Face of Defense: Brother, Sister Serve in Afghanistan

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Marine Corps Sgt. Eric Rad­er and his sis­ter, Air Force Staff Sgt. Rebec­ca McHen­ry, nev­er imag­ined they ever would serve togeth­er. But their deploy­ment togeth­er in south­ern Afghanistan has made them close in ways that will last far longer than their time here.

Marine Corps Sgt. Eric Rad­er and his sis­ter, Air Force Staff Sgt. Rebec­ca McHen­ry, serve togeth­er at Camp Leath­er­neck, Afghanistan. Rad­er and McHen­ry were raised in a mil­i­tary fam­i­ly, and have learned to rely on each oth­er through tough times, includ­ing their cur­rent deploy­ment. U.S. Marine Corps pho­to by Cpl. Justin M. Bol­ing Click to enlarge

The sib­lings’ father, Allen Rad­er, was an air­man who took his fam­i­ly from their home in Charleston, W.Va., to Alas­ka, Ari­zona, Flori­da, and even over­seas. Eric and Rebec­ca have carved out sim­i­lar lives for their own fam­i­lies. “We always had each oth­er,” said Rad­er, who deployed here in Feb­ru­ary. “Look­ing back at it now, I real­ly appre­ci­ate hav­ing her and my broth­er, and appre­ci­ate serv­ing with her now.” The sib­lings said they’ve had a lot to catch up on since McHen­ry arrived in Sep­tem­ber, includ­ing Rebecca’s wedding. 

“We both have our own fam­i­lies now,” Rad­er said. “We will def­i­nite­ly spend more time togeth­er when we get back home.” 

McHen­ry serves with the Air Force’s 651st Expe­di­tionary Aeromed­ical Evac­u­a­tion Squadron, which flies injured troops out of Afghanistan when the med­ical care they need is greater than mil­i­tary hos­pi­tals here can pro­vide. “I love being able to help those who need it most and keep brave troops alive,” she said. 

“There is a great sense of pride in know­ing that my sis­ter helps my fel­low Marines and oth­er troops get back on their feet and home to their loved ones,” Rad­er said. 

Rad­er is deployed with 2nd Marine Air­craft Wing from Marine Corps Air Sta­tion Cher­ry Point, N.C. He serves with the head­quar­ters of the air com­bat ele­ment for the NATO-led Inter­na­tion­al Secu­ri­ty Assis­tance Force’s Region­al Com­mand South­west, and helps units rotat­ing in and out of Afghanistan. 

“I am very proud of my broth­er for being a Marine,” McHen­ry said. “I like know­ing that he does a great job, and I see the fruits of his labor, see­ing all the Marines walk­ing around in Afghanistan [and] know­ing he played a small part in that.” 

Despite the rig­ors of deploy­ment, Rad­er and McHen­ry said they find time to speak about their lives and fam­i­lies back home almost every day. 

“My sis­ter is always sit­ting at the din­ing facil­i­ty wait­ing for me at lunch,” Rad­er said. “It makes the time go by faster, hav­ing some­thing to look for­ward to almost every day.” 

“He used to pick on me some­times,” McHen­ry said of her broth­er. “Since being out here, he has only been pro­tec­tive — the per­fect gentleman.” 

Source:
U.S. Depart­ment of Defense
Office of the Assis­tant Sec­re­tary of Defense (Pub­lic Affairs) 

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