Task Force - East

Story by Pfc.

MIHAIL KOGALNICEANU, Romania – A Lawton, Okla., native in the U.S. Army is spending her summer in Romania and Bulgaria educating local civilians here on preventative health issues as part of a Department of Defense-funded humanitarian civil assistance project.

Spc. Sarah L. Endsley, 20, an Army Preventative Medicine specialist assigned to the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventative Medicine-West in Ft. Lewis, Wash., is on a two-month tour in Eastern Europe educating some local Romanian and Bulgarian citizens on things they can do at home to improve their health.

"It has been great working with the Romanian's," said Endsley. "It is great to see how much they appreciate what we are doing and how much they like having us here."

Endsley is taking part of operations related to Joint Task Force-East, a bi-lateral (U.S.-Romanian and U.S.-Bulgarian) U.S. Army Europe mission where U.S. forces are training side-by-side with their host-nation military partners. This HCA mission is a part of the operations in these two countries designed to build relations and facilitate regional theater security cooperation.

"This is a different side of the Army that a lot of people don't see," said Endsley. "It's nice to be able to help educate the citizens of Romania, I am very excited that I am part of this mission."

The HCA team, consisting of Romanian (and Bulgarian when they are in Bulgaria) military and civilian and U.S. service members, are providing medical, dental and optometry screenings, health education classes, and community health assessments for 18 small villages in Romania and Bulgaria between now and October. Endsley helped teach the preventative health education classes and helps in other areas of the operation.

Endsley is a 2006 graduate of MacArthur High School and is currently attending Central Texas College, majoring in general education. Her parents, Scott and Barbara Endsley, brother, Aaron Endsley and sister, Kathryn Clark, and other extended family members reside in the Lawton area.

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