My niece, the warrior

Working at the paper you see a lot of press releases, some about local matters but also a few about what’s happening further away from home. You get used to seeing familiar names, names you can put to faces you see in the grocery store or at work, in the local press releases but when it comes to the press releases from Jeff City or even Washington you are used to floating in a sea of names that you may have seen before but rarely the people those names are attached to. When you get a press release from out of the country and it’s not just someone you know but are related to it really jumps up and gets your attention. Let me introduce you to my niece, Leona and see what the gubmint says about her in the press release.

Sgt. Leona Bastow tests a sample of MOGAS at the Camp Bondsteel Fuel Testing Facility. Bastow is responsible for ensuring all fuel that enters Camp Bondsteel meets all U.S. Army standards before the fuel trucks are unloaded…Sgt. Ty Stafford, public affairs specailist/National Guard.

CAMP BONDSTEEL, Kosovo — Sergeant Leona Bastow, a resident of Nevada, Mo., was recently honored for her achievements in the renovation of the Camp Bondsteel Fuel Lab by the Multi-National Task Force (East) commander Brig. Gen. Larry D. Kay.

Bastow is currently on deployment with the Kansas City-based 110th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, in support of the NATO-led peace keeping mission in Kosovo.

Bastow works as the petroleum laboratory specialist at the Fuel Lab and is responsible for grading the quality and usability of all fuel that enters the base.

After all fuel testing is complete, Bastow gives the go ahead to the Kellogg, Brown and Root workers at the fuel yard to release the trucks to begin downloading the fuel.

Normally from start to finish, Bastow says the whole testing process takes a little more than an hour to complete.

“It’s a lot of responsibility, but if we have bad fuel or fuel that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements then that directly affects the mission,” she said.

To date, she has not turned away any fuel.

Her military career spans four years. This is her first deployment.

Bastow and her husband Rodney are residents of the southern Missouri area and she is a graduate of Nevada High School.

The MNTF(E) operates under the flag of the Army National Guard’s 110th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, the first non-divisional unit to assume the leadership role for the mission, and is part of the larger NATO-led international force known as the Kosovo Force. The KFOR is responsible for maintaining peace and security in Kosovo.

Bastow, who deployed along with over a 1,000 other Missouri National Guard Soldiers, is expected to return to the U.S. sometime in March 2009.

Kosovo Forces 10 (KFOR 10), Multi National Task Force East is the 16th rotation of United States Forces in Kosovo since 1999 — when the organization entered Kosovo under the United Nations mandate –two days after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

United States forces include the 110th MEB, along with National Guard and Army Reserve units (from seven states), the Air Force, the Regular Army and civilian contractors. Units from Armenia, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine form the international portion of the Task Force. Brig. Gen. Larry D. Kay commands MNTF (E) as the senior Army Commander in the Balkans region.