By Mike Parks, Regional CEO, American Red Cross of Northern Ohio

Last Thursday, on the 25th of July, I travelled to Camp Atterbury in Indiana, to participate in the sendoff for Team 55.  Team 55 is a group of 21 Red Crossers from around the United States who are deploying to military bases around the globe to help support United States service members who are stationed overseas. 

Our own Nasir Ahmad, Northern Ohio’s first Service to Armed Forces Mobile Specialist, is a member of Team 55.   The sendoff was the end of a pre-deployment training period that helped prepare the team members for their assignments.  Both Trevor Riggen, President of Humanitarian Services, and Michael Jordan, Vice President of SAF/International Services US Field Operations, travelled to Indiana to address the team—thanking them for their sacrifice and willingness to support our deployed service members.  They each shared personal stories of their time in the Peace Corps (Trevor) and deployments as a U.S. Marine (Michael) and the vital role the Red Cross played in their lives. 

I had the privilege of joining Nasir and his teammates at a barbeque lunch that was supported by volunteers from the Indiana Region.  It was great to spend some quality time with Nasir prior to his departure.  I was also able to personally express the well- wishes of his Northern Ohio colleagues, many of whom were gathered in Cleveland for an all-staff meeting at the same time as the sendoff. 

My personal highlight of the trip to Camp Atterbury was to see how prepared Nasir is for his deployment and how appreciative he is for the support of his colleagues in Northern Ohio.  As Nasir heads to Baghdad, Iraq to support our service members, I’m confident he’ll bring them the same degree of joy and comfort he’s been able to bring all of us over the past year.  He’ll be in our thoughts and prayers as we look forward to his return in six months!

Editor’s note: Early Monday morning, July 29 th , Nasir emailed this photo and quote: “I’m at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.  Our fellow Red Crossers here are great and the volunteers are extraordinarily committed.  But I’ll be leaving here soon and arriving at my deployment site so, hopefully, my next email to you will be from Baghdad, Iraq.”

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Posted by Ryan Lang, Red Cross board member and volunteer