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Siblings Reunite At Joint Base Balad
(July 27, 2009) |
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Siblings Senior Airman Robert Laxton and Staff Sgt. Alissa Taylor share a moment at Joint Base Balad, Iraq. Airman Laxton is a 362nd Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron cryptologic operator. Sergeant Taylor is a 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron aviation resource manager. |
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JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (7/23/2009 - AFNS) -- For many
families, deployments mean being apart from loved ones. For siblings Staff Sgt.
Alissa Taylor and Senior Airman Robert Laxton a deployment to Joint Balad Base
is a family reunion.
"Back home, it's difficult to schedule time to see each other," said Sergeant
Taylor, a 64th Expeditionary Rescue Squadron aviation resource manager. "During
holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, we don't get to spend time together
because of work and having our own families."
For the brother and sister duo, the challenge of seeing one another ended when
Airman Laxton landed here in June for his first deployment. He joined his
sister, who's been at Joint Base Balad since May, on her third deployment. While
they live on opposites sides of the base and have very different schedules --
Sergeant |
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Taylor working
12-hour shifts daily with 24-hour alert and Airman Laxton on a
flying schedule -- they have not allowed it to deter them from
seeing each other. |
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Sergeant Taylor said they have been able to find time in their
busy schedules to eat dinner together, watch movies and play cards.
"Balad, Iraq has brought us closer together," said Airman Laxton, a 362nd
Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron cryptologic operator. "Whenever she gets
off work I try to call her and chit-chat, and figure out when we can get
together. It's nice to be able to call and say, 'Hey, do you want to meet up
somewhere and hang-out' and not feel like you're in the middle of the desert
with no one around."
Sergeant Taylor has even been able to assert her role as the big sister.
"When her brother came down to the unit to visit, she took him around and showed
him a couple things," said 1st Lt. Zack Fisher, the 64th ERQS support flight
commander and Sergeant Taylor's direct supervisor. "I was trying to talk to him
about his job because I was curious about what he does. The whole time, she was
standing over us, trying to grab him away from me. She was running the show from
that perspective."
Sergeant Taylor and Airman Laxton's reunion began months prior, with a phone
call from Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., to Nellis AFB, Nev.
"I was sitting on my couch at home when I got a call from my brother," Sergeant
Taylor said. "He had a chuckle in his voice and said to me, 'Guess what...I am
deploying to Balad!' I was so excited that I was going to have the opportunity
to be out here with my brother. Knowing that he's here is probably one of the
best things I could ask for."
While the phone call from her brother may have been a surprise initially; it was
almost expected. Growing up with an Air Force father, she said it was only a
matter of time before the Air Force would cause their paths to cross; their
enlistment dates are exactly one year apart.
While the circumstances of this family reunion may be a bit out of the ordinary,
for this military family it worked out in a way only the Air Force could
deliver.
"Knowing my brother is here actually makes me feel like I can get away from my
job for a little while," Sergeant Taylor said. "I sleep and work in the same
compound, so it feels good to go to the other side of base and see my brother;
to be able to sit down with him, hang out with him and spend some time with him.
It'd been a year since I'd seen him last, and now we're actually able to see
each other." | |
Article by USAF Sr. Airman Andria J. Allmond
U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Nicole Enos
332nd Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
Copyright 2009
Reprinted from
Air Force News Service
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