[caption id=“attachment_5822” align=“aligncenter” width=“500” caption=“SRA Avery Brown at the USO in Kandahar”][/caption]

ESPN Front Row has a great piece on Memorial Day you should all read!

Editor’s Note: Karol Sucec, administrative assistant in Communications, enlisted in the Navy Reserves in November 2003 as a Yeoman (Administrative). In December 2009, as a member of Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Twenty One, she was activated for mobilization. After training in Port Hueneme, Calif., she was deployed to Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan for eight months in 2010. Memorial Day weekend had always been just a long weekend for me – one of the few weekends of the year when I got an extra day off from school and work to either stay home and relax or do some spring cleaning. It was also the weekend our pool opened, officially marking the beginning of a very hot and humid summer. While deployed to Afghanistan last year, my attitude towards Memorial Day changed in a much more meaningful way. I was far from home, and there was no day off, nor pool opening. It was this experience, surrounded by my fellow comrades that taught me the importance of this day and why we should remember those who have died while serving in our military. In honor of Memorial Day, I had the pleasure of speaking with USO representative Rich McCarty and Sr. Airman Avery Brown, who are both currently serving at Kandahar Air Field in Afghanistan. McCarty gives his insights on what this day is like for those currently deployed overseas, while Brown, who has been deployed since March and also served a tour in Iraq, shares her perspective as a sports fan and how she stays informed while so far from home.

Read the full article and interview at ESPN Front Row