Great-grandmother eager to serve in Iraq.Seventy-two-year-old Lena Haddix, a great-grandmother, has worked for the post exchange (PX) at Fort Sill Fort Sill, U.S. military reservation, Comanche co., SW Okla., 4 mi (6.4 km) N of Lawton; est. 1869 by Gen. Philip Sheridan. A 95,000-acre (38,445-hectare) field artillery and missile base, it is the home of the U.S. Army Artillery and Missile Center. , Oklahoma, for 27 years. But on November 28, she departed Oklahoma for a week of training and medical checkups at Fort Bliss Fort Bliss, U.S. army post, 1,122,500 acres (454,300 hectares), W Tex., E of El Paso; est. 1849 and named for Col. William Bliss, Gen. Zachary Taylor's adjutant in the Mexican War. Originally strategically located near the only ice-free pass through the Rocky Mts. in El Paso El Paso (ĕl pă`sō), city (1990 pop. 515,342), seat of El Paso co., extreme W Tex., on the Rio Grande opposite Juárez, Mex.; inc. 1873. , Texas. The reason? To prepare for a minimum of six months' service in Iraq in the Army and Air Force Exchange Service The Army and Air Force Exchange Service (or AAFES) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense. Its mission is to provide quality merchandise and services of necessity and convenience to authorized customers at uniformly low prices, and to generate reasonable ? ABC News reported that Mrs. Haddix would receive training in how to wear a gas mask and shoot a 9mm pistol. The adventure may seem remarkable, but so is Mrs. Haddix. She was a military wife from 1950 until 1979, and went to work at Fort Sill in 1977. But Mrs. Haddix, who has five children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, wanted to do more. In an interview reported by AR she explained: "I wanted to do something for the country, because I was always left behind taking care of the children." Mrs. Haddix, who is a greeter at the PX entrance, explained in an interview reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is a major U.S. daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. Its area of domination is checked by its main rival, The Dallas Morning News : "They come in and tell me they're going [to Iraq]." "After I tell them I'm going too, then they really light up." "I always wanted to be in the Army," Haddix told the Star-Telegram, "But I had a family, and I had to take care of them first. I don't have that responsibility now. I just feel like I can go over there and be of some help." |
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