The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/599049
A-12 Local Wednesday, November 11, 2015 The Press-Dispatch Daviess Community Hospital is proud of the Nurse Practitioners who care for our patients every day. They work alongside our physicians and help to ensure that every patient is treated with care and respect. Please join us in recognizing these providers. Pictured is Amy Waggner, FNP-C with patient. Pictured is Ali Krieger, FNP- with patient. National Nurse Practitioner Week November 8-14, 2015 Nurse Practitioners working at Daviess Community Hospital and DCH clinics include: Cheryl Buss, ANP-BC, CME Chelsea Cummins, FNP-C Darla Eaton, FNP Alicia Field, FNP Susan Kraft, DNP, NP-C, COHN, CME Allison Krieger, FNP Sherri Mathies, FNP-C, CIC Debra Ramsey, FNP-C Cathy Sager, FNP-C Tammy Twitty, FNP Tracy Scott, FNP Amy Waggner, FNP-C Davida Wilson, FNP 2013 Dodge Journey, Gray, 3rd Row Seat, Only 42K Miles 2012 Mazda 6, Silver, Zoom Zoom Zoom 2012 Chevy Equinox, Gray, 4 cyl, Automatic, Great on Gas 2012 Chevy Cruze, Red, 6 sp, Low Miles 2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Bronze, Automatic, Nice Car! 2011 Chevy Malibu, Pearl White, Leather, Loaded 2010 GMC Acadia SLT-1, White, AWD 2009 Dodge Ram, White, Quad Cab, Low Miles 2008 Ford Expedition XLT, Gray, Nice 2008 Chevy Cobalt SS, White w/red racing stripes, automatic 2008 Ford Edge SEL, Blue, AWD 2006 Lincoln Town Car Signature Limited, Silver, clean!! 2004 Ford Ranger Super Cab, Red, 4x4, Reduced price 2003 Cadillac Escalade, Maroon, Nice!! 2002 Chrysler Sebring, Beige, Convertible, Local Trade 1998 Pontiac Firebird, Black, Good gas mileage AUTO PARKE A Name You Can Trust! 820 S. 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He said the land mines were so bad in the area, they had to have an area cleared of the mines to farm. Yon explained how an area was cleared. He said they would get down on their hands and knees and use sticks to probe out in front of them to locate the mines. They would put up a fence along that line they probed. Then they would put sheep into the area. The sheep would set off the anti- personnel mines. A fter the sheep had been in the area, they would send cows into the areas. The cows would set off the anti-tank mines. "It took about 250 pounds of force to set of an anti-tank mine." Once that was done, they would pull the dead cows out of the area and burn it off. Yon said it wasn't uncom- mon for a tractor to set off a mine. A fter six months in Bos- nia, he returned to the Unit- ed States on June 23, 2001. "I spent my first anniversary in Bosnia. I got to call her and talk to her on the phone," said Yon. His wife, Jana, is an eighth grade teacher at Pike Cen- tral Middle School. "We come home and I get to wind down and we get to be newlyweds. Barely got to the point of getting used to living together and being married, and two months lat- er I get a call. I have been ac- tivated for Iraq." He was activated on Jan- uary 1, 2003, and spent a month at Camp Attebury. "My gosh it was cold. We were walking around in des- ert uniforms and it was bru- tally cold." He shipped out to Iraq, where he spent his second anniversary. "We got sent to Kuwait City and ended up at Camp Doha." They were at a dis- tribution center, so they did logistics. "We basically built that base from nothing." He said most of their mis- sions were to escort buses up to the forward small bas- es called Kabals. "We ran convoys to get things to where they need- ed to go," said Yon. Then the war started. "We were still doing con- voy escorts, just going to Ku- wait. We weren't allowed to go into Iraq." One day, he had a layover in Doha and was able to call his wife. "She was excited to hear from me. She said she had Fox News on. I said they don't care about us. Then I heard this piercing sound coming through the phone. I could hear air raid sirens on her phone." She was watching a report on Kuwait City that wasn't 10 miles away. "When she told me that our sirens kicked off, I had to say goodbye." Yon said while he was headed to a bunker and getting his suit on, he was thinking, "she knew about the attack before I did and I'm thinking 'how is that pos- sible? '" Later, his group was moved to Scania, where there used to be a gas sta- tion. He was there with about 300 MPs at a base camp. They did base camp security and patrols and QRF (Quick Reaction Force) actions. It was on the main road between Kuwait and Baghdad. "So we were the main refueling station, it was a pretty strategic po- sition." Despite that, they nev- er got attacked. "We didn't have any shellings or snip- ers, nothing." He said it was a Shiite area. "They loved us." He said the enemy was afraid of the heavily armed con- voys. "No one messed with us when we were out." He ex- plained, "If you are Joe Terror- ist, why would you at- tack a 50 cali- ber ma- chine gun. You can't out run us. We were a hard target." So they came up with a different strategy. "Then the roadside bombs started showing up. That is when things started changing. It is when Darrell Smith (from Pike County) was killed. I wasn't out with him when it happened, but it was tough. . . It is different when you lose someone in the Na- tional Guard. An active du- ty guy, you may be friends, I might know their wife, but only very rarely, I might see their kids. When Darrell died, I can picture his wife and kids and his communi- ty. It is tough." Yon said probably his least smart moment of the Iraq tour happened one night when their ORF got a call. While they were out, they were getting shelled and they stop some vehi- cles. One was a car and they opened the trunk and it was full of explosives. "It was full of wooden crates with explosives written on them in English. They were cov- ered by mortar fuses. I'm sitting looking at this car and my Platoon Sgt. said , 'You were raised on a farm weren't you? ' I said, 'Yeah Sgt.'" His Sgt.'s response was, "Good, then you can drive a straight shift. We need to get this back to the base." Yon said they think the car was loaded up to be a suicide bomber. "I'm getting into the car. I'm not wanting to touch anything. I pushed in on the clutch and it wouldn't start. Eventually, I remembered driving car in Germany that you had to push all the way down, even extending your toe to hit a safety switch. It started up and I told them to put a Humvee in front of me and behind me because I wasn't going to turn the lights on." He drove it back to the base. "That probably wasn't the smartest thing I have ever done to get in and figure out why it wouldn't start." "We got a lot of good in- tel out of it. They had pam- phlets in the car on weak points of tanks and striker vehicles and where to hit them. On the Abrams tanks, it has a big red X, like avoid at all costs." He said the worst part of being stationed there was the sand storms and heat. "We didn't really see a cloud. We just thought we saw a cloud and we got excit- ed about it." "I have never seen any- thing like the sandstorms and I hope I never see it again," said Yong. "It is like being blasted with a sandblaster. Like a fog that doesn't go away." He said they took shelter in a truck one time and an- other time in a 'C' can, which is a large shipping crate. "It was suffocating." He said their mouthpieces would get clogged up from the moisture and they would have to take them out and get them opened up. "I used to hack and cough all the time. I know it was the sandstorm.. But my chron- ic cough is gone now," said Yon. Yon spent a year in Iraq. He returned home on a flight with other members of the National Guard to In- diana. A large greeting was arranged in Indianapo- lis for family members to see their sol- diers return. The fami- ly members were lined up forming a long outdoor corridor as Yon and his fellow sol- diers exit- ed the plane and were met by their fami- ly members. "I don't know how to ex- plain it. It was like you have been looking forward to something for so long and now it is here. You want to hang onto it forever. I re- member seeing my wife, and mom and dad. It felt so good to be home." "You look at life differ- ently. Everyday after 2004 was a gift from God. There is a lot stuff out there. We went through a lot of stuff. It was something everyday. . It wasn't necessarily excit- ing. It was just the grind," said Yon. "I always heard compla- cency kills. You sit on a truck for three weeks and nothing happens. You kind of lay back, then something YON Continued from page 11 Brooks kept his wife's wedding picture in the truck he drove. He was in Bosnia on their first an- niversary and in Iraq for their second. Brooks Yon's arm af- ter he was bitten by sand fleas. happens and you are all fired up and you have all these anxieties and then it is back to the same routine. . . Ev- erybody watches a war mov- ie and they think they know what it is like. It isn't like that. I can't imagine what it was like for the men in Ko- rea, Vietnam, and World War I and II." A fter he was home for a while, there was a parade in Winslow honoring the soldiers who had been to Iraq. "State Senator Lindel Hume spoke and welcomed us home. Then he welcomed the Vietnam veterans. A Vietnam veteran walked up and said 'that was is the first time I was welcomed home.' That was powerful," said Yon. Brooks and his wife, Ja- na, have a son, Zeke, and a daughter, Lucy. He works at IPL, and volunteers with the Petersburg and Washington Township Fire Department. Brooks Yon lounges in one of Saddam's couches in a palace in Baghdad. Brooks Yon is surrounded by Iraqi children. Yon said the children would often approach the soldiers.