Welcome to supportyourvet.org

My name is Ashling Ganes and I am currently a Construction Superintendent living in New York, NY. I completed my service in the Army at the beginning of 2008 after six and a half years as an Engineer Officer. In March of 2003, I deployed to Tikrit, Iraq as a member of the 299th Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas. I spent a long, physically and emotionally grueling year in Iraq, but my best memory is when I first stepped back onto U.S. soil.

My name is Baldwin Yen, I served as a sergeant in the US Army reserves, and was deployed to Iraq in November 2003 until November 2004. I served as a broadcast operations NCO, and got to travel the country interviewing my fellow service members and making stories for tv. Think of Full Metal Jacket or Good Morning Vietnam and you sort of get the idea. I consider myself extremely lucky as I never encountered any open violence, and I never had to fire my weapon my entire time over there.

I was stationed in Germany when I was redeployed from Iraq; we got off a C-130 from Ballad and were greeted on the tarmac by three Vietnam vets. These three guys were so happy to see us, one would have thought they were waiting for us the entire year to return. They had food for us, hugs, and well wishes for our return. They mentioned later that they were determined to have each individual soldier know their service was appreciated and not in vein. It’s amazing how a stranger can genuinely care and make such a big impact on you at a time when you’re not even aware that you needed it.

I was born Nov.11, 1978 in Washington Twp. NJ. I graduated high school in June of 1997 and joined the Army July 2nd. My first job was medical supply and I was stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. I was there for my two-year enlistment then decided to join the NJ National Guard to finish college. Over the next several years, I bounced around different colleges and universities and was in and out of the guard. I was out of the guard when the Iraq War began and I felt that I needed to come back in the military to do my part.

In December of 2002 I found out that I would be deployed to Iraq. I was newly married and by the time I stepped foot on Kuwaiti soil I was married for six months. The buildup to my deployment was quite chaotic. My billet was a pistol instructor with 3rd Medical Battalion within 1st Force Service Support Group. A security company was formed for the first time since the Vietnam War and collected various non-infantry Marines and put them into one of three roles. They were either machine gunners, riflemen, or 60mm mortormen.