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| A L W A Y S I N O U R H E A R T S |
Operation Remembrance In The News
| The |
Bliss’ own Operation Remembrance founder invited to
White House
Stephen Baack
Monitor Staff
When Army family member Kristen Pirog received an e-mail inviting
her to the White House, she initially thought it was a hoax. The
message asked for her name, address and social security number.
“To be quite honest, you get so much junk mail that slips in through
your filter, I almost deleted it,” said Pirog, who later confirmed the
phone number and e-mail address were real.
The occasion was the President’s Remarks on Volunteering
gathering Sept. 8 on the White House South Lawn, for which several
hundred people attended from organizations like AmeriCorps, Peace
Corps, Citizen Corps and the Salvation Army.
Although no one specifically told Pirog why she was invited, she said
she could only assume it was her work with Operation Remembrance
– her very own nonprofit program in which she sends decorative
boxes filled with cards or other memorabilia to the families of fallen
servicemembers.
Pirog started the program in May 2005 after a friend of the family
was killed at a checkpoint in Iraq. About two years earlier, her
youngest sister died of cancer, a tragic event that Pirog said was a
catalyst in creating her volunteer program.
“I started thinking,” Pirog said. “I knew when my sister died, I
remember what people did and also remembered some things I had
done, like getting stories from her friends and collecting memories.
You quickly realize how important memories are when you lose
someone, because that’s all you’ve got: memories, pictures, letters
and things like that.”
Since the Pirog family and the fallen Soldier, Capt. Stephen Frank,
had mutual friends in Alaska, she called and e-mailed them to write
letters to his family about him. Once she collected the letters, she
found a small, silver box online, put the letters inside and mailed it to
the fallen Soldier’s wife.
“She loved it,” Pirog said. “It was hard, but she loved it.”
After the positive response, she decided she wanted to start her own
program. Pirog searched online for similar programs, not wanting to
replicate another well-intentioned person’s efforts – but couldn’t find
anything quite like it.
“I looked and there was really not a lot for grieving families at all
because nobody wants to talk about it,” she said.
After buying an Internet domain name, her neighbor helped build a
Web site for her and Pirog went ahead with the program. The Web-
based organization slowly caught on through word-of-mouth, not just
among local Army family members, but soon among people in other
states.
Pirog said wherever she and her husband have since moved to,
other spouses are quick to get on board as soon as they find out
what she’s doing. She said she also works with family readiness
groups to give boxes at memorial services and is now a part of
America Supports You, the Department of Defense program that
supports servicemembers and their families.
“There was a need,” Pirog said. “This program is very small. It’s very
simple, but there’s nothing else like it.”
In October 2006, her sister’s husband was killed while serving in
Afghanistan as an infantry officer and company commander.
“It always hits close to home,” said Kerry Sloan, the widow of Maj.
Douglas Sloan, who served as a commander for 26 months. “You
always know someone or know someone who knows someone, but
you just never think it’s going to be you. I’m assuming Kristen
thought the same thing. I don’t imagine she thought she’d be giving a
box to her sister.”
“I had no idea that was coming,” Pirog said. “I had started this
program, but I realized you just never know, and it can be very, very
close to home.”
“Obviously you never think that,” Sloan said. “I’m glad that I was able
to benefit from [Operation Remembrance], because I think what she’
s doing is amazing.”
Sloan didn’t request a box personally, but her neighbor requested
one on her behalf – inside of which the neighbor placed a letter for
her. Sloan also had her husband’s funeral filmed for her two
children, then 12 weeks and 3 years old. She put copies of the video
inside the box.
Jemma Urquhart, president of the Fort Bliss Officer, Civilian and
Spouse Association, was a friend of Sloan while the two were at Fort
Drum, N.Y. Sloan’s husband was one of more than 20 Soldiers in the
battalion who died in Afghanistan. Pirog sent a box to each of those
families.
“I’ve seen support like that before, but more cards, flowers and
sentiments, but not an actual box – something to actually keep
memories in,” Urquhart said. “No one’s ever done that before.”
Though originally set up for Army spouses, she has expanded the
program to include the other services and other family members, like
parents. In addition, ever since she sent that first box, Pirog has a
policy of not sending unrequested boxes.
“They come to us, because one thing I did decide was that I realized,
in grief, everyone’s different,” she said. “Some people might think,
‘Why are you giving me this box? I just lost my husband.’ Everyone is
in a different stage of grief, a different mindset.”
Though requests for her boxes fluctuate sometimes, Pirog said they’
re also fairly constant, “which is sort of sad,” she said. “We’re
growing, but is that a good thing? It’s good we’re reaching out to
people.”
“She does things for people that she doesn’t even know – and she
gives of her time and, initially, her money to start this whole thing and
she doesn’t ask for anything in return,” Urquhart said. “I feel that she
does a great service to families.”
Not only does Pirog reach out to the families of Soldiers who die in
operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, but Operation
Remembrance recognizes Soldiers killed in vehicular accidents, for
example. Pirog said someone once asked her whether it mattered if
the Soldier was killed while drinking and driving, or even died of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“That’s not for me to judge,” she said. “If you’re in uniform, if you’re
active duty, then you’re eligible. We’d love to open it up to retirees
because my dad’s retired Army. That’s just something we can’t
accommodate right now.”
The number of people who help Pirog also fluctuates. She said
about five help her regularly, but friends and members of her
husband’s brigade come in to help her too. Pirog said she hopes
people understand she doesn’t simply sit at home all day and work
on this all by herself.
“There are a lot of people who help me, and it’s behind the scenes
and they do a lot,” she said.
Pirog has binders full of letters and pictures she’s received from box
recipients since starting the program, and she said she is
“overwhelmed” by what her organization means to family members.
“I was almost nervous,” she said of the initial feedback. “You send
someone a memory box and that could go either way. You just don’t
know.”
One response in particular that came to mind was from the mom of a
7-year-old girl who lost her father. The mom gave her daughter the
box, which the daughter calls her “remember box.” Having a 7-year-
old daughter herself, Pirog said she was especially touched by that.
Pirog added that she tries not to let things like that affect her, but
that it’s difficult not to when it involves children.
“I can get choked up at times, but every day I don’t go through that
same range of emotions – but sometimes it hits you pretty square,”
she said. “But for the most part it’s really rewarding to know that for
the families – like you can see from the letters – it’s huge. It’s such a
small thing, but it means a lot.
“It helps people to remember to grab on to those memories and
maybe keep those letters and – whatever’s special to them – to keep
it close, and not be afraid to open it, look at it, read it, touch it, talk
about it,” added Pirog. “That’s the hardest thing with grief. People
don’t want to talk, and sometimes they don’t want to remember.”
As far as where the program goes and whether Pirog hopes
Operation Remembrance grows, she said that’s not an easy
question to answer.
“Well, you see, that’s tough,” she said. “Unfortunately we’ll always
lose people in untimely death. I’m hoping that it’ll just continue to
help people grieve – find a way to grieve – and to hold on to
memories, and not to feel that their Army family has abandoned
them. That’s the biggest thing.”
Even though Pirog didn’t get to meet the president, had to pay for
her own ticket and was among hundreds of guests, she said one part
of President Bush’s speech stood out in a big way.
“What I thought was interesting was that I’ve always said, ‘To whom
much is given, much is expected,’ and he said, ‘To whom much is
given, much is required.’ I thought that sort of hit home to me
because I’ve always believed in it,” she said. “Even though I’m an
Army wife, I feel like I have a lot.”
White House
Stephen Baack
Monitor Staff
When Army family member Kristen Pirog received an e-mail inviting
her to the White House, she initially thought it was a hoax. The
message asked for her name, address and social security number.
“To be quite honest, you get so much junk mail that slips in through
your filter, I almost deleted it,” said Pirog, who later confirmed the
phone number and e-mail address were real.
The occasion was the President’s Remarks on Volunteering
gathering Sept. 8 on the White House South Lawn, for which several
hundred people attended from organizations like AmeriCorps, Peace
Corps, Citizen Corps and the Salvation Army.
Although no one specifically told Pirog why she was invited, she said
she could only assume it was her work with Operation Remembrance
– her very own nonprofit program in which she sends decorative
boxes filled with cards or other memorabilia to the families of fallen
servicemembers.
Pirog started the program in May 2005 after a friend of the family
was killed at a checkpoint in Iraq. About two years earlier, her
youngest sister died of cancer, a tragic event that Pirog said was a
catalyst in creating her volunteer program.
“I started thinking,” Pirog said. “I knew when my sister died, I
remember what people did and also remembered some things I had
done, like getting stories from her friends and collecting memories.
You quickly realize how important memories are when you lose
someone, because that’s all you’ve got: memories, pictures, letters
and things like that.”
Since the Pirog family and the fallen Soldier, Capt. Stephen Frank,
had mutual friends in Alaska, she called and e-mailed them to write
letters to his family about him. Once she collected the letters, she
found a small, silver box online, put the letters inside and mailed it to
the fallen Soldier’s wife.
“She loved it,” Pirog said. “It was hard, but she loved it.”
After the positive response, she decided she wanted to start her own
program. Pirog searched online for similar programs, not wanting to
replicate another well-intentioned person’s efforts – but couldn’t find
anything quite like it.
“I looked and there was really not a lot for grieving families at all
because nobody wants to talk about it,” she said.
After buying an Internet domain name, her neighbor helped build a
Web site for her and Pirog went ahead with the program. The Web-
based organization slowly caught on through word-of-mouth, not just
among local Army family members, but soon among people in other
states.
Pirog said wherever she and her husband have since moved to,
other spouses are quick to get on board as soon as they find out
what she’s doing. She said she also works with family readiness
groups to give boxes at memorial services and is now a part of
America Supports You, the Department of Defense program that
supports servicemembers and their families.
“There was a need,” Pirog said. “This program is very small. It’s very
simple, but there’s nothing else like it.”
In October 2006, her sister’s husband was killed while serving in
Afghanistan as an infantry officer and company commander.
“It always hits close to home,” said Kerry Sloan, the widow of Maj.
Douglas Sloan, who served as a commander for 26 months. “You
always know someone or know someone who knows someone, but
you just never think it’s going to be you. I’m assuming Kristen
thought the same thing. I don’t imagine she thought she’d be giving a
box to her sister.”
“I had no idea that was coming,” Pirog said. “I had started this
program, but I realized you just never know, and it can be very, very
close to home.”
“Obviously you never think that,” Sloan said. “I’m glad that I was able
to benefit from [Operation Remembrance], because I think what she’
s doing is amazing.”
Sloan didn’t request a box personally, but her neighbor requested
one on her behalf – inside of which the neighbor placed a letter for
her. Sloan also had her husband’s funeral filmed for her two
children, then 12 weeks and 3 years old. She put copies of the video
inside the box.
Jemma Urquhart, president of the Fort Bliss Officer, Civilian and
Spouse Association, was a friend of Sloan while the two were at Fort
Drum, N.Y. Sloan’s husband was one of more than 20 Soldiers in the
battalion who died in Afghanistan. Pirog sent a box to each of those
families.
“I’ve seen support like that before, but more cards, flowers and
sentiments, but not an actual box – something to actually keep
memories in,” Urquhart said. “No one’s ever done that before.”
Though originally set up for Army spouses, she has expanded the
program to include the other services and other family members, like
parents. In addition, ever since she sent that first box, Pirog has a
policy of not sending unrequested boxes.
“They come to us, because one thing I did decide was that I realized,
in grief, everyone’s different,” she said. “Some people might think,
‘Why are you giving me this box? I just lost my husband.’ Everyone is
in a different stage of grief, a different mindset.”
Though requests for her boxes fluctuate sometimes, Pirog said they’
re also fairly constant, “which is sort of sad,” she said. “We’re
growing, but is that a good thing? It’s good we’re reaching out to
people.”
“She does things for people that she doesn’t even know – and she
gives of her time and, initially, her money to start this whole thing and
she doesn’t ask for anything in return,” Urquhart said. “I feel that she
does a great service to families.”
Not only does Pirog reach out to the families of Soldiers who die in
operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom, but Operation
Remembrance recognizes Soldiers killed in vehicular accidents, for
example. Pirog said someone once asked her whether it mattered if
the Soldier was killed while drinking and driving, or even died of a
self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“That’s not for me to judge,” she said. “If you’re in uniform, if you’re
active duty, then you’re eligible. We’d love to open it up to retirees
because my dad’s retired Army. That’s just something we can’t
accommodate right now.”
The number of people who help Pirog also fluctuates. She said
about five help her regularly, but friends and members of her
husband’s brigade come in to help her too. Pirog said she hopes
people understand she doesn’t simply sit at home all day and work
on this all by herself.
“There are a lot of people who help me, and it’s behind the scenes
and they do a lot,” she said.
Pirog has binders full of letters and pictures she’s received from box
recipients since starting the program, and she said she is
“overwhelmed” by what her organization means to family members.
“I was almost nervous,” she said of the initial feedback. “You send
someone a memory box and that could go either way. You just don’t
know.”
One response in particular that came to mind was from the mom of a
7-year-old girl who lost her father. The mom gave her daughter the
box, which the daughter calls her “remember box.” Having a 7-year-
old daughter herself, Pirog said she was especially touched by that.
Pirog added that she tries not to let things like that affect her, but
that it’s difficult not to when it involves children.
“I can get choked up at times, but every day I don’t go through that
same range of emotions – but sometimes it hits you pretty square,”
she said. “But for the most part it’s really rewarding to know that for
the families – like you can see from the letters – it’s huge. It’s such a
small thing, but it means a lot.
“It helps people to remember to grab on to those memories and
maybe keep those letters and – whatever’s special to them – to keep
it close, and not be afraid to open it, look at it, read it, touch it, talk
about it,” added Pirog. “That’s the hardest thing with grief. People
don’t want to talk, and sometimes they don’t want to remember.”
As far as where the program goes and whether Pirog hopes
Operation Remembrance grows, she said that’s not an easy
question to answer.
“Well, you see, that’s tough,” she said. “Unfortunately we’ll always
lose people in untimely death. I’m hoping that it’ll just continue to
help people grieve – find a way to grieve – and to hold on to
memories, and not to feel that their Army family has abandoned
them. That’s the biggest thing.”
Even though Pirog didn’t get to meet the president, had to pay for
her own ticket and was among hundreds of guests, she said one part
of President Bush’s speech stood out in a big way.
“What I thought was interesting was that I’ve always said, ‘To whom
much is given, much is expected,’ and he said, ‘To whom much is
given, much is required.’ I thought that sort of hit home to me
because I’ve always believed in it,” she said. “Even though I’m an
Army wife, I feel like I have a lot.”
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Operation Remembrance |
| Monitor Published for the Fort Bliss/El Paso Texas Community |
