Towards the end of October, the twelve semi-finalists for this years competition were announced. The semi-finalists were selected based on a combined score from a panel of ten professional judges who reviewed the Winners performances via video.

Representing Fort Campbell is Army spouse Thea Agnew.

Raised in a military family, Thea graduated from Northeast High School and married her high school sweetheart, becoming a Military Spouse. After 20 years of marriage and 23 years of military service, they are planning on retiring in Clarksville, the city they call home.

Thea is the proud mother of 3 beautiful teenagers and is a constant voice in their lives. Her hobbies include writing, reading, research, marketing & design, blogging, sports and exercising.

She is a REALTOR® with Avalar Real Estate & Team Agnew, and a member of the Clarksville Tennessee Chamber of Commerce.

In her spare time, she sings the National Anthem at various events including the Chamber of Commerce’s events; Real estate events; military events; and sporting events, including the Nashville Predators opening season in 2007/2008, and the Nascar Qualification at the Atlanta Speedway 2008.

Thea is also an author for Clarksville Online.

Also selected were:

• SSG Tyrone Basnight; USAG Kaiserslautern, Germany
• SSG Michel Gordon; USAG Humphreys, Korea
• PFC Andrea Griffith; Fort Eustis, VA
• A1C Jamie Jarman; Fort Leonard Wood, MO
• SSG Chad Kneller; Fort Bragg, NC
• SFC Beulah Patterson; Fort Bliss, TX
• 1LT Sarah Payeur; Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo
• Lisa Pratt; Fort Carson, CO
• SPC Erin Sataloff; USAG Wiesbaden, Germany
• Sam Tang; Fort Irwin, CA
• CPT Donald Williamson; USAG Bamberg, Germany

Each will represent their respective military facility at the 2009 Operation Rising Star Live Finals.

Books, movies, and TV shows offer valuable insight into experience of the soldier, but until now, there has been nothing to truly help the general population empathize with the others involved in our country’s wars: those who watch the people they love most leave for war and who–from that moment on–try to hold onto the last touch of the hand, the last smile, the last hug. Because it could be the last. From the day the service member touches down in Iraq or Afghanistan (or, earlier – in Vietnam, or Germany), every minute thereafter is spent knowing that could be the minute the beloved soldier dies.

Those who have never experienced a deployment hear people tell their stories on TV, and they think, “I bet it’s hard.” But being told it’s hard doesn’t do the experience justice, doesn’t help people understand.

“The uniformed soldiers just outside the doorway need not say a word — the spouse inside already knows what they are about to say. It is a painful and familiar scene, one played out often in fiction. But what was life like at home, before the fateful knock? … Tsetsi’s details are the things that ring truest about Homefront: a clock Mia sets to Iraqi time; the grit on Jake’s letters, which smell like ’sweat and mud’,” writes reporter Seth Robbins in a recent issue of the Stars and Stripes newspaper, distributed worldwide to U.S. military, Department of Defense civilians, contractors, and their families.

Homefront, which propels readers into the hell, the horror, and the unexpected humor of waiting through a deployment, continues to wow critics with its unapologetic and intimate literary glimpse inside the mind of a woman who sends her soul mate to war.

Reviews

• “Homefront is ultimately about how we choose to deal with loss and grief, even when those we are mourning are still alive. It is one of the most powerful and brilliant books I have read in a long time.” – Pop Culture Zoo
• Fort Rucker Army wife Beth Kernaghen writes, “I have read this book three times. I keep going back to this story because it makes me feel understood. And given the present state of things, it is a comfort to be understood, and to know there is an opportunity for others to understand what they may never experience.”
• Emmy Award winner James C. Moore writes, “As a television news correspondent, I spent years reporting from military bases where young families and lovers were being separated by the decisions of old men. I wondered what their lives were like after the planes and trains had departed and carried off the fathers and mothers and daughters and sons into an unknowable risk. I had never had a better understanding of the agony of military separation until I read Kristen Tsetsi’s haunting and lyrical debut.”

Press

• The Stars & Stripes
• WSMV-TV Channel 4 (NBC), “Better Nashville” (Aug. 13, 2009)
• Fort Campbell, KY/Clarksville, TN Leaf Chronicle (Aug. 9, 2009)
• Beth Wilson’s “Navy Homefront Talk” Radio (July 15, 2009)
• GI Radio (June 16, 2009)
• NPR-WKMS Radio (June 5, 2009)

About Kirsten Tsetsi

The author and her husband days before he deployed to Iraq from Fort Campbell, KY on February 28, 2003.

Kristen Tsetsi is a former Journal Inquirer reporter, former Austin Peay State University English professor, award-winning fiction writer and Pushcart Prize nominee. Her husband, a former 101st Airborne Chinook pilot, deployed to Iraq in 2003 and returned a year later. The unimaginably complex and profound year spent waiting for him, combined with her writing experience, made her uniquely qualified to tell the private story of waiting with the rawness and accuracy it requires.

She currently lives just outside of Nashville, TN.

Inclement weather personnel should report at normal times; all other personnel are authorized a two hour delay from normal reporting time. Fort Campbell Schools and school bus operations will operate on a 2-hour delay. Morning Pre-K and PSCD classes are cancelled.

Click on installation closures for more information and for  road conditions.

Clarksville Police have three suspects in custody for a Home Invasion which occurred around 2:12 a.m. November 20, in Clarksville.

Taken into custody were Matthew Hallman, 30, (W/M, DOB: 4/19/78) of, ACO 1/502 Infantry Ft Campbell, KY, charged with Aggravated Burglary with a bond of $10,000;  Ryan Christopher Balintfy, 29, (W/M, DOB: 6/10/87) of  ACO 1/502 Infantry Ft Campbell, KY,  charged with Aggravated Burglary with a bond of $10,000; and Zachariah James Thornton, 28, (W/M DOB: 8/21/82) of ACO 1/502 Infantry Ft Campbell, KY, charged with Aggravated Burglary with a bond of $10,000.

Matthew Hallman

According to police report issued by the CPD, officers rsponded to a Home Invasion report Cunningham Place on November 20 at approximately 2:12 a.m.

On their way to the call, information was relayed to responding officers about two vehicles which left the residence and were involved in the home invasion.  The complainant also said one of the possible suspects was Matthew Hallman.

One of the vehicles was stopped by patrol officers within minutes after the vehicle descriptions were put out.

Zachariah James Thornton

Detective Teresa Bryden responded to conduct the investigation. Her investigation revealed that the victim, Warren Fletcher Smith, B/M, 36 years of age knew one of the suspects, Matthew Hallman, involved in the home invasion.  It was further discovered that Hallman may have had a personal relationship with the spouse of victim, possibly perpetuating the home invasion and assault.

Ryan Christopher Balintfy

Smith said he was outside of his residence when he was approached by Hallman, Balintfy, and Thornton.  They began to assault him outside and he ran into his residence.  The three suspects forced their way in and continued to assault him.  Smith sustained non-life threatening injuries to his head and face.  The subjects left the residence when they saw  Smith’s daughter trying to call for help.

Shortly after the suspects left the residence, they were stopped and detained until the investigation was complete, at which time they were transported and booked into Montgomery County Jail.  Additionally, Ft Campbell was very helpful in the investigation of this matter.

The ceremony will begin with the invocation, a scripture reading and the commander’s remarks. Candle lighting will precede the reading of names of fallen Soldiers from the previous month and a moment of silence.  The ceremony will conclude with Retreat, when the flag will be lowered then raised to half-staff.  In honor of the division Soldiers who have died, a rendition of Taps will be played followed by the closing benediction.

A private reception for family members and affected units will follow at Cole Park Commons.

These ceremonies are not memorial ceremonies for fallen Soldiers. Those will continue to take place in the theatre of operations by the unit as is standard procedure.

The ceremonies are open to any Soldiers, families and members of the surrounding Fort Campbell community who wish to attend.

For more information, please call the Protocol Office at 270-798-9913.

The man impersonating the notification officer was wearing a Class A “dress green” uniform and the other was wearing civilian clergy attire.

There have been a few incidents of this nature in the past two months involving family members living off post, but Thursday’s incident occurred on post. The spouse did not allow the pair into her home and when they left contacted the Family Readiness Support Assistant and Rear Detachment Commander to confirm the information. The command let her know her spouse is still alive and worked to put him in contact with her as soon as possible. Military police were notified and a police report was taken at the scene.

Before Soldiers deploy, they and their families are offered a series of briefings to prepare for the separation. One of those briefings is about the casualty notification process. When a Soldier dies, a notification officer and military chaplain, both in Class A uniform,  not civilian clergy attire, are sent to notify the next of kin in person. Family members can confirm the information with the Soldier’s unit. Typically, the notification team will not leave the family member’s home until a friend, another family member or  arrives to assist.

Anyone with information about the false notification incidents are encouraged to contact Fort Campbell Police at (270) 798-2677. Anyone who believes they are being falsely notified should call 911 to alert local police immediately.