Just home from Iraq, soldier gets chance to spend time with family

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Katie Derksen

Sadie Dodd (back to camera) gets a hug from one of her best friends, Niki Stein, as she arrives at the party. Vicki Spiering (right), the mother of Dodd’s fiancé, hosted the party in her Wauwatosa home.

Katie Derksen

Sadie Dodd (back to camera) gets a hug from one of her best friends, Niki Stein, as she arrives at the party. Vicki Spiering (right), the mother of Dodd’s fiancé, hosted the party in her Wauwatosa home.

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Easter-basket toting leprechauns and Santas blew party horns as Sadie Dodd walked onto the porch Saturday.

"Happy holidays!" a chorus of party-goers yelled. In the garden, a toy groundhog peered over the dirt.

Sadie had had a strong suspicion her return from a yearlong deployment in Iraq would be celebrated with a party, but now she realized her family and friends had managed a surprise after all.

"You missed a whole year," said Kurt Spiering, her soon-to-be father-in-law, sporting a patriotic Uncle Sam costume. "How could you catch up in one day? We're calling it our compression party."

In a matter of hours, Sadie experienced all the holidays - from New Year's to Christmas - she had not been able to spend with her family the first time around.

Served in urgent care clinic

Sadie left for Iraq in May 2009, serving with a medic unit of the Georgia National Guard. She had been a member of the Wisconsin National Guard for years, and she had watched twice as men from her unit got called up, her mother, Ellen Dodd, explained.

With mere months of Sadie's military service commitment remaining, Sadie was told in January 2009 that she was about to be deployed with a medic unit from the south.

She tended to civilians and soldiers in an urgent care clinic in Balad. It was a safe deployment compared to some of the other front-line jobs soldiers do, Sadie said.

As floor manager, it was her responsibility to make sure the clinic operated smoothly.

"The doctors and PAs (physician's assistants) were good about quizzing us and teaching us as we went along," Sadie said. "It taught me about nursing in a clinical setting, since I already have experience in a hospital setting."

Inspired by her commitment

When Sadie was notified of her deployment, some people advised her to pretend the letter never arrived, mom Ellen said. After all, she had just graduated as a registered nurse, had a job at St. Luke's Hospital and was planning to marry.

However, shirking her commitment never crossed her mind.

"She said, 'It's my turn now. If I can keep a mom or a dad home with their kids, I'd be happy to do this,' " Ellen recalled as she watched her daughter hug friends she hadn't seen in a long time.

Sadie's commitment to her country also impressed her future mother-in-law, Vicki Spiering, who was the brains behind the holidays-themed party.

"We were sitting around the table one night talking about all the holidays she had missed and we started naming them off," she said. "Then we thought, wouldn't it be funny if we celebrated those holidays all over again, and started throwing out ideas and just laughed and laughed."

Some of the ideas that filled Saturday's party: a Fourth of July parade - complete with a kazoo band - around the Jackson Park Boulevard property, a station for making valentines, an Easter egg hunt and Christmas presents under the backyard pine tree.

Sadie's father, Paul, carved the Thanksgiving turkey. Green beer was served up at the bar for St. Patrick's Day, margaritas and Corona beer for Cinco de Mayo and champagne for New Year's Eve - the holiday her fiancé, Ryan Spiering, was in charge of planning.

Many hands combined

The Spierings' home was filled with small nods to the holidays: Mardi Gras beads and a dream catcher for Indian summer hanging from the chandelier, a box of Hannukah treats on the mantle.

Friends and family members were assigned the task of incorporating each holiday into the party. One of Sadie's best friends, Niki Stein, tackled her birthday. A large inflatable cake, SpongeBob Squarepants party decorations and desserts filled a living room table.

For the last year, Stein has felt an important part of her life was missing, she said. She was excited about throwing a party to make up for lost time.

"I said, 'She's going to flip. She loves to celebrate every holiday,' " Stein said.

Before the festivities got going, Vicki decided to celebrate the biggest moment of the family's year: the day Sadie returned to Wauwatosa.

The party guests gathered in the front yard, where the sidewalk was lined with small American flags and a yellow ribbon was tied around a tree. Vicki, dressed in a princess costume, suddenly became serious and fought back tears.

"A year ago Sadie left, so I came outside and tied this ribbon," she said. "I'm so glad we get to take it down today. I'm so grateful that you honored us as Americans to serve our country."