Photo By Sgt. Maj. Christopher Klutts | From left, Sgt. 1st Class Tristan Ruark, an adviser with Imam Sahib District Advisory...... read more read more
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KUNDUZ, Afghanistan – The last Christmas Kevin and Tristan Ruark spent together was in their hometown Clarkston, Wash., in 1998. Tristan was serving in the U.S. Marines Corps, and his younger brother Kevin would soon follow. They remember going to see lights on display at Locomotive Park across the Snake River in Lewiston, Idaho.
At the time, neither knew it would be 13 years before they would share another Christmas. They certainly didn’t know they would meet on Christmas Eve in northern Afghanistan as U.S. Army soldiers.
Sgt. 1st Class Tristan Ruark, an adviser with Khanabad District Advisory Team, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kevin Ruark, an Apache pilot with 4th Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, nearly missed each other this year as well.
Tristan’s unit is preparing to return to Baumholder, Germany, in early 2012 after a yearlong deployment. Kevin arrived just in time.
“It’s been over a year since we last hung out,” Tristan said. “We’ll go in spurts of being able to see each other.”
The Ruarks said there were many reasons they joined the military. Their grandparents fought in World War II, their father was drafted during Vietnam, and an uncle and a cousin were Marines.
“I used it as an opportunity to get out on my own,” Kevin said.
Mainly, they remember playing war while growing up in eastern Washington state.
“We took it to the extreme,” said Kevin, who is on his second combat tour. “We went down to the army-navy store and bought [camouflage uniforms]. Then we’d dress up, face paint up and low crawl through the yard. Day or night, it didn’t really matter.”
This isn’t the first time Kevin and Tristan have been deployed simultaneously. In 2007, Tristan was in Iraq while Kevin was in Afghanistan.
Tristan, now five years from retirement, said his father, “thought we were just going to serve and get out. He’s pretty supportive. He came down to watch my brother graduate from the Apache course. He’s like any parent; he’s worried about having his sons in theater.”
For all the soldiers here, Christmas is a rare day off. The Ruarks called their wives and children. Tristan said they’d maybe even “Skype with Dad.”
| Date Taken: | 12.25.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 12.25.2011 07:17 |
| Story ID: | 81752 |
| Location: | FORWARD OPERATING BASE KUNDUZ, AF |
| Web Views: | 614 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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