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BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- Reserve Senior Master Sgt. Michael Brimmer and his niece, Army Spc. Angie Fekken, relax during some down time. Sergeant Brimmer is assigned to the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron and Specialist Fekken is assigned to the 1436th Engineer Company. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tammie Moore)
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Uncle, niece serving together in Iraq
Posted 11/21/2005 Updated 11/22/2005
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by Staff Sgt. Tammie Moore
332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
11/21/2005 - BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFPN) -- When serving half a world away from home, many servicemembers treasure the little tokens they brought with them to remind them of home.
Reserve Senior Master Sgt. Michael Brimmer, the 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron first sergeant, has more than that -- his niece, Army Spc. Angela Fekken.
Specialist Fekken, a 1436th Engineer Company truck driver, has been deployed to Logistics Support Area Anaconda almost a year. That affected her uncle's decision to come here.
"I volunteered to deploy and was given a list of places I could go to," Sergeant Brimmer said. "I picked Balad because Angie was there already."
When Specialist Fekken came home for her mid-tour leave in July, Sergeant Brimmer met with her to learn about the base.
"She gave me a rundown about what to expect," Sergeant Brimmer said. "She showed me photos of Anaconda and really put me at ease about coming here. I thought it was going to be a barren desert. But the photos showed (something) different."
When Sergeant Brimmer arrived, he began his search to find his niece.
"It took more than a month to get in contact with Angie," Sergeant Brimmer said. "We tried to get in touch over e-mail, but for some reason e-mails to one another's military accounts kept getting rejected. My wife ended up having to give my personal e-mail address to her sister to pass on to Angie."
"In the meantime I looked for her every time I went to the dining facility," Sergeant Brimmer said.
Specialist Fekken was also searching.
"When I would run into Airmen, I would ask them if they knew my uncle," she said. "It was a good feeling to finally have met up with him. I'd been looking for him for weeks. It was great to finally see him."
The sergeant and specialist come from a large, close family.
"Most of our family lives within 15 minutes of each other back in Michigan," Specialist Fekken said. "We always get together."
Maintaining this sense of closeness was important to the uncle and niece.
"It's just a great comfort to know that we have family here we can talk to and are able to see a friendly smiling face of a family member," she said.
Because of job requirements the two cannot see each other as often as they would like. But they take advantage of every opportunity.
"We look forward to getting together and having a chance to catch up on what we've both been doing, as well as what's going on back home," Specialist Fekken said.
Family members in the States were also glad, that for part of their deployments, the two would be close to each other.
"They were pretty excited that we'd both be serving at the same time and at the same base, especially my mom and my aunt," Specialist Fekken said.
Having the opportunity to deploy with a family member has meant a lot to this sergeant and specialist.
"On deployments we make friends and form an adopted family," Sergeant Brimmer said. "But to have a real family member here makes a difference. It keeps us connected to home." |
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