Kenya for Christmas: Indiana National Guard humbled in mission as family call from afar
Most of Spc. Nathaniel Duncan’s days in the East African nation of Kenya can be “rather monotonous.”
“I do a lot of staring at grass,” the 22-year-old from Lafayette said of his job proudly manning a watch tower at a military base in the Horn of Africa region.
But there are those precious though sporadic days when he and other members of the Indiana Army National Guard can venture into the rural community around them — to give the prized gift of a Rice Krispie treat or, even better, water.
Locals, he said, have to go 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) to get fresh water, often hiring someone to take them on motorcycle so they can buy the water from a private landowner with a well.
“Definitely makes us count our blessings,” he said over the phone from Camp Simba, where about 130 Indiana National Guard members have been stationed since May, due to remain through March.
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Thanksgiving clicked by as many of them dined with Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb in camp. Now Christmas approaches, and even with a special meal and movies in the works, duties like the guard tower won't halt on Dec. 25.
They are members of the Indiana Army National Guard's C Co., 2nd Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment. The Seymour-based unit, nicknamed Airborne Company, is on a counterterrorism mission in Kenya. Its 100-plus soldiers come from across Indiana, including the South Bend region, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Bloomington and Evansville.
“It’s bittersweet,” Maj. Kyle Allen of Elkhart, the ground force commander, said of the distance from home.
He’s grateful to be with a group of Guard members who are “professional” and “as upbeat as they are,” he said, “but it won’t beat being at home.”
Allen has been away from home for the holidays before — from his mom, dad and sister and her family, all still in Elkhart — but this is the first time he’s been “this far away.”
Camp Simba is at a small air base in rural southeast Kenya, in Manda Bay, that’s owned by Kenyan defense forces and operated by the U.S. Air Force. A mix of Kenya and U.S. aircraft fly in and out of the base.
Allen said that Operation Enduring Freedom, which began in 2002, aims to help prevent terrorism and extremist forces in the Horn of Africa, particularly in nearby Somalia.
“They don’t have a lot,” Spc. Brock Hightower said of his eye-opening time with the local people in Kenya. “It makes you grateful to be in America.”
In the local community, Guard members are like everyday Santas as kids often yell “sweets,” expecting a candy reward.
Hightower, 21, and Spc. Zachery Archer, 26, both of Indianapolis, found something traditional for themselves, though, near their eight-man tent. It looked like a pine tree. So they dug it up, and — lucky for them — had a grassy spot near their tent where they could stick it in the ground.
Oh boy. Their own Christmas tree. Nobody else in camp had this, other than a natural tree of sorts by the big chow hall that had one strand of lights on it. But Archer’s and Hightower’s tree died. So, they spray-painted it green anyway and hung lights around it.
Like the other Guard members, holiday eats, movies and Facetime and video calls with family and significant others will get them through Christmas.
“It’s harder on family back home,” Archer said. “For us, we’re consistently with our boys here.”
“I’ve got a son, but he’s my dog,” he said of Goose, adding that he misses the pooch “majorly.”
Hightower echoed that about his dog, Milo.
Being away from his wife and five kids is “normal” for Staff Sgt. Anthony Pope, 38, of Bloomington, because he’s a deputy shift sergeant for the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department, where he often works on holidays.
“Holidays are not something my family dwells on,” he said, with one son and four daughters back home, ages 8 to 16. “I’ve got tough kids and a tough wife. This is something we prepared for.”
He’ll likely watch them open gifts over the phone on Christmas Eve.
He credits his kids with being “pretty mature” and actually feels this temporary separation is a great character-building experience for them.
“They can see what it’s like to miss someone for a long time,” he said. “There’s not a lot of kids that get that experience.”
Spc. Peter Warner, 21, of Evansville, felt honored to dine close to Gov. Holcomb, a morale booster because “someone with such high influence wants to sit down and have a Thanksgiving meal with someone like me."
Afterwards, Holcomb had quipped to reporters back home about the Guard’s counter-terrorism mission in a part of the world with heavy conflict: “They’re in a pretty hot place in the world in more ways than one.”
From the IndyStar: Indiana National Guard troops in Kenya get an early Thanksgiving dinner
Holcomb also traveled to Nairobi and met with the military’s Deputy Chief of Mission Marc Dillard to discuss opportunities to strengthen relationships in education, trade and government.
Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, Indiana's adjutant general, said he'd invited Holcomb to Camp Simba, the IndyStar reported. The Guard paid for Holcomb’s trip, according to the governor’s office.
Also in November, for Veterans Day, the Hoosier troops got visits from Indiana Republican U.S. Reps. Jim Banks and Larry Bucshon, the IndyStar reported.
Spc. Warner signed up for this mission 10 days before he left because he felt called. He’s glad he did. His first time in Africa, he sees vervet monkeys in camp and hears other wildlife at night. Outside of camp, he’s seen water buffalo, hyenas and porcupines.
Like others, he feels good about the mission, especially as he connects with the local people.
“It’s a humbling experience,” he said.
South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana National Guard serve mission in Kenya through Christmas holiday
