Meeting for lunch is one of life's simple pleasures. Recently, when two of our Vermont soldiers from different units and different missions managed to meet for lunch in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, the significance of simple pleasures took on new meaning. Back in the Winter issue of the IT Newsletter, we included an article in which CIT technician Carol Caldwell-Edmonds shared some information on her family's Vermont-to-Kuwait iChat connections with her spouse, Major Gary Edmonds, who is still stationed in Kuwait. UVM's electronic news source The View picked up the story and interviewed Major Edmonds as well as UVM IT Professional Roger Bombardier, who, at that time, was still awaiting orders to deploy to the Middle East.
Roger has since been deployed and he completed his training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi in June. He was able to come home to Vermont for 10 days, and the CIT staff enjoyed our monthly toast to Roger at the Taste of Burlington restaurant with Roger and his wife Sarah present. Roger presented Dean Williams, Assistant Director of Client Services, with an Employer Appreciation plaque from his unit. Dean accepted it on behalf of all of the CIT staff who have kept many lines of communication open to Roger.
When Roger left this time, he told us that he would be training for a short time in Kuwait before being sent into Iraq. This prompted Carol to get on iChat and email to see if Major Edmonds, aka. Mr. Carol Caldwell-Edmonds, would be able to meet up with Roger while they would both be in Kuwait. Gary (Major Edmonds) said he would need lots more information to be able to locate Roger. That mobilized Carol, Stef Ploof, and Sarah Bombardier (Roger's wife) to assist. The emails and iChats increased until Roger and Gary had enough information to be able to find each other in the desert.
As you see in the photo, they did succeed. Gary drove across the desert the morning of July 7th for an hour and a half to arrive at Camp Buehring where he met Roger for lunch. When we received the photos, there was a sense of "mission accomplished". This mission was to show (somewhat defiantly) that we can stay connected even in a world situation that divides people. Good for Gary and Roger! They may have done more for us than they did for themselves, just by meeting for lunch. Simple things can make a big difference.
Visit Roger's weblog to stay current with his adventures in the States, Kuwait, and Iraq. If you get the urge, send Roger a comment via his blog or even send him a care package!
Authors: Carol
Caldwell-Edmonds, CIT Client
Services
Stefanie
Ploof, CIT Client Services / CALS
Information Technology Office
Last modified July 14 2005 10:14 AM
