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Baghdad
My name is Sergeant Shawn Wilkins. I am 31 years old and happily married to a beautiful woman named Krisie. We have a daughter together and I have 2 boys from a previous marriage. I was born and raised on the east end of Long Island and although Krisie was born in Wyoming and lived in Texas, she is officially an Islander as of 2 weeks ago. She has moved to the Hamptons with my family for all the support that they will give her during these trying times while I am deployed to Iraq. Our little girl’s name is Rory (4 months old). My two boys are Cody (9 yrs old) and Kevin (7 yrs old). I graduated from Eastport High School in 1992 and joined the Marines in August 1992. I served over 6 years in the Corps and was promoted to Sergeant. In My friend’s name is John. We went to school and also served in the Marines together. I knew John for many years and served in North Carolina and later Japan with him. I have a total of 8 years active duty now and was promoted to Sergeant (again) on October 1st 2004. I am serving as the Medical Operation Noncommissioned Officer in Charge, and a medic for one of our trauma teams in Echo Company, 115th Forward Support Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. My jobs are very time consuming and sometimes gets the best of me. My wife was also a Combat Medic in the same Unit; that is how we met. She is a wonderful, easy going woman with good morals and caught my attention immediately. She became pregnant in November of last year and it was our decision that she would leave the Army to raise our little girl. I have only a few months left here before we will be reunited. I have been deployed since March and was able to go home last month for 2 weeks. It was the first time I saw my daughter! It was a wonderful experience that I will remember for the rest of my life! Interesting enough, it was a miracle that I had a chance to meet her. My life was nearly cut short during a convoy on August 11th. We were heavily ambushed by a My Unit is a Forward Support Medical Company that is stationed out of Fort Hood, Texas. We consist of many specialties and all of us are excelling in our fields! Our facility is as modern as could be here in Iraq and our jobs of saving lives has been commendable. We conducted rigorous training prior to our deployment in preparation of any possible scenario. We support our Brigade as the courageous soldiers go into the midsts on constant patrols and battles. In addition to supporting our soldiers, we treat the Iraqi National Guard, Iraqi Civilians, and Detainees. We conduct medical operations throughout the city of Baghdad for treatment of the civilian population. Our Doctors and Medics establish mobile medical facilities to provide treatment, vaccinations, and evaluations of all citizens requesting and requiring such medical attention. These civilians arrive from all over the city seeking help. It boosts our morale and we get an enormous sense of accomplishment by treating these people (especially the sick children). The medics in my Company are very dedicated to our cause and one another! Our Forward Operating Base (FOB) also provides many jobs to the local community from basic laborers to skilled craftsman, to local entrepreneurs. Many of the laborers are teenagers that help beautification efforts while the wait to begin school. They really appreciate their new opportunity to attend a real school. These kids are very friendly but cannot speak much English (which they call “Christian”). Almost every one of them have “What’s up” down pretty well. Every morning when I see them, they all say in unison “What’s up Sergeant”? The shop owners are friendly too. They sell a variety of items, much of the same things we have back in the States. I can buy 3 cans of Coca-Cola for $1 or a ham and cheese sandwich for $2. Not too bad wouldn’t you say? We also have laundry service 7 days a week and only have to wait one day to get our laundry back clean and folded……free of charge. Every Sunday, my Company hosts a recreational, morale-building event in which I assist with coordinating. We have Card Games, ping-pong, horseshoe, and video game tournaments on a rotating basis. My Commander has generously paid out of his own pocket for trophies for the winners of every tournament for every month! At the end of every month, we have birthday celebrations (with cake) and a film festival. The film festival consists of homemade films and slide shows that the soldiers make on their personal time. We all gather together with some refreshments and watch the films and vote on the winners. In closing, we are making the most of our experience here in Iraq and we have bonded like family. We are all very enthusiastic about reuniting with our loved ones. If I have learned anything so far, it is to cherish every minute of your life! I will begin to work on adjusting back to a stable family life and trying to be the best husband and father that I can be! I Love You with all of my heart Krisie and I’ll see you soon!!!! Until next time….. SGT Shawn Wilkins read archived articles | submit an article for review
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I want to personally thank everyone that sent all the supportive emails that I have received. They are very encouraging and will be on display for all of my fellow soldiers to read. It’s good to see people back at home, taking time out of their busy schedules to send a letter of support to us all here in Baghdad. This is the first of many letters I would like to send out with updates on the progress and atmosphere here in Iraq. This particular letter will give a background of me and my Unit. I believe that you will feel more personally involved by learning about my family and all of us here.