PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The earthquake that rocked this city left many of its structures damaged or destroyed, including one landmark that many say represented a sense of stability within the city.
The Hotel Montana, a four-star hotel where diplomats, dignitaries and other world leaders often stayed, collapsed during the Jan. 12 earthquake trapping many of its guests in the rubble.
A few made it out alive, and the task of finding and identifying those who didn't fell to a variety of organizations, including search and recovery teams from France, Mexico, Canada and members of the U.S. military.
As a member of the services flight for the Connecticut Air National Guard's 103rd Airlift Wing, Tech. Sgt. Bambi Putinas said her job encompasses not only personnel issues, food services and lodging, but also mortuary affairs.
"We all volunteered to come here, but we had no idea what we would be doing," she said. "In the back of our minds, we all thought possibly mortuary affairs."
When a call for volunteers to assist at the Hotel Montana site was put out, Putinas was one of many from her unit to volunteer for the mission.
"We would help with the preliminary identification of remains and make sure they got back home safely and also any articles, luggage, personal effects," she said. "We helped to document what we found, and those also would be shipped home."
Putinas said it was an important job to do, but also a difficult one.
"It was hard," she said. "Sometimes you could actually put a face with a name or an article or something that was inscribed."
For many who worked at the site, it was an opportunity to provide a sense of closure to the grieving family members of those who died in the hotel.
"…we were recovering those that had fallen at the (Hotel) Montana, so that they could be returned to their loved ones and bring closure," said Tech. Sgt. Chris Jones, also with the 103rd AW. "We were sending them home."
That was part of what made many who worked at the site go back day after day.
"Some people wanted to go out every day, no matter what," said Putinas. "You think that you're going to find somebody one day and you just keep on searching hoping to find someone."
Though it is part of the services mission set, mortuary affairs is not a skill that unit members use on a regular basis.
"It was a lot of nerves the first time we went out there," said Jones. "We do a lot of training, but this was our first real-world experience handling this aspect of our career field. It was a lot of nerves, a lot of anxiety, but everyone got out there and did their job and handled it very well."
Unit members also relied on each other for support during the recovery operations.
"We kept an open door policy and set rank aside if anybody needed to talk or had any questions," said Jones, who added that there were briefings and other opportunities for those at the site to discuss or work through any issues.
"We're a pretty strong group to begin with," said Putinas. "I think it was a great team that we put together, and we were there for each other."
Jones recalled the day the remains of an Air Force officer were recovered.
"They said he was still in his uniform," said Jones. "His body was covered, and he was moved out of the rubble and all of us stopped working and we went to attention and saluted as he was moved past us. It was our way of paying final respects to him."
For those at the site, doing the job was something they took great pride in.
"We received a great sense of fulfillment in the job we were doing," said Jones. "We had an extreme amount of pride in the job that we had done."
And that is something that will stay with them long after they return home.
"I think I'll be telling my family members about the team I worked with," said Putinas. "And how great it was to work with the Army, the Navy, the French, the Canadians, and how people from all aspects of life could come together for one mission, in a country that none of us ever thought we would come to, and pull together and do a mission that needed to be done."