By Debra R. Cox, American Red Cross Team 54 Field Member

Impact. As a deployer with Team 54, I expected to be engaged in a myriad of activities, from the delivery of emergency communications to morale events, to partnering with other organizations on base in order to best serve military members. Little did I know how profound the service members’ expressions of gratitude would impact my being. This gratitude includes one very special service member who gave me the cross he carried on his dog tags from the time he entered the military at bootcamp. He was considering giving up on life until he saw that I noticed him and my kindness changed everything for him. He said I saved his life. These impactful moments are powerful reminders of how what we do and say affects others, sometimes for a lifetime. They are poignant moments that catch our breaths in our throats and ensure us that we are exactly where we should be, in my case, in the desert, serving those who serve our country.

There are a plethora of additional stories of gratitude that seem relatively incongruent. The very service members we deployers set out to serve end up serving and impacting us as much or more than we impact them; it is an especially humbling and exceedingly meaningful turnaround. In other words, the service members we are honored and privileged to serve regularly express their heartfelt gratitude to us. This remarkable two-way street heartens all of us who deploy to serve alongside service members, as we regularly spend 12-15 hours a day seven days per week, week after week, making sure needs are recognized and met.

When I began the arduous and complex process of being approved to deploy because of my very desire to serve and support our military members, I had no idea how their expressions of gratitude would impact my very existence. Many people interested in Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces would be interested to know that hearts of gratitude reflect the depth and breadth of the mission for the team members while on deployment. Since I am one of the 24 members of Team 54, I cannot help but ask questions of service members who choose to volunteer in our center on base. Most of these service members are actively seeking that “home away from home” feeling when they step into our center to inquire about volunteering.

Some of these volunteers express their gratitude by making sure they escort us home after long hours in order to ensure our safe return to our quarters. Other volunteers participate in meaningful discussions regarding how to improve our services. Upon my thanking him for all he does at our morale center on base, one especially noble service member stated that he developed his personal motto at a very dark time in his life: “Be somebody that makes everyone feel like somebody.” I couldn’t possibly encapsulate our mission better than that.

Another volunteer stated that being involved in our center helped him through an extremely challenging time shortly after his arrival on base, conveying his appreciation for my reaching out to him by asking a simple question: “How is it going?” He then proceeded to share the personal challenge with me and stated, “I had no idea just how wide and meaningful Red Cross services are for we service members who deploy.” The many similar interactions are exceptionally fine reasons to be here. We deployers share the gratitude of meaningful interactions, and it remains a deep honor to serve those who serve. Impact.

-from the Field

Debra Cox’s Service to the Armed Forces Deployment

The Red Cross provides in-person support for troops on all military installations in the U.S. and on more than 35 overseas installations including the Far East, Middle East and Europe. In addition to Debra Cox’s work serving members of the military community in Southern California, she has also deployed to Kuwait as a member of the Service to the Armed Forces team. She is serving alongside fellow Red Crossers dedicated to providing important services to military members during their time away from home. From facilitating Emergency Communication Messages to providing volunteer opportunities to service members, to offering resiliency and self-care opportunities, SAF teams deployed across the world provide members of the armed forces with important services. During her deployment, Debra is also writing about her experience in a series of stories titled From the Field.