Air Force uncle finds his Army niece in Iraq

Photo By Tammie Moore | 051116-BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq -- Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Michael Brimmer, 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, and his niece, Army Specialist Angie Fekken, 1436th Engineer Company, relax and during some down time at Balad Air Base on LSA Anaconda.  

12.01.2005

Courtesy Story

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When serving half a world away from home, many servicemembers treasure the little tokens they brought with them to remind them why they are here.

For Senior Master Sgt. Michael Brimmer, 332nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron first sergeant, and his niece, Army Spc. Angela Fekken, 1436th Engineer Company, they have more than a small piece of home, they have each other.

Fekken, a truck driver, has been deployed to LSA Anaconda almost a year and this affected her uncle's decision to come here.

"I volunteered to deploy and was given a list of places I could go to," said Brimmer.

"I picked Balad because Angie was there already."

When Fekken came home for her mid-tour leave in July, Brimmer met with her to learn about where he would be deploying.

"She gave me a run down about what to expect," Brimmer said. "She showed me photos of LSA Anaconda and really put me at ease about coming here. I thought it was going to be a barren desert, but the photos she had showed different."

When Brimmer arrived here, he began his search to find his niece.

"It took more than a month to get in contact with Angie," Brimmer said. "We tried to get in touch with each other over e-mail, but for some reason e-mails to one another's military accounts kept getting rejected. My wife ended up having to give my personal e-mail address to her sister who was able to pass it on to Angie."

"In the meantime, I looked for her every time I went to the DFACs," Brimmer said.

Fekken was also searching for her uncle.

"When I would run into airmen, I would ask them if they knew my uncle," she said. "It was a good feeling to finally have met up with him. I"d been looking for him for weeks, so it was great to finally see him."

The sergeant and specialist come from a large, but close family.

"Most of our family lives within 15 minutes of each other back in Michigan," Fekken said. "We always get together."

Maintaining this sense of closeness was important to the uncle and niece.

"It's just a great comfort to know that we have family here we can talk to and are able to see a friendly smiling face of a family member," Fekken said.

Because of job requirements the two are not able to get together as often as they would like, but they take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself.

"We look forward to getting together and having a chance to catch up on what we've both been doing here, as well as what's going on back home," Fekken said.

Family members in the States were also glad, that for part of their deployments, the two would be here together.

"They were pretty excited that we"d both be serving at the same time and at the same base, especially my mom and my aunt, his wife," Fekken said.

Having the opportunity to deploy with a family member has meant a lot to this sergeant and specialist.

"On deployments we make friends and form an adopted family," Brimmer said. "But to have a real family member here makes a difference. It keeps us connected to home."

• Date Taken: 12.01.2005
• Date Posted: 12.01.2005 07:47
• Story ID: 3921