A Deployment Story

A Deployment Story: Service to the Armed Forces delivering a lot more than just bad news By: Phyllis Cohn The smell of homemade blueberry muffins fills up the common area of the Camp Arifjan Resiliency Center and you forget for a moment that you are in the desert of Kuwait, and not home in your mom’s kitchen.

And on this particular day, a soldier walked in and made a bee line to the volunteer who was walking out of the kitchen with the freshly made goodies on a tray, grabbed a muffin and said, “The one thing I want when I make it home is a warm blueberry muffin.” And with that, she took a bite and burst into tears, and said, “You have no idea how happy you’ve made me.”

And that makes us happy. Because that is our mission. Yes, while our primary mission is to support the Emergency Communications Message delivery for the Middle East AOR, we also have a parallel role – that of being a morale and resiliency hub for the community. And we can’t begin to do that without the dedication of our volunteers.

From stranger to comrade to friend to family. Welcome to the world of volunteering at an American Red Cross deployment site. Welcome to the Camp Arifjan Resiliency Center.

So many come to us because they heard that racking up volunteer hours is a great for their ERBs (record briefs). Then some magical things happen. They show up … to bake, or cook, to clean, to decorate, to sort, to help with casework, to run programs … and they find they’ve stumbled into a new type of family. The family that has the goal of helping to run our station, and create the type of environment for others that they themselves would want to be part of. An environment that feels like home.

And then … with other volunteers and Red Cross staff, sharing photos of their families at home, exchanging contact information on Facebook or Instagram, going to a movie together, or going as a group to an MWR event. Sitting around on a slow night playing board games and laughing together, or sharing the endless cute cat videos on YouTube. Just like a family.

For some of our volunteers, it is their first time and sometimes the furthest away from home they have ever been. And they’ve stumbled into a world of surrogate moms and dads. For others, who have families at home, they get to share in the angst of missing their kids’ birthdays, or being home to care for a sick child. There are some whose jobs are solitary and secretive, who come to spend their time without being judged by others. We celebrate promotions, weddings, kids’ accomplishments, birthdays … or on most nights, nothing except finding fulfillment by simply being together in this new type of temporary family.

And this is my family now, too. With my own son deployed with the Navy, and my husband thousands of miles away, this “job” has turned into a once in a lifetime experience where I know – where I can feel – that my work with the Red Cross matters. And while we are all part of something greater – creating a home away from home for our community - we have also found a home with each other.

About the author: Phyllis Cohn has been the Regional Program Director in Ramstein, Germany since 2016. She departed for a 6 month deployment to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait in August 2017.

Phyllis has a long history as a public relations professional with the Red Cross but was inspired to join the Service to the Armed Forces department when her son Drew enlisted in the US Navy.