We have COVID to thank.
No, really. But, if it wasn’t for the COVID pandemic, we probably wouldn’t have ever met. I had been volunteering with Team Rubicon since 2014; Mike, a U.S. Army veteran, since 2019. He lived in Texas and I lived in Oregon. We had already unknowingly attended several branch and national TR conferences without catching each other’s eye, so obviously, fate wasn’t walking us down that path. We didn’t meet until the summer of 2020 when COVID sent all of our TR command and general staff, or C&G, courses to the virtual arena. Mike had just helped roll out the new Virtual Instructor-Led Training course for Planning Section Chiefs and was tasked with recruiting and training instructors. Someone floated my name to his list.
The rest, as they say, is history. A virtual friendship grew over course deliveries and content discussions. In the fall of 2021, we were both called to serve on Op Won’t Bow Down—Team Rubicon’s response to Hurricane Ida—in Louisiana. I was at the LaPlace Forward Operating Base; Mike was 35 miles away at the Hammond FOB. Our first ever face-to-face meeting was a two second TR side hug when he passed through our FOB on his way home. I remember thinking that he was much taller than he seemed on camera.
And that was it. We went back to being friends, virtually.
In late 2021 and early 2022, our ships passed again without meeting. We each were serving on different FOBS for the same response, this time, Op Unbridled Spirit, TR’s response to an E-3 tornado in Kentucky. I was incident commander in Bowling Green, while he was IC in Dawson Springs.
Later in 2022, Mike stepped out of the PSC cadre coordinator role to focus more on the Field Leadership Team, and I took over his position. That created lots of opportunities over the next year to catch up and chat about the course, or about my learning the ropes in FLT when I joined.
It was May of 2022 when we had our second face to face—at the TR Leadership Conference. This time, however, we had time to sit down and really get to know each other. A few more opportunities later, fate finally decided to give us her blessing.
We got married in Bermuda in October 2024, less than 12 hours ahead of Hurricane Milton. We had two other FLT members in attendance, which led Deputy Director of Mission Support (Field Leadership) Traci Rankin to call and jokingly lecture us about taking an entire C&G Team to the islands when there were two hurricanes bearing down on the U.S. We laughed that if the hurricane hit the island we would be saving mom’s dollars because we’d already be there to help. We safely tied the knot and quickly returned to jump into C&G roles in Georgia for the Hurricanes Helene and Milton response, Op Trojan Moon.
While we have never been able to serve on the same operation, we continue to serve together in the virtual C&G and ICS Course delivery arena and take advantage of local events and service projects where we can celebrate this amazing organization that truly completes our lives. And it’s all thanks to COVID—and perhaps also a joint desire to serve.
