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Sister, Brother Reunite In Iraq
(August 29, 2009) |
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Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Heath Wieseler catches up on old times with his sister, Army Sgt. Andrea Wieseler, in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter on Contingency Operating Base Speicher, Iraq, Aug. 13, 2009. |
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CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE SPEICHER, Iraq, Aug. 24, 2009
Deployments usually separate soldiers from their families. However, for one “Red
Bull” soldier, it provided the chance to reunite with her brother.
Army Sgt. Andrea Wieseler, a telecommunications sergeant with the 34th Red Bull
Infantry Division, hadn't seen her brother, Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Heath
Wieseler, in more than two years. Heath, a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter pilot, is
deployed here with the 10th Mountain Division's Company B, 2nd Battalion, 10th
Aviation Regiment.
Andrea's supervisors allowed her to take some time to meet up with her brother.
“I have been waiting for this since the day I arrived in Iraq,” she said. |
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Although Heath knew there would be a possibility Andrea would get the
opportunity to come up and see him, she surprised him early. He was on a mission
to drop off passengers at Camp Liberty in Baghdad. At the last moment, he was
informed he was to pick up passengers to take back to Speicher, not knowing one
of those passengers was his sister.
After Heath landed the helicopter here, they greeted each other with a hug and
the emotions started to flow.
“It caught me by surprise when I looked back to see her get on the helicopter,”
the pilot said. The siblings were able to spend a few days to catch up on old
times and have some great laughs.
“Everything worked out perfect,” Andrea said. “I was so happy to have him pick
me up in his helicopter; he is a real hero to me.”
Heath has traveled a lot in his 16 years of active duty. Military training and
travel have prevented him from returning to his hometown of Howard Lake, Minn.,
to see his family.
“It was so great to have Andrea around,” he said. “It was nice to be with family
-- someone you can share common things and talk about family back in Minnesota.”
The two of them spent time talking, laughing and sharing events of the past two
years. Heath talked about his wife, Geri, and sons, Tyler and Trevor, while
Andrea shared her experiences of the deployment so far and the friendships she
has made.
“I was so excited; it was a dream come true,” Andrea said. “I waited a long time
for this.” | |
Article and photo by Army MSgt. Rich Kemp
Multinational Division South
Special to
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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