"What My Sister's Military Service Means to Me" was the subject of Grangeville 6th grader Hailey Russell's entry in the Farm Bureau Insurance Veterans Day Essay Contest. Hailey was awarded a $500 U.S. Savings Bond for her essay, in which she says, "My sister's service means that others are free to go overseas. It means families are able to safely welcome their new babies. It means I am safer here in Idaho."
Congratulations Hailey!
The winning essay is featured in it's entirety below:
What My Sister's Military Service Means to Me
by Hailey Russell
My sister, Elizabeth Russell VanHorn, 29, is an Army nurse. She has been in the Army for 6 years and is a captain. She is an obstetric nurse which means she delivers babies and helps the new mothers.
Elizabeth made sacrifices to move away from her family. She was stationed in Texas at Fort sam where she took care of soldiers who were burned in Afghantistan and Iraq. She was able to make the soldiers who serve our country feel better by taking care of their needs and talking to them. She helped them recover and cared about them. My sister said it was an honor to take care of our American soldiers who were wounded during duty!
Even though my sister is not fighting a war in another country, she is still serving our country by what she does for soldiers and their families in the United States.
My sister has a baby, my niece, Madison, who is 1 years old. She takes care of Madison and lives away from her husband who has a job in Vermont. Elizabeth is now stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. She helps deliver hundres of babies every month for military families. The moms stay home to take care of their families while their husbands are overseas. Elizabeth takes care of them and helps welcome their new babies even when tthey are not with their own families. Elizabeth has even delivered babies on her own when the doctor could not get there in time.
I am proud of my sister because she is good at her job and even when she could work anywhere she is helping our country. If she didn't do this job, who else would do it? She is a piece of an important puzzle.
Being a nurse isn't easy, especially in the Army. Besides being a mom and being away from her family in Vermont and Idaho, Elizabeth has to pass physical fitness tests and take a lot of extra courses so she can keep up on her job and know everything she is supposed to know.
My sister is an everyday hero because she does things to help keep everything in line in America. She even knows how to shoot a gun and carry a backpack a long ways. She could be sent to another country to serve if she had to but I hope she doesn't have to do that. Not just because I would worry about her, but because I think the job she does here is important.
My sister's service means that others are free to go overseas. It means families are able to safely welcome their new babies. It means I am safer here in Idaho.
