Family awaits Army mom’s homecoming from Iraq

By Andrew Miller
Interim News Edito

* Web Note:  Gregg is a paramedic with Tri-State Ambulance.

She’s tending to the wounded. He’s tending to the kids.

While Staff Sgt. Diane Bulman has spent the better part of a year working as a medical specialist with the Army National Guard in Iraq, her husband Gregg has been holding down the family fort in Caledonia.

For Gregg, this has meant more cooking, more cleaning, more time with the couple’s six kids. All that in addition to his job as a paramedic with Tri State Ambulance.

And as far as he can tell, he’s been doing a pretty decent job around the house. “Most of the plants are still alive — I guess that’s good,” Gregg, 47, said with a laugh.

Diane, 41, was recently recognized by the U.S. Armed Forces for her 20 years of service, having joined the Navy in 1987. She signed on with the Army National Guard about five years ago, and shipped off to Iraq in March 2006.

She’s currently stationed at Tallil Airbase about 500 miles southeast of Baghdad. The base is a few miles from Ur, Iraq’s most famous archaeological site.

At the Tallil Airbase hospital, Diane treats military personnel as well as Iraqi civilians ranging in age from young children to the elderly.

Often sick or injured Iraqi children are simply left at the gates of the base by their parents, the idea being that a U.S. military hospital can provide better treatment than any of the local civilian hospitals.

“The hardest thing for her is the kids, the innocents of the whole thing,” Gregg said. Medical staff at Tallil Airbase will treat any children that are brought in.

Gregg and Diane stay in touch through an Instant Messaging service on the Internet. But with Diane busy at the hospital — she’s started working double shifts, and recently helped launch a new emergency ward at the hospital — the couple only gets a chance to talk about once every four or five days.

Diane was given two weeks leave in August and returned home to Caledonia. After an exhausting half year in the desert, she was looking forward to some rest and relaxation, and Gregg made sure her visit home was low-key.

“We got together with family and spent time with the kids,” Gregg said. “Just spending time with family was a big thing.”

Initially, Diane was expected to be returning home for good in March, but the family just got word that her stay has been extended. It’s not clear when she’ll return — maybe next summer, according to Gregg.

The couple met in 1998, and each brought three kids from previous marriages when they tied the knot in 2000. The two oldest, Kevin Bulman and Katie Jambois, are both seniors at Caledonia High School.

Being away from family has been one of the biggest sacrifices Diane has had to make, Gregg said. Because of her extension, she’s probably going to miss Kevin and Katie’s senior prom.

“She’s basically missing two school years,” Gregg said. “It’s tough to lose that part of your life.”

The whole Bulman clan is looking forward to Diane’s return. “It’s time to be a family again,” Gregg said.

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