, a student in the program. “We practice what Lorouba has taught us. After I learn the English language, I want to go to the school. I want to continue my education.”

Bourito smiled broadly after sharing his dream for the future. He held up his hands and repeated what he had learned only minutes ago, from Larriba. Slowly, but surely, he counted to ten – in English.

At barely 39 degrees Fahrenheit outside, the two women of Female Engagement Team 6 warmed their red, sniffling noses by drinking hot chocolate out of canteen cups. It was early morning and they had little sleep from the cold night before. The Marines began dressing in their body armor, preparing for their upcoming day of work.

Sergeants Jessica Lugo and Autumn Sekely were getting ready to go out in support of Marines with Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, and the Afghan National Civil Order Police during a recent security patrol through their area of Sangin district, Helmand province.

Sergeants Jessica Lugo -left- and Autumn Sekely -right-, of Female Engagement Team 6, walk into a village leader’s compound in Sangin district, Helmand province. Sekely, of Pittsburgh, and Lugo, of San Pedro, Calif., are assigned to support 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, by engaging with the local women and children, building trust and rapport between local residents and the Afghan National Security Forces and coalition forces. Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Katherine Keleher

The purpose of the day was to familiarize Marines new to the unit with the area, while also giving Lugo and Sekely the opportunity to interact with local women and children.
While supporting the infantry Marines with 2nd Marine Division (Forward), FET socialized with local children passing by, handing out candy and pencils while sharing smiling faces through the language barrier.

“Establishing a good relationship with the children and their families is very important, and it’s one of our primary tasks here,” said Sekely, a reservist from Pittsburgh. “It helps build trust and rapport. They really appreciate that the Marines make an effort to respect their culture by having FET out here.”
When wrapping up the introduction of the area to the new Marines, 1st Squad made a pit stop at one of the village leader’s compounds while on its way back to the patrol base.

The village leader opened the doors to his home with open arms, allowing FET inside to talk with his wife and children.

“The women, they stay in the compounds while the men are in the bazaars and farming fields working,” explained Lugo, also a reservist who is from San Pedro, Calif. “They hear a lot of things from the people who come in and out of their compounds. So when we get there, these women are just aching to talk. They’re just like we are, and they want their voices to be heard.”

Sergeants Jessica Lugo and Autumn Sekely, of Female Engagement Team 6, walk into a village leader’s compound in Sangin district, Helmand province. Official U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Katherine Keleher

During their visit with the village leader and his family, the Marines and Afghans used an interpreter to discuss the possibility of building a water well in the village, as well as raising money to build a mosque.

“Things like this take a lot of money and time,” Lugo, the FET 6 team leader, told them.

While carrying on the conversation with the adults, Lugo and Sekley played with the children, giving them crayons and paper, showing them how to color.

“We have the capability of talking to one-hundred percent of the population,” Lugo, a military policewoman by trade, explained. “It’s not only engaging the women of Afghanistan for us, it’s engaging with everyone. Like today, the village leader talked to us. You would think in (this culture) the men wouldn’t want to talk to us, but they do. They’re kind of intrigued by having women in military clothing around.

“The (local residents) are very intrigued by us. They see us, the color of our skin, the color of our eyes, us carrying a rifle walking alongside the males. They see that we’re equal,” Lugo added.

Working side-by-side, FET and 3/7 have until spring to continue working together, winning over hearts and minds and helping the Afghan people toward a brighter tomorrow.

By Cpl. Katherine Keleher
DVIDS