Stephanie Mast
speaker
221 appearances
2 recordings
2 series
first heard Feb 2025
last heard Feb 2025
Stephanie Mast’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
And the early part of that deployment, being that I was trying to wrap up my degree and everything, I was kind of like, oh, how am I going to do this? And I was focused on myself.
And then all of a sudden, when I heard about this baby, and just really, because Joshua, when he would call me, he would describe just what he was seeing with other children when he'd go out outside the gate and everything.
It was eye-opening that, you know, here I am safe at home with my children and that there are millions of children in other parts of the world that are not guaranteed safety or a roof over their head or food. And so Baby Sparrow was something it gave us, it instantly shifted my perspective off of myself. And there was this innocent child that And that, you know, his whole future was at risk.
And so that's where Sparrow came from was not having a name or knowing anything about it. And then a few weeks later is when we saw the photo and we realized she was a girl.
your daughter to go back to that that's who we're dealing with well i think there's they've done a very good job at twisting the narrative because i think by and large the larger american public we don't they're not aware of the atrocities like what service members have seen on the ground what life is like actually on the ground in afghanistan most of the american public doesn't know that
And so it sounds very judgmental or it sounds like, oh, you can't say that or no, surely that can't be true. But the reality is there's a very big difference in the value of children. Like, they have a very different perspective.
Well, what I would add, though, is that the attorneys that we've dealt with, they make it sound like we're, what would you say, like... Like, we're almost like we're making it out.
I mean, I know there was the initial. It was the second big conversation. I'll never forget because it was, once again, the afternoon, odd time. And I think I was doing a school project. I was, like, photographing or something. And he was talking back and forth, like, how do we elevate this? Like, how do we—we have to get enough attention on this for a decision to be made. And that's when you said—
And so— You said—I just remember that line. You're like, we're going to have to get a hold of the president.
And I was like—it was quiet. I was like, okay. How do we do that? How do we do that?
Yeah, she's going to be. I remember asking you. I was like, what do you think the odds are that, you know. 10%. Yeah, it was smaller than that. I think it was like 1%. You said something really small that we would actually be able to... But we were happy that she was safe.
Yeah, a child with special needs, absolutely.
Why? Well, we eventually found out why in the Board of Inquiry.
Well, also add what he testified, the dog handler testified.
She was very small.
Well, I was case in point the other day. A woman that I knew at church, actually, she put two and two together finally that, you know, like, she's my daughter. And kind of hearing about the situation, she's like, that's her? Because our kids played soccer together. And she's like, I would have never known. And unless you see her in a swimsuit or in a shorter pair of shorts, the scar is telling.
The scar is distinct. But you would never know. She speaks perfect English. She's a typical five-year-old little girl. And I mean, there's moments even for me, even though we've lived this out and I know the story through and through, there's just moments where it really strikes you when you look at her.
And she's like, for instance, when I'm teaching her how to read and how to write, just how amazing it is that she's actually here in person alive. And just for her, it's just normal, but she's just...
a walking testament to just how miraculous sequence of events has you know kept her alive and most you know most people see would never even just think that she's america i've been told that she looks like me because she's brown hair and brown eyes but she's normal
So our code name for her was Sparrow. But the medical staff, it was Starfish. And it was based on a poem or a book where there's a little boy walking along the ocean. And he's bending down and he's picking up a starfish and he's throwing it back into the ocean. And he keeps doing it over and over. And an adult comes over and says, why are you doing this?
Showing 41–60 of 221 · page 3 of 12
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