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Profiles En-Courage-ment
Young family of heroes
Posted in Angel, Role model on the Aug 15, 2007
Jonathan Abrams, an LA Times Staff Writer, wrote an article on February 15, 2007 about a young family that is feeling the hardships of this Iraq war like no other. Ellen DeGeneres invited the young family to appear on her show which encored this week and that is how I came to hear about them.
It seems that Sgt. Claudia Hernandez-Smith received her papers notifying her that she was to report for active duty in Iraq just before summer of 2006. Her husband, Sgt. Gary Smith, did not want his wife to go alone. The family had a meeting and 20 year old Audrey volunteered to take care of her younger siblings while her parents were deployed together.
The military allows these simultaneous deployments as long as child care is provided for the family.
Audrey’s sisters range in age from 3 to 18. Stephanie recently turned 18, Grace is 10, Ashley is 4, and Emily is 3. All the girls were well behaved during the Ellen DeGeneres interview. Ellen asked Audrey if the girls listen to her when she tells them to do something. She responded very honestly, “No.” They know she does not have the same clout that their mom possesses.
Stephanie voiced her concern that her Mom was not around for the big moments of her young life like her graduation, her prom and looking at colleges.
The younger girls get teary eyed each time they talk with their parents on the phone and you could see their emotions swell to the surface when Ellen turned on a monitor with their parents waiting to talk with their children via a satellite hook-up.
Ellen was sure to thank both officers for their service to our country. According to Abrams’ article, they are deployed with a Black Hawk helicopter division of the Army’s 131st Aviation Regiment stationed at Balad Air Base, about 50 miles north of Baghdad.
I applaud the efforts of Audrey Delgadillo and her courage in stepping up to take the responsibility for caring for her young sisters rather than see them split up among family members. I am also inspired by the conduct and courage of the three youngsters. It’s one thing to have your parents go way for a night or a long weekend. It is a very different matter altogether to see both your parents leave for a one to two year military deployment.
These young ladies are my heroes.