Although she is stationed thousands of miles from Indiana, Galveston resident Danika Elliott will cheer on the Colts today during their quest to win the Super Bowl.

Elliott, a sergeant with the 1313 Engineer Company, has been stationed in Mosul, Iraq, since August.

“I’m a huge Colts fan,” Elliott, 29, said Friday during a telephone interview. “I’ve been a fan since I started watching football.”

Elliott said a Colts flag flies over the base and her room is decked out in pictures of team members.

“I cut out every picture of the Colts in our little newspaper,” she said. “I have a Colts wall.”

It’s not a surprise that Elliott’s favorite player is quarterback Peyton Manning.

Elliott said she has been to several Colts games as a member of the group of soldiers who carry flags during pre-game and halftime activities when an eagle flies around Lucas Oil Stadium.

Elliott said, so far, she has not run into any fans of the New Orleans Saints.

“Part of the unit is Bears fans, because they are from the Gary area,” she laughed. “Since the Bears aren’t playing, they switched over to the Colts.”

Elliott said the Super Bowl will be televised live in Iraq starting at 2 a.m. She said the mess hall will be open and there are several television sets in their residential area.

“They’re giving us the next day off,” she said.

Elliott has been a member of the National Guard for 12 years. She works as a mechanic and is currently in charge of the area that supplies repair parts.

The unit is scheduled to return to Indiana in May. Elliott said she is able to talk to her husband, Sean, on a daily basis online and with her three sons two or three times a week.

“They’re huge Colts fans,” she said of Dylan, 10, Gavin, 5, and Aiden, 2.

Elliott believes the Super Bowl will be a pretty close game.

“As long as the Colts are on top, I don’t care,” she said.

While the Kokomo area was receiving snow on Friday morning, Elliott said the temperature in Mosul was between 40 and 50 degrees, which is considered chilly for Iraq.

Elliott is serving her first tour in Iraq and Sean, also a member of the National Guard, is scheduled to go to Afghanistan six months after her return.

“It has worked out for us,” she said. “At least one parent will be home with the boys. It will be difficult.”

She said the conditions in Iraq are better than expected and every weekend the soldiers are served steak and seafood.

“I heard a lot of war stories,” Elliott said before her deployment. “The living conditions are better. Being on the base, we get three home meals a day.”

Elliott said with the Iraq elections coming, up the unit will provide security, adding Iraqi forces are taking over many of the checkpoints.

“The Iraq forces are taking control of the country,” she said. “The people here have said how helpful it has been that the American forces are here.”

Elliott joined the National Guard one month before her 18th birthday.

“My dad was in the Air Force and served in Vietnam, and my brother-in-law is in the Marines,” she said. “I wanted to do something for my country and I liked the challenge.”

Elliott had a final message for family and friends, indicating she misses everyone and she can’t wait to get home.

“Go Colts,” she added.

• Ken de la Bastide is the Kokomo Tribune enterprise editor. He can be reached at 765-454-8580 or via e-mail at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com