[Vision2020] Soldiers Doing Right By One Of Their Own

[J Ford]

kirkers, take note: THIS is how "doing right by your own" is supposed to be 
done -  a great many of the people involved didn't even know this woman and 
yet:


By BARBARA PINTO

IOWA FALLS, Iowa, Oct. 16, 2006 — The stark numbers of losses of U.S. troops 
in Iraq can often obscure the individual stories of those who die in combat, 
such as 29-year-old Navy medic Jaime Jenke, a single mom who was killed in 
June.

The Iowa resident was the victim of a roadside bomb in Iraq, leaving behind 
her parents, three brothers and her 9-year-old daughter Kayla, who is being 
cared for by her grandparents.

"I'm a mother without a daughter and I [now] have a daughter without a 
mother … there's no in-betweens," said Jaenke's mother, Susan.

The family's home is filled with memories of Jaime, including medals and 
photographs, but just up the hill sits her true passion — the horse stable 
she began to build with her own hands in the months before she left for 
Iraq.

"She was so exited and she said to me, 'Mom, I can't wait to come back 
because this is what I wanted,'" Susan Jaenke said.

"I'm not letting this place go," said Jaime's brother Justin Jaenke. 
"Neither is my mom and my Dad, they're not going to let it go."


Soldeiers Join Homefront Mission


The Jaenkes didn't have the money or the workforce to finish what Jaime 
began, so on a recent fall morning the men and women who served with this 
fallen soldier joined dozens of volunteers to help complete the stables and 
her dream.

"It just keeps the memory alive," said Peter Muschinske, the chaplain for 
Jaime's unit. He returned from Iraq last week and went to Iowa to pitch in 
before even seeing his own family.

He said his involvement should help her family see Jaime's fellow soldiers 
are not "distant people."

"We knew Jamie, we love her and we continue to love her and hold her 
memory," Muschinske said.

So they grabbed saws and hammers and worked through their own grief during 
the project.

"It's hard to put into words. It really helps your heart," said Chief Petty 
Officer Allen Pettitt of the U.S. Navy.

For the Jaenkes, the gift is beyond measure.






J  :]

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