SUPPORTING the THREE


Mindy was four and a half months premature when she was born. She only weighed 1 lb 13oz. Mindy is her parents' only child.

"I tell people she came out fighting and she still is fighting," her mother Lynda tells me. "So when she said she was selling her house and enlisting I wasn't surprised. We always told her, you do whatever you need to do and we will back you no matter what."

Mindy had finished college and had been a police officer for 6 years when she decided to enlist with the Military Police (MP) of the United States Army.

"Our daughter has moved to an outpost (in Iraq) with no mail, no electricity and no running water," Lynda says.

Being active Army, Mindy has no time for studying, but hopes to finish her Master's degree when she returns to Germany. She has a major in History and a minor in criminal justice and military history. Mindy has collected military uniforms since she was in Junior High. Someday, she hopes to open a museum.

Heidi ~ after 9/11, you asked me to come over, alone, for dinner at your house, you wanted to 'discuss something' with me. For goodness sakes, I thought you wanted to tell me you were going to marry a Buddhist or something, not that I would be upset about that.

Instead, you told me you wanted to do 'something that mattered'. You were tired of working in the emergency room, seeing the same things over and over again, the same sick people, day after day, dealing with the bureaucracy. You wanted to 'take care of service personnel' which you felt must be 'the highest calling' one could have. You wanted to make a difference.

What was I to say? Dad and I have brought up our children to believe they need to 'give back to mankind', 'it's not all about the money', 'leave something good behind when you are gone'. We never dreamed you'd actually want to take us up on it!

I can't speak for Lynda, but for goodness sakes, you young women (and men) do try your parents' patience. And we are so proud of you for it.

Hey, too bad that ‘dealing with the bureaucracy issue’ didn’t change much, huh?

This is Mindy's favorite poem. As you know, I prefer Billy Collins, but I am shallow and superficial.

Supporting the Three
Written in 1982, by SGT Allan Perkins. Allan was an MP.

I am the Infantry, follow me.
not a foot soldier, we're much more you see.
We'll take the fight to the enemy.
I am the Infantry, the first of the three.

I am the Cavalry, follow me.
A modern horse soldier in an APC.
Charging straight forward to the enemy.
I am the Cav, most daring of the three.

I am the Armor, follow me.
The arm of decision I'll always be.
When the going gets rough, call on me.
I am the Armor, the best of the three.

Armor, Cav, and Infantry
rush headlong into the melee.
Braking the lines like an angry sea
deep into enemy territory.

Approaching a crossroads, what do we see?
The area secured by two lonely MPs
Directing us forward, how can this be?
How long have they been waiting for me?

What a crazy person an MP must be.
He has no firepower or armor like me.
And I thought everyone followed the three
Armor, Cav, and Infantry.

I am the MP, don't follow me.
You don't want to be where I will be.
Guarding the crossroads, waiting for the three.
Just my partner, a sixteen, a sixty and me.

With the objective taken, wait and see.
No one will remember the lonely MP
Who held this ground so they could run free,
But that's my job, supporting the three.

"People say what we are all seeking is the meaning of life... I think what we're really seeking is the experience of being alive.." Rudyard Kipling