KIRKSVILLE, MO -- It was a day of tearful goodbyes Sunday at the Hamilton Street Baptist Church in Kirksville.
Friends and family gathered for a going away party in honor of a local solider called for active duty in Iraq. Specialist Tara D’Leigh Phillips, a Kirksville native and soldier in the United States Army, will head to Fort Jackson, South Carolina on March 1 for training and then to Iraq for a year of service.
Phillips is a Licensed Nurse Practitioner, so she could work in a hospital while serving overseas. She says letters from home and her relationship with God will get her through the tough time of being away.
“Definitely prayers from back home, from friends and family are the support that's going to help me. One of my friends told me God can work here just as well as over in Iraq, so I'm going to be as safe here as over there,” Phillips said.
Phillips says the hardest part is leaving her friends and family behind, but she's looking forward to the new experiences ahead of her.
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