Multi-National Division-Central

Story by Spc. Allison Churchill

By Spc. Allison Churchill
41st Fires Brigade Public Affairs Office

FORWARD OPERATING BASE DELTA, Iraq – Pfc. Jessica Rush had a surprise waiting for her when she returned from morning physical training Sept. 2, 2008.

"I came around the T-wall, and there he was," said Rush, a medic in Company C, 589th Brigade Support Company, 41st Fires Brigade, when she saw her dad, Sgt. 1st Class Warren Hill, standing before her.

Hill is a terrain management non-commissioned officer-in-charge for Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 217th Brigade Support Battalion, 142nd Field Artillery Brigade, Arkansas National Guard, currently deployed to Tallil.

The father and daughter, both from Marshall, Ark., were planning to see each other during their deployments to Iraq, but he hadn't given her an exact date when he could visit. When his platoon sergeant said there was a convoy on its way to Forward Operating Base Delta, Hill jumped at the chance.

Several of Rush's colleagues in the medical clinic stopped to introduce themselves to Hill, offering praise about his daughter. Hill said he initially was reluctant to have Rush join the Army, but she's shown him it was right for her.

"I have a lot of family who are enlisted. What better way to bring my family home?" said Rush, about her decision to become a medic.

Rush's husband redeployed shortly before she left; her step-father recently graduated from advanced individual training. Rush's choice to work in the medical field combined her military service with other family members' professions; her mother works in a nursing home, and her step-mother works as a paramedic.

Hill got to see Rush in action when a trauma patient came to the hospital. After he helped the medics bring the patient in from the helipad, Hill and his driver stepped back to watch Rush and her teammates go to work.

"I'm so proud of her," Hill said of his daughter.

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