Troops Fulfill Fallen Soldier's Dream

IOWA FALLS, Iowa, Oct. 16, 2006 — -- The stark numbers of losses of U.S. troops in Iraq can often obscure the individual stories of those who die in combat, such as 29-year-old Navy medic Jaime Jaenke, a single mom who was killed in June.

The Iowa resident was the victim of a roadside bomb in Iraq, leaving behind her parents, three brothers and her 9-year-old daughter, Kayla, who is being cared for by her grandparents.

"I'm a mother without a daughter and I [now] have a daughter without a mother … there's no in-betweens," said Jaenke's mother, Susan.

The family's home is filled with memories of Jaenke, including medals and photographs, but just up the hill sits her true passion -- the horse stable she began to build with her own hands in the months before she left for Iraq.

"She was so exited, and she said to me, 'Mom, I can't wait to come back because this is what I wanted,'" Susan Jaenke said.

"I'm not letting this place go," said Jaenke's brother Justin. "Neither are my mom and my dad. They're not going to let it go."

Soldeiers Join Homefront Mission

The Jaenkes didn't have the money or the work force to finish what their daughter began, so on a recent fall morning the men and women who served with this fallen soldier joined dozens of volunteers to help complete the stables and her dream.

"It just keeps the memory alive," said Peter Muschinske, the chaplain for Jaenke's unit. He returned from Iraq last week and went to Iowa to pitch in before even seeing his own family.

He said his work should help Jaenke's family see that her fellow soldiers are not "distant people."

"We knew Jamie, we love her and we continue to love her and hold her memory," Muschinske said.

So they grabbed saws and hammers and used the project to work through their own grief.

"It's hard to put into words. It really helps your heart," said Chief Petty Officer Allen Pettitt of the U.S. Navy.

For the Jaenkes, the gift is beyond measure.

Jaenke's father, Larry said, "We lost so much of her and we're going to keep this -- this is part of Jaime here."

Now, Jaenke's daughter helps care for the horses, and in the arena her mother dreamed of, Kayla is learning to ride.