| Subject: From the Hattiesburgamerican.com |
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Date Posted: 13:54:08 11/08/09 Sun
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Sam Haskell visits troops in Afghanistan
Sam Haskell along with six former Miss Americas and a former Miss Utah spent eight days on a trip entertaining U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Bebe Shapp, Nicole Johnson, Sharlene Hawkes, Ericka Johnson, Jill Stevens, Haskell, Heather Whitestone, Susan Powell are pictured with soldiers as they are about to board a helicopter for transport from Forward Operating Base Bostick in Afghanistan.
Sam Haskell visits troops in Afghanistan
Reminiscent of the old Bob Hope USO tours, Mississippi native Sam Haskell, six former Miss Americas and a former Miss Utah recently returned from an unforgettable eight-day trip to Afghanistan where they met and entertained U.S. troops, commanding officers and seven generals.
The Department of Defense invited Haskell to come to Afghanistan after hearing that a number of soldiers had received copies of Haskell's memoir, "Promises I Made My Mother," from their own mothers. As chairman of the board for the Miss America Organization, Haskell immediately suggested bringing former Miss Americas along on the trip.
Miss America 1985 Sharlene Wells Hawkes of Salt Lake City, Utah, helped make the arrangements for Haskell, herself and five other former Miss Americas, along with Jill Stevens, Miss Utah 2007, who had been a soldier/medic deployed to Afghanistan in 2005, to make the trip as a part of the Armed Forces Entertainment Unit in the Middle East. Bill Ray of BankPlus in Jackson donated 500 copies of "Promises I Made My Mother," which were transported along with Haskell and the women to Washington, D.C., then to Kuwait, and ultimately via helicopter to Forward Operating Bases all over Afghanistan where they were distributed to the troops.
Here are excerpts from Haskell's personal diary account of his once-in-a-lifetime experience:
•We landed in Kuwait at 5:30 pm on Tuesday the 13th. We had a wonderful Kuwaiti woman named Utch meet me and the six Miss Americas. ...Miss America 1985 Sharlene Wells, Miss America 1999 Nicole Johnson, Miss America 2004 Ericka Dunlap, Miss America 1981 Susan Powell, Miss America 1995 Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1948 BeBe Shoppe, and Miss Utah 2007 Jill Stevens at the Kuwait Airport to help us secure our visas, and help us get through customs with my eight duffels containing the 500 copies of my book for the soldiers, my two pieces of personal luggage, and all of the girls' bags as well. Doug, our driver, and Sgt. Juan Valle, our base escort, took us to Ali Al Salem Air Force Base - known as The Rock. There, we moved into special barracks prepared for us. I was bunking with the guys, and the Miss Americas had their own barracks. We had dinner in the base mess hall, and we are scheduled to meet with the base commander the next morning at 9:00. We witnessed 12 busloads of soldiers departing the base, headed home from Iraq. We went to the PX after dinner to pick up a few things each of us needed, and then we tucked into bed for the night.
•October 15th - We left Kuwait last night at 0230 hours (2:30 am). We were all fitted with bulletproof vests, helmets and armor, and we had to wear it all on the plane. BeBe Shoppe carried her own armor and it weighed 50 pounds. The C17 plane felt like it was the size of a football field ... like Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose! We were on the plane with 150 soldiers dressed for battle. The soldiers entered the plane from a ramp up the rear of the plane. It looked like something right out of "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind!"The Miss Americas and I were seated along the perimeter of the inside of the plane with the soldiers seated in rows in front of us. The take-off was amazing, and the engines were so loud, we needed earplugs.
The three Air Force pilots invited me into the cockpit during the four-hour flight from Kuwait to Afghanistan. The pilots names were Brandon, Matt and Tony ... 26, 24, and 21, respectively. All young enough to be my sons ... unreal!!! I loved being up there with them, and they asked me about all the bags of books that they had loaded onto the plane before take-off. When they found out I was the author, they all wanted one or two copies for their wives and/or mothers. They sent a soldier to the cargo area of the giant C17 and told him to retrieve a box of my books for me to sign for them. I then took the Miss Americas up to the cockpit, and the pilots loved that! When the plane began its descent to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, it was the roughest and worst landing I've ever experienced. Apparently quick, corkscrew landings are standard operating procedure for combat zones. It was like riding the worst rollercoaster you've ever been on, all inside of a whale! The Great American Scream Machine (infamous roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia) has NOTHING on the US Air Force! I broke out into a complete body sweat ... was drenched, and I was so nauseous, I didn't know if I would make it. I willed myself not to throw up ... literally willed myself. Susan Powell told me that I turned a pale (ARMY) green. Nicole Johnson was very attentive and gave me a bottle of water. Jill Stevens kept asking if I needed anything...but I held it together. Once off the plane, we went through customs, and retrieved our luggage, as well as the hundreds of books I had with me.
•The base commander, Henry "Buck" Buckley, was there to meet us, give us our itinerary, and then take us to our barracks. And guess what? When Cmdr. Buckley introduced himself, he said .... "You're Sam Haskell," and I replied, "Yes, I am," and he said, "I'm Buck Buckley and I graduated from Ole Miss, too, and I know everything about you!" Needless to say, he took great care of me and my Miss Americas. Our first stop in Afghanistan was Camp Montrand, home of the 7th Special Forces Group, where we met up with the guys from Platoon 220 - the Mississippi National Guard of Jackson. They were so glad to see me, and I was thrilled to see them. A couple of them had already received a copy of "Promises" from their moms back home, but I made sure each and every one of them had a copy before we left them. We then toured the base hospital and spoke with the entire emergency team of doctors and nurses there. A young man had just been brought in with extreme injuries to his right leg, as was a small Afghan boy who was the victim of an explosion. As we were leaving, a helicopter with three more victims of the explosion was arriving. The head of the ER let us watch the surgery to save the leg of a local Afghan man. Our Miss Utah Jill Stevens, a combat medic, was allowed to scrub in. In a lighter moment, many of the doctors relieved their stress by trying on Heather Whitestone's Miss America Crown that she brought with her.
•The Miss Americas all got a chance to sit in the cockpit of the F15's, and pose for pictures. Susan Powell is the funniest woman I've ever known. She had every soldier and general wrapped around her little finger. Ericka Dunlap, the youngest of the Miss Americas traveling with us, has really been a "main attraction" for the guys. She's also currently starring in CBS's "The Amazing Race," and all of the soldiers have recognized her. Heather Whitestone, our only deaf Miss America, has been the most inspirational person on our trip. When she spoke to the men, and told them that her three boys asked her to come to Afghanistan to "give the soldiers hugs," they couldn't line up quickly enough. Nicole Johnson, our only diabetic Miss America, was also an inspiration ... not only for her strength and conviction, but for sharing her stories of her father and his lifelong career in the military. Jill Stevens Shepherd - Miss Utah 2007, is a nurse who actually served in the Utah National Guard for eight years, and served in active duty in Afghanistan in 2005-06. Every soldier eagerly admired her for her service, not to mention for her beauty!
•We then got back into our helicopters and flew out to the northern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan to visit the soldiers at FOB Bostick. Bostick is the forward operating base where the survivors of the COP Keating Fritsche Bravo Troop from the 4th Infantry in Fort Carson, Colo., are now stationed. Eight of their brothers were killed in a Taliban ambush two weeks ago. Though still a bit shaken, the men told us the story of their 12-hour battle, witnessing the loss of their men, the lack of ammunition, the aftermath, the lockdown for 48 hours and finally the U.S. bombing of their own facility and entire camp at Keating Fritsche, to destroy anything that could help the Taliban ... something I never knew needed to happen after an attack on an American Camp.
•We flew back to Jalalabad for lunch and a meet-and-greet with the men there. We got to spend time with SPC Ty Carter, another one of the survivors of the Bravo attack at COP (command operating post) Keating. He has been nominated for the Medal of Honor for his heroic life-saving tactics during the ambush. He cried, and so did we, as he recounted his story to us. We then boarded our helicopters and flew back to Bagram. We were taken to Bagram's Joint Operating Command (JOC) where we met with the outstanding men and women who run and monitor the computer tracking system for each and every command post. If an attack happens, JOC is responsible for initiating immediate reinforcements and backup. There were 60 men and women working at the JOC, and it was so impressive. We also got to meet General Carey, General Byrne and General Chris Scaparratti who oversees the command forces of the 82nd Infantry at Bagram. I signed copies of my book for each of the generals, and 150 of their men that evening. The generals thanked Cmdr. Buckley for bringing us to meet them, and each of them presented us with their personal COIN ... a real honor we learned later. We had also received similar medals from Generals Rodriguez and MacDonald, and three other Base Commanders the day before.
•That night at dinner, as we entered the mess hall at Bagram, it was packed with soldiers, and there really was no place for us to sit. A lieutenant colonel motioned us over, and he had several of his men move to make room for us. As Cmdr. Buckley, Heather, Jill, Susan, Nicole and I were seated, we started recounting the events of the day. The officer asked me who we were. After telling him all about our trip, he asked each of us where we were from, and when I mentioned Mississippi, he got the biggest smile on his face, and he said, "I'm from Meridian, Mississippi and I graduated from Ole Miss." I was astounded. His name is Lt. Col. Archie Godwin. It warmed my heart that the nice man, who made room for us to sit down, was none other than a fellow Mississippian! I also want to add something about our meals. The food was terrific, many freshly-prepared choices, and everything was so clean.
•After a good night's sleep Sunday night, we hit the ground running the morning of the 19th, as we proceeded to have meet-and-greets with every command post on the Ali Al Salem Air Force Base - an awesome opportunity to spend time with the men and women stationed there. We found out that very few of the Armed Forces Entertainment groups ever do this. For our last night in Kuwait, the girls had to share a barracks with four Army women, and I shared a barracks with seven other men. You'll never guess who my bunkmate was! His name is Lt. Col. Bill Clarke from Biloxi, Mississippi, and he graduated from Ole Miss as well. We had dinner at the mess hall, watched Ericka Dunlap's appearance on "The Amazing Race," and then we were driven to Kuwait International Airport to fly back to DC. We arrived in DC at 6:00 am on Tuesday October 20th. We all hugged and cried as we said our goodbyes!
•As a postscript: The night after we left, the Taliban attacked Bagram Air Force Base, where we spent the last three nights. Thankfully no one was killed.
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