Photo By Staff Sgt. Evan Lane | Sgt. William Tamplen, left, and Sgt. Rance Tamplen, right, both work in the...... read more read more
KOSOVO - Many soldiers go on deployment and say goodbye to their families, but a few soldiers have an opportunity to serve their deployments alongside family members. Although there are several pairs of family members serving on this deployment, this story is about siblings who serve side-by-side, day in, day out.
Master Sgt. Anna Spears, the commander’s administrative non-commissioned officer, and Spc. Daniel Apodaca, the commander’s driver are a brother and sister working closely with one another. They both answer directly to the commander and they see each other on a daily basis, said Spears.
“It’s kind of nice, when we go out with the commander we’re together. The commander, his personal security, and Danny’s driving,” said Spears.
This deployment gave both of the Soldiers the opportunity to reconnect with each other and help fight the feeling of being homesick.
“It’s actually nice, because when I get homesick I go spend some time with my brother,” said Spears. “I get to get that family love from him and I know that if I ever got in trouble he would be there with me.”
Apodaca said, “We were real close growing up and as you grow older, get married, have children, you go your own separate ways, but being on this deployment has definitely brought us back full circle.”
Different siblings have different perspectives on being deployed together. The Tamplen brothers, Sgt. Rance M. Tamplen and Sgt. William M. Tamplen, both work in the communications section with each other and they have a slightly different take on being deployed with a sibling.
“Sometimes it’s nice, in case I need a couple extra euro, I can borrow it and I don’t have to worry about paying it back right away,” said William.
“It’s nice, because I can hit him whenever I feel like it,” said Rance. “I get the added bonus of having somebody, that if I hit I could be ‘Hey it’s a family feud’.”
William decided his choice of bringing his brother along on the mission may have been made too quickly.
“If you don’t get along and there’s a big rivalry, same rank, same section, it’s probably not the best of ideas,” said William.
Sibling teams can work well, or they can be a never-ending sibling war, but families are a key part of this mission. They keep the mission going strong regardless of whether your family is thousands of miles away or in the office next door.
| Date Taken: | 05.14.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.21.2011 04:50 |
| Story ID: | 70811 |
| Location: | ZZ |
| Web Views: | 246 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Siblings serving side-by-side, by SGT John Montoya, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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