You’re going where?
Afghanistan.
To do what?
Work at our Service to the Armed Forces office on Bagram Air Field.
For how long?
About 5 months
They make uniforms in your size?
I hope so.
You only get 3 bags?
Yes, 3 Army duffel bags most of which will be filled with issued gear and uniforms.
These are just some of the many questions I heard when explaining my latest Red Cross adventure to family and friends.
To understand how I got here, I guess you’ll have to hear a bit about my past. In high school I took the lifeguard training course and worked a the town pool for a few years. In college, I volunteered to work and organize the campus blood drives. I even spent a summer interning at the Red Cross chapter in Lewisburg, PA.
I spent the first few months after college working for a software company. It didn’t take long to realize that software testing just wasn’t for me.
I found myself back with the Red Cross, this time in a staff position at National Headquarters working with Service to the Armed Forces. Some of my closest family and friends are in the military, so it’s a job that I find meaningful and rewarding.
When given the opportunity to deploy, I couldn’t say no. As a rookie on the Afghanistan team, I’m looking forward to serving our military overseas and seeing another side of Red Cross SAF.
Today, was day 1 of deployment and casework training. There will be a lot to learn in these next months, but I know I have amazing coworkers and teammates to help me out along the way.