By Emma Needell, American Red Cross

It was just after 3 a.m. when the knock came—sharp and insistent against the door. Rain pattered on the roof and slicked the walkways outside. The air in Latvia had dropped to near freezing, and Andrew Yao—half asleep, wrapped in a hoodie—stepped into the night to meet a captain holding out a phone.

On the other end, a mother’s voice. Her son was stationed here. There’d been a death in the family. Andrew listened, standing in the dark, writing names and details into the notes app on his phone. Within hours, a verified emergency message would be relayed through Red Cross channels to command, clearing the way for the soldier to return home.

As a Regional Program Specialist deployed with the American Red Cross’ Service to the Armed Forces, this was Andrew’s no-fail mission: to ensure that service members could reconnect with loved ones in moments of urgent need. He was one of hundreds of Red Crossers stationed with U.S. troops around the world—not in combat roles, but in deeply human ones, offering support, connection, and care in settings that were often far from home.

For generations, the American Red Cross has stood beside U.S. military service members and their families. From the first oath of enlistment to the time the military service members are navigating life as a veteran, the Red Cross provides critical humanitarian services: emergency communication messages, emotional support, and morale-building events both stateside and abroad.

Growing up, Andrew always imagined a future serving others. He didn’t want a desk job or, as he puts it, “that nine-to-five life.” He wanted meaning, purpose—something that would matter when he looked back from old age. But medical setbacks in college rerouted his dream to join the Army, and for a while, he didn’t know what he’d do.

“I always knew I wanted my life’s work to mean something,” he says. “And when the Army didn’t happen, I didn’t know what that would look like anymore.”

It was a captain who pointed him toward the Red Cross—told him he could still serve, still deploy, still make a difference. And when Andrew learned that the Red Cross worked directly with service members on military bases around the world, the door he thought was closed cracked open again. 

He applied for a role as a Regional Program Specialist, and in November 2023, he joined the team. Just eight months later, he was boarding a plane to Europe: three months deployment in Latvia, another three in Poland.

When he arrived, it was evening. Jet-lagged and hungry, he rode through the countryside as the sun dipped low behind the trees. “It was beautiful,” he says. “Green everywhere. The base felt like it was dropped right into a forest.” There were international troops on the base—NATO partners from across Europe—but Andrew would be working mostly with American service members.

The core of Andrew’s role—what he calls the “no-fail mission”—was emergency communication. When there is a family emergency back in the States, the Red Cross becomes the link: gathering information, verifying it, and working with command to bring service members home when it matters most.

“That’s the primary reason we’re there,” Andrew says. “If someone’s mother is sick, or if there’s been a death in the family, we take that call.”

But those calls don’t come every day. Some weeks, not at all. And in between those moments, his work expanded into something quieter but no less vital: building morale, creating respite, and helping service members feel like more than a rank or a job. At the heart of that effort was volunteer coordination. It wasn’t the same as back home. Back in Colorado, Andrew was used to a volunteer corps of retirees or mid-career professionals with flexible schedules. But on base, volunteers were activated troops. Their time was limited. Their lives were structured. Their availability could change without notice.

“I learned pretty quick that no one ever signed up for volunteer shifts,” he says. “You just put it in the group chat: ‘We’re doing brunch Sunday, come help if you can.’ And if they could, they came.”