Sisters troops set to deploy

On any given day there are troops - active duty or reserve - in Sisters on leave.

There is no completely accurate way to report which troops are deployed or are in town on leave. However, the Military Parents of Sisters strives to keep in touch with our troops and their families so that each soldier, sailor, Marine or airman receives care packages while deployed.

More importantly, they know folks from Sisters remember and support them.

According to Cindy Bell, spokesperson for the Military Parents of Sisters, those currently deployed are: Kite Faulkner, Brian Heller, Colton Houck and John Roberts. Soon to be deployed are: Lloyd Jeffers, Chad Kernutt, Josh Marr, Rodney Helwig and Cory Macauley.

Also recently in Sisters were Todd Bell and Thad Anderson. Bell has been assigned to a duty station in Okinawa, Japan for two years. Anderson has been stationed in Okinawa for over a year of his two-year assignment. Traveling home on leave with Anderson was his fiancé, Christie Robinson, who is also stationed in Okinawa. The two naval corpsmen chose Sahalie Falls as the place for their August 9 nuptials.

Chad Kernutt attended the August meeting of the Military Parents of Sisters. He explained what he knew of his intended first deployment and answered questions from the audience. Kernutt was the best man at Anderson's wedding before he left on August 13 to begin his deployment to Afghanistan.

"Our troops usually have so many things they want to do while home on leave and there's never enough time to get it all in," said Val Anderson, mother of Thad Anderson. "My son's memories of Sisters are what he's been hanging on to all this time. He left Sisters at 18 to join the Navy, his lifelong dream; now he's 20. Without the Military Parents of Sisters I don't know what I would have done during that time."

Saturday, September 11 is the next scheduled pack-out for troops from Sisters. If you would like to donate items for the pack-out, come to a Military Parents of Sisters meeting; or to write letters to our troops, contact Cindy Bell at 541-647-7483.