Island Soldier Sunshine Woodard Home on Leave
By Leslie Rott

Army Specialist Sunshine Woodard

Back home on leave from Iraq, Army Specialist Sunshine Woodard was glad to see the vibrant colors of Mackinac Island.

“It is like wearing a new pair of glasses,” she said, comparing the trees, lake, and flowers here to the desert of Iraq, where everything is brown.

A soldier in the 1073rd Maintenance Unit of the Mich-igan National Guard, she has been stationed 35 miles west of Baghdad, at Al Taqaddum, Iraq, since January of this year. Her unit was deployed last October.

Spc. Woodard said that the biggest adjustments in Iraq have been getting used to the bathrooms, not having good pizza, and the heat, which rises between 120 and 125 degrees.

“I prepared myself for the worst,” she said, “But I can’t complain too much.”

There is some good that comes from all this, she notes. “I’ve lost weight, I’ve got a good tan, and I’ve saved money.”

Specialist Woodard, 29, is the daughter of Greg and Peggy Woodard of Mackinac Island, and visited the Island over Fourth of July weekend while on a two-week leave.

A 1994 graduate of Mackinac Island Public School and 1998 graduate of Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, with a degree in business management, Ms. Woodard joined the Michigan Army National Guard in the summer of 2001.

While in Iraq, she said, she has made a lot of friends and one saving grace is that she can communicate with her family on a daily basis via e-mail.

She noted the support that she has received from the Mackinac Island community. From boxes of fudge sent from friends, pictures and letters from Mackinac Island Public School children, and cards from strangers, “I’ve got a whole Island of people behind me,” she said.

That support has allowed her to create “a little piece of home” in her room in Iraq. One of her walls is dedicated to the Island and is comprised of the pictures, letters, and cards that have been sent to her.

Ms. Woodard said that support means so much to those in Iraq and she urges everyone to “continue to be supportive, no matter what your political views are.

“When we come home, give us that hug,” she added.

She returns to Iraq July 8 and believes her deployment will end in December. Then she will return to Greenville, where works as a corrections officer.

To contact Ms. Woodard while she is in Iraq, write to:

SPC Woodard, S.

1073rd Maint. Co.

Al Taqaddum, Iraq

APO AE 09381

Her e-mail address is sunshinewoodard@yahoo.com.