Photograph by 1st Lt. Elaine Hunicutt, March 2005

Selections from Elaine's email letter dated March 2, 2005

"We have dropped 30-metric tons of aid (legumes, biscuits and wheat) to this province that has been locked in by the heaviest snow in 20 years, this compiled with malnutrition has led to 1,000 recorded deaths of children and the elderly by whooping cough. The malnutrition weakens these age groups and in many cases causes death."

" We brought back a man who had been blow up by and unexploded ordnance on the first mission from Ghor. We grabbed him while refueling in Shindand. He was collecting scrap metal outside the bases fence line and picked up the wrong thing. He was hurt pretty bad as you can image. We visited him today at the Herat hospital. Our doctor said he won’t last another 48 hours … lots internal damage. It is so sad that their lives are worth as little as some scrap metal. They are constantly putting themselves in harms way to retrieve it so they can sell it and feed their families."

Back in Oct-Dec 2003, I attended Defense Information School (Public Affairs Officer Training) with Elaine. We spent a couple of evenings out with the rest of our class. She's got a lot to offer this world. Her sense of humor made it possible for me to get through those months away from home. Now she's on the other side of the world - doing what most only dream, or fear, doing. She's been deployed since last October (2004) with the USAF - her emails arrive maybe once every three weeks. Her mis-adventures are something I look forward to reading. Her laugh is sorely missed.

In March of 2005 Elaine was stationed in Ghor Province, Afghanistan

Find Media Coverage here: http://www.defendamerica.mil/articles/feb2005/a022805wm1.html