While another batch of our soldiers is currently heading to Fort Hood Texas... before deploying to Afghanistan...

We check in with one of the National Guard soldiers who is already overseas... in Kosovo.

Meet Sgt. Jesse Hellman... as we "Skype with a Soldier".

(Sgt. Jesse Hellman/Bismarck) "Some days are busy, some days aren't." Back home... He works with the Bismarck Police department... Thousands of miles away... He's in the same business

"My job, what I do is work for the Provost Marshal's office, like the police station of the camp here, we have military working dogs, traffic accident investigators, military investigators, and all the mp's that do the patrolling." Master Sgt. Jesse Hellman of Bismarck has been in the national guard for 12 years now..

He's been serving on the Guard's peace-keeping mission in Kosovo for over a month... and has noticed some big differences in the area

"Roads are treacherous, you can compare their main road here to back alleys in Bismarck... Most houses over here don't have windows in them.... Using an interpreters to talk to people that we have to, I had never used an interpreter before." Despite the challenges, Hellman says the public should know... they're there for a reason

"We're supporting people that are trying to make a better life for themselves and become a country and where they can be free like people of the U.S. and we're here to help them with that." Hellman along with most soldiers will be in Kosovo until next summer... and missing holidays is always different

"Went to the mess hall, had a turkey all the fixings, course it wasn't like what mom makes." Pinochle, a turkey trot and help soldiers... Although it's not quite like home

Technology, like skype certainly helps... "I just want to say hi to my lovely wife Laurie, my four boys, Dylan, Hunter, Sawyer and Cudder, I miss all of you very much so and I just want to thank you for supporting me in my endeavors and let me just say hi to all my family and friends, and I'll see you in the near future."


Every Sunday we plan to "Skype with a Soldier"... There are more than six hundred North Dakota National Guard soldiers currently deployed in Kosovo. watch the video | save this article / add to your favorites list