The following two emails, accompanied by pictures were sent by CMSgt Frank Levand.
From:
Levand Frank CMSgt 332 EOG/CEM
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005
10:32 AM
Subject: The difficult times....
To each of you,
I know I probably send more e-mails and pics than I should, but I think it's important to share this experience with you. Many of you will never have the privilege and honor to serve our nation in the military while we are at war...many of you have...and some of you still yet may. It just seems so imperative to me that you know and understand what our nation is doing here...to know that our mission was/is to give 23 million Iraqis FREEDOM, who have only known cruel and brutal oppression all their lives. And, to know the price some willingly pay to make this happen...
At 0900 this morning, in a large tent we call Town Hall, we attended a memorial service for a young USAF Staff Sergeant fire fighter from San Antonio, Texas, Ray Rangel, who gave his life while trying to save three Army soldiers trapped in their Humvee under water after it rolled over into a canal in the nearby village of Balad.
You could not fit another person into the huge tent. This was the 332d Air Expeditionary Wing's first USAF loss since I arrived in January. The US Army here at Logistics Support Area Anaconda has had many of these services with multiple members being memorialized each time. On the stage there were 3 displays. To the left was a wooden cross rack (that many of us have) on which hung SSgt Rangel's body armor vest and floppy hat with his empty desert-tan boots sitting in front of it. To the right was his firefighter gear neatly stacked with an ax laying across it. The center display was a large photo of SSgt Rangel placed in front of an M-16 with bayonet inserted into the wooden stand. His dog tags hung from the rifle grip and his helmet with sun visor was placed over the rifle stock. The chaplain read scriptures and SSgt Rangel's friends and co-workers told us a few stories about him. This was obviously a great/religious man, courageous fire fighter, father to four young children ages 5-10, and loving husband. Near the end of the ceremony, his fellow fire fighters sounded their siren 3 times to signify the "Final Alarm Bell" while a Lt Col played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. Then, one by one, Generals, Colonels, Chiefs, Army Sergeant Majors, and eventually everyone marched slowly to SSgt Rangel's photo, did a right face movement, executed a 3-second memorial salute, performed a left face movement, and slowly marched out of Town Hall. As we exited, there were several Iraqi National Guardsmen standing at attention in honor of SSgt Rangel. I could see the blue indelible ink on their fingers from the recent elections. I shook their hands and thanked them for being there with us.
I can't put into words how honored I feel to be here. It's overwhelming to know that most everyone here feels exactly the same way. For all of us, I want to thank YOU all for the deluge of support, gifts, cookies, letters, e-mails, cards, kids drawings and anything else you can think of to ensure we have everything we need. Looking very forward to seeing many of you again in May.
If you wish to donate to the Rangel family, go to or contact any Bank of America and tell them you want to make a deposit into the Ray Rangel Military Account or send check or money order as follows:
Check
and Money orders in the name of Ray Rangel Memorial Fund
Bank of America
234 Commissary Rd
Dyess AFB, Texas 79607
325-690-6220
Very Respectfully,
FRANK
F. LEVAND, CMSgt, USAF
Superintendent
332 Expeditionary Operations Group
Balad Air Base, Iraq
ALCON,
These are photos of Iraqi people in a nearby village from Operation "SOLE" TRAIN!!! Chief Master Sergeant John Hearn, the Security Forces Superintendent (Top Cop), is here on a one-year tour. He single handedly put together/started/manages a program to collect new shoes donated from as many willing sources as he can find in the states to give away to Iraqi children and families in the nearby villages...who don't own/may have never had a single pair in their lives. To date, John has collected/cataloged/sorted over 4,000 pairs of shoes. His goal is to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people by helping their children in any way he can. He led the first-ever Operation SOLE TRAIN convoy about a week ago. He had way more volunteers than he needed or could safely take "outside the wire" (off base) to help with this effort. A limited number of personnel could only go in "Armored Up" vehicles, wearing body armor, Kevlar helmets, and loaded weapons. They had to literally sneak into the villages unannounced to avoid ambush or attack by insurgents. Once in the towns, they contacted the local authority and asked to have all the children come to the convoy for FREE shoes and school supplies. There were even shoes for many of the adults.
You will not meet a finer American than John Hearn. Did I tell you he also put together and teaches a Leadership School here on HIS time for all who are interested in learning how to be effective leaders?? He is truly one of the many unsung heroes here. Just look at the smiles on these people...makes it ALL worthwhile. John's story is only one of hundreds like it in this country where heroic Americans literally put their lives on the line to pour out abundant generosity from all of you at home. Our country may have its faults, but there's never been another nation on this planet more willing and able to do whatever we can for those less fortunate than us. May God Bless America and real live heroes like John Hearn!! Here are the pictures.
Very Respectfully,
Frank F. Levand, CMSgt,
USAF
Balad Air Base, Iraq