United We Roll at Stardust Radio

SMSgt Rex Temple is not only on the job in Afghanistan where he is deployed as an ETT – hear his interview on United We Roll August 18, 2009 – but he is also a very interesting and educational journalist/photographer. With the help of his wife, Liisa, his blog is like a beautiful coffee table book – one that I would gladly add to my collection.

Who knew that Saffron could grow in Afghanistan? That savory, expensive spice that has such an unusual and pretty flower seems to like that countryside. I knew that raising livestock was a major way of life, but I did not know that they could take over the roadways. Who would have imagined a beautiful lake in the countryside there? And so much more!

But there is the very real side of why our men and women are in Afghanistan as well. The heart-gripping memorial to a young Marine Captain from his unit members and others who served with and around him. A young soldier who says he was just doing his job as his actions saved the life of another. How often do we hear this - "just doing my job"? And more about the very special men and women who protect freedom. As SMSgt Rex Temple reminds us, they are there with humanitarian missions to “win the hearts and the minds of the people” which will lead to the road of success. And we know that, ultimately, it is to keep the fight out of our backyard.

Reading Rex’s blog is something to which I look forward – I never go away without having learned something and usually I have found a smile or two as well. I hope you all will make this a favorite place of yours, too.

Thank you Rex & Liisa! For all that you do!
Rex’s Blog – http://afghanistanmylasttour.com

One of our guests from our show on Tuesday, August 18th (SSG Maria Hudgeons) is featured in this article:

Airmen aid coalition with multilanguage skills
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123160675

by Staff Sgt. Olufemi Owolabi
376th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

7/28/2009 - MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan (AFNS) -- Thought not traditional Air Force linguists, two multilingual Airmen bring a unique skill to Manas Air Base.

Capt. Jecek Dempnaik and Staff Sgt. Maria Hudgeons, who speak a combined seven languages, reduce communication barriers between Air Force members and coalition forces through written translations and verbal interpretations.

They are the ears and eyes to the director of the Transit Center here. When acting in this capacity, they are referred to as the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing coalition coordinators and linguists.

Shifting tongues between English, French and Spanish is as easy as breathing for Captain Dempniak. As if that is not enough, he could even spice it up with Polish and German. Whenever he likes, the captain can also get his point across to his NCO, Staff Sgt. Maria Hudgeons, using either English or Russian.

"I am responsible for coordinating support for all coalition forces transiting or stationed at Manas," said Captain Dempniak who is deployed from Travis Air Force Base, Calif. "I also perform liaison duties with the Kyrgyz ministry of defense and other Kyrgyz government agencies."

The Airmen are the point of contact for everything that has to do with coalition forces and foreign dignitaries or any visitor that doesn't speak English. In the last three month, they've processed more than 4,000 coalition force soldiers from 17 different nations going in and out of Afghanistan.

These two Airmen have two things in common, apart from working in the same office; they were both born and grew up in foreign countries where they honed their language skills and they both volunteered from different career fields. Captain Dempniak was born in Poland and was in the political affairs job back at his home station, and Sergeant Hudgeons was born in Russia and came here from the finance office at the 2nd Comptroller Squadron from Barksdale AFB, La.

Captain Dempniak described the coalition coordinators and linguists duty as unique in nature because there is no similar job stateside, it can only be found in deployed locations.

"This is a multidimensional environment," he said. "It is very dynamic. It's never the same every day. We are called to assist in duties that don't usually happen in the CONUS, such as language interpretation during a national holiday at the French Embassy or on combat mission flight to Afghanistan. We attend high-level meetings to ensure translations are correct in form and intent."

In addition, Sergeant Hudgeons said they are the spot-checker for the local translators here.

"We have to ensure the translations are up to the U.S. standards," she said. "We are here to make sure everything is correct and in the interest of the United States."

Due to the absence of coordinators' offices for the French and Spanish detachments here, Captain Dempniak also works as the coalition liaison and a translator for these two detachments.

The two Airmen both agreed that they both find the job very interesting because it provides a lot of opportunities for interaction.

Interacting with different people in different cultures and languages is an everyday experience for coalition coordinators and linguists, which is what makes the job interesting, Sergeant Hudgeons, who is on her first deployment, said.

For members who would like to explore the culture here, the team also offers Russian Classes to help people understand the language and the local citizens.

We are diplomats in a military uniform, Captain Dempniak said. The job is not about meeting quotas, it is to make our coalition partners happy members of the Transit Center, and it is about making their experience pleasant here.

"We always make sure the job gets done every day, (because it's continuous in nature.)" Sergeant Hudgeons said. "It's not like a one-day (deal); things come and go every day, and the impact we make overall is to continuously safeguard the mission."

United We Roll World Tour Show
Stardust Radio – www.stardustradio.com
Show Schedule Tuesday 8/18/09
2pm – 4pm Central
Repeats Wed at 6:30pm Central

Welcome Stardust Listeners and thank you for joining us here on United We Roll this Tuesday. August 18, 2009.

Thursday, August 20th is Election Day in Afghanistan. As most of us who follow the news from that part of the world are aware, the bad guys have made it clear that they will do all they can to interfere with this democratic process. Let us all keep our US and Coalition troops, in addition to the Afghani people who are trying to hold and attend this election, in our prayers.

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We have two special days here at home on the calendar for this week …

This past Sunday, August 16th, was National Airborne Day – which was celebrated at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in downtown Fayetteville, NC, with members of the 82nd Airborne and other guests.
And, this coming Wednesday, August 19th, is National Aviation Day …. that celebrates the development of Aviation, which was established in 1939 and based on anniversary of Orville Wright's birthday to be National Aviation Day.
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Ladies & Gentlemen, we are going to have five fantastic visits with some of our Heroes of Freedom today and we will go over our regular two hour show period by 35 minutes. While we try our best to set up our interviews so that our shows do run on a regular two hour basis, we do have to recognize that these visits are with men and women who are miles away from home, many involved in jobs that have them in harm’s way, all of whom are working long shifts and all of whom look forward to these opportunities to let you all know what they do, why they do it and why they serve. With that in mind, these are not run by a clock where we say okay, time is up and we do not edit these visits to shorten them or for any other reason. Also, in some cases, like our visit today with SMSgt Rex Temple today, we may have to make several efforts to get together and tape our conversation at a time that is good for the military member and then present it to you at a time when we have a few interviews to put together. That is why we sometimes we need to go over the two hours rather than to hold on to a visit or two for another week or so.

Remember, if you are not able to stay with us through the show this afternoon, it will repeat again tomorrow evening, Wednesday, Aug 19th at 6:30pm Central. In addition, an MP3 copy will be put on our show archive site for listening and downloading at some point in the near future. You can reach our archive site at www.stardustradio.info

Now, joining us during our first visit today will be Army LTC Drake P Jackson, who is currently deployed with the 6th Federal Police Brigade Transition Team near Baghdad, Iraq. LTC Jackson, who has many great experiences to discuss from his 17 plus years of service, provides us with a great visit filled with information from the Draw Down and more, along with humor and insight.

Our next visit is with two members from the 376th Air Expeditionary Wing. SSgt Maria Hudgeons is one of two translators for the wing, where her Russian background and language helps the wing members to communicate with local and transient guests. Capt Jarred Prier is a B-2 pilot who is taking a ground job while on deployment and serving as the Wing Executive Officer, which is like being an extension of the Commander’s right hand. We will also have an article in our blog to follow-up with more information on the multi-language skills that are used at Manas Air Base.

Our third visit is with a dedicated and inspirational member of the Air National Guard who not only has 20 years of service himself, but who can also trace his family’s service to our country back to the Civil war. TSgt Kris Randolph is currently deployed with the 447th Air Expeditionary Group where he is with Transient Alert and marshals the aircraft in and out on the flightline, determines safety actions and more. TSgt Randolph, who volunteered for this deployment, is yet another outstanding example of the men and women who serve our country and protect our freedom.

Next up is our visit with LTC Thomas Jordan who is a clinical lab officer and is on deployment with the 332nd AEW/EMDSS. LTC Jordan and his team are a very highly trained group of people who have been instrumental in the harvesting of blood platelets within reach of the combat area so that they can be used in the field to save lives in lieu of whole blood. Folks, this is an incredibly high tech medical process to be done at home, let alone in the Area of Operations.

Our final visit is with Air Force SMSgt Rex Temple who is currently deployed as a Senior Enlisted Advisor with an ETT – that is an Embedded Training Team – in Afghanistan. It took us a few tries to be able to meet on the phone, but it was worth every effort. This is an incredible visit with an incredible 26 year veteran who is on duty in a tough area. SMSgt Temple brings us a wealth of information during this visit, but has even more to offer in his blog which is a true treasure of photographs and writings. We will place information about how to reach SMSgt Temple’s blog in our own blog which you can find through the United We Roll page at www.stardustradio.com

As always, we are extremely honored to bring you these visits with our Heroes of Freedom. And, we are very honored to have you, our listeners, join us each week.