COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Her job as supply sergeant at the 100th Missile Defense Brigade (Ground-based Midcourse Defense) headquartered here was always more than just a paycheck for Staff Sgt. Kristine Bombard. The military had been a way of life since she was 19, and the past five years serving in this unit had cemented the now thirty-year-old's feelings that the Army was, in many ways, her extended family.
Bombard is known throughout the unit as a gung-ho Soldier, with a cheerful, gregarious personality, firmly committed to her mission of taking care of the Soldier.
She runs her supply room like the proverbial tight ship, everything in its place; everything signed for; everything neat and organized. From her first day in the unit, where she began serving as a National Guard Soldier pulling a short six-month tour that turned into an Active Guard Tour, she fully entered into the life of the unit, volunteering for both the hard work and the fun times with equal vigor.
When Bombard announced her first pregnancy in mid 2006, the unit shared her joy. Literally, in many ways - attending a baby shower, chipping in for gifts, cuddling baby Eliana when mom brought her in for frequent visits. At a unit Hail and Farewell ceremony, Eliana (aka "Ellie Belly") was formally and happily hailed as a new member of the 100th MDB family. She smiled placidly when held up for introductions, an earmark of her sunny, peaceful nature.
At five months of age, Eliana came down with bacterial meningitis. Within 48 hours, she was dead.
The unit reacted as a family, mourned as a family, and attended the funeral en masse in Class A's. Eliana's paternal grandfather, a Protestant minister, preached a sermon full of grandfatherly grief and love and bedrock faith in eventual reunion.
Bombard and her husband Mike took time off to mourn, and were supported by both sets of parents. When she returned to work, fellow Soldiers were amazed at her quiet strength.
One Soldier who had been on leave during the baby's illness but had called back to check on her condition, didn't know how to approach Bombard when she returned.
"I'd never known anyone who had lost a baby, and as a mother myself, who had also held and loved Eliana, I knew it would be hard to face Kristine. I couldn't understand how she could be still standing, still doing her job, still being her wonderful self."
Bombard's answer when I (the Soldier who'd been on leave) finally got up the fortitude to ask'
"I'm looking at this as sort of a long business trip. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'll see my daughter again. I have my faith, and I know she's being well taken care of and loved."
Bombard, in her grief, did not retreat. Instead, she reached out to others. Hearing of a mother in her former playgroup who had lost a baby to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Bombard attended the funeral and approached the mother, whom she had not known, afterwards.
"It turned out, the mother had prayed for someone to talk to who could understand what she was feeling. And that ... was me."
A member of New Life Church here, Bombard and her husband also helped a similarly bereaved couple from the congregation work through their initial sorrow at the loss of their eighteen-month-old child.
Today, the Bombards are again parents of a beautiful five-month-old baby girl. Her name is Eva and she shares her middle name, Kaye, with her older [deceased] sister.
I asked when the Bombards plan to tell Eva about Ellie, the girls' mother said, beaming, "Oh, we've already told her. We show her pictures, and talk about her big sister..." At this, for the first time, her eyes filled [with tears].
"What's going to be the hardest is, watching all of Eva's firsts, and wondering what Ellie's would have been like, knowing that we won't see them. But they are very different children - Eliana was very peaceful and laid back, while Eva is very demanding; she wants what she wants when she wants it, and makes sure she gets it," Bombard said, ending with a smile.
Bombard just re-enlisted for six years. She loves her job and she loves the unit, both for its individual Soldiers and for its mission.
"When I first got here, I had no clue as to what the unit did; something about missiles was all I knew. Now I'm very aware of what missile defense is all about, and I couldn't be prouder that we are the ones keeping America safe. Every time I see an Army commercial, or someone comes up on the street to thank me for my service because I'm in uniform, I feel proud to be part of something so huge; defending our freedom."
And the individual Soldiers'
"They were there for me, every single one of them, when I needed them, and I am there for them."
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