Photo By Kristin Savage | U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Will Hangman, First Sgt., Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of...... read more read more
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U.S. Army 1st Sgt. Will Hangman, First Sgt., Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA), U.S. Army 1st Lt. Andrew Hanson, J44 Engineer current operations officer, CJTF-HOA, U.S. Army 1st Lt Kasey Lanning, aide-de-camp to the commanding general, CJTF-HOA, and U.S. Army Spc. Taylor Hangman-Scott, CJ-4 Logistics admin noncommissioned officer, CJTF-HOA, are four of the almost 200 Soldiers who deployed to Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti as part of the 196th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade with the South Dakota Army National Guard. What’s unique about the group is that they are part of a close-knit and supportive military family.
Lanning is Hanson’s cousin, Hangman married Hanson’s sister and Hangman-Scott is Hangman’s daughter who, along with Lanning, were recruited by Hangman’s wife, a recruiter with the South Dakota Army National Guard. The unique connection made deploying much easier for the clan.
“I think that any unit you deploy with, you feel like a family, but it’s nice to have your family here, especially when you have trying moments,” said Hanson. “Here we have family to spend holidays with and you always have a piece of home with you.”
While serving their country away from home, the group had to deal with the loss of loved ones and health concerns of a young member of the family.
“We experienced loss here, three grandparents passing, and my littlest guy, he has some pretty significant health issues that make it trying for him,” Hangman said. “It’s difficult not being there physically, my wife has to deal with the doctors and the possibility of an organ transplant so that’s an added weight on her and the family.”
The Hangman-Hanson-Lanning crew have a total of eight family members with the South Dakota National Guard but only brought four of them on this deployment. Although there are many benefits to having your family with you on deployment, it leaves a gap for those back at home.
“It’s nice to have a group of us here but when you remove a section of a family, at the same time, it’s hard for people back home,” Lanning said. “Since it was my Dad’s parents that passed away, it was hard not being there to help and was an added stress on our spouses and kids because they had to fill our role.”
Hangman-Scott, the youngest of the group, is grateful to spend her first deployment with such a strong family, but still worries about the family she left.
“My dad and I are really close to my sister, she always says that dad’s her best friend,” Hangman-Scott said. “She told me before we left that she wasn’t sure how she was going to do this and it’s going to be hard without us.”
Although deployments are hard and being separated causes challenges, the MEB members are grateful that they have such a supportive family.
“We know that there’s a good support system, everybody supports our decision to serve and either involuntarily or voluntarily deploy,” Hangman said. “We appreciate the fact that we are so well supported and before we know it, we’ll be home.”
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.11.2021 06:44 |
| Story ID: | 388837 |
| Location: | DJ |
| Web Views: | 598 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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