https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/esgr/index.jsp (Note to those viewing this page in Word or PDF format: You may have to copy this address and paste it into your browser’s address window.)

Cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve who are currently on active duty

https://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2004/d20040331ngr1.pdf

Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC) contains links and information about schooling, distance education, scholarships, and organizations devoted to the military family

https://www.militarychild.org/index.cfm

Militarystudent.org is a website that helps military children with transition and deployment issues. It has some great features for kids, parents, special needs families, school educators, and more—even safe chat rooms for kids.

http://www.militarystudent.org

Disabled Soldiers Initiative (DS3)

This website provides information on the new DS3 program. Through DS3, the Army provides its most severely disabled Soldiers and their families with a system of advocacy and follow-up.

http://www.armyds3.org

Have an article, announcement, or website that you’d like to share with the National Guard Family Program Community? Send your suggestions in an e-mail to [email protected].

DEPLOYMENT

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Va. Air National Guard Firefighters Bid Farewell To Friends And Family

Firehouse.com – Printable Article
The Web’s Source for Fire, Rescue & EMS

By, Jimmy Alexander
Virginia Air National Guard Fire & Rescue 192nd Fighter Wing

Firefighters from the Virginia Air National Guard Fire & Rescue Department in Sandston Virginia bid an emotional farewell to family and friends on December 19, 2004 for a 4-month deployment to an undisclosed location in Iraq.

These Firefighters are members of the 192nd Fighter Wing based at Richmond International Airport and are career Firefighters with several local jurisdictions, including Chesterfield Co. and Henrico Co. Fire Departments.

Keeping in the tradition of the military and the fire service, these brave men are sacrificing everything to ensure the safety of our troops during a time of war and are doing so unselfishly.

Please pray for their safe return and keep their families, friends, and brother firefighters in your thoughts.

To view more pictures please visit https://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=45&id=37704

Special Ceremony Held For Iraq-Bound 155th Unit Deployment Farewell

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Hattiesburg American

23 December 2004

By Janet Braswell

Justin Jones, 7, clings to the side of his mother, Linda Warren, who is wearing a T-shirt printed with a photograph of her husband, Spc. Jerome Warren of the 155th Brigade Combat Team, after the farewell pass and review for the team at Camp Shelby on Wednesday. The troops will be deployed to Iraq in 2005.

The 4,000 soldiers of the 155th Brigade Combat Team left Camp Shelby Wednesday to spend the holidays with family before adding another chapter to a history that pre-dates statehood.

The team will deploy to Iraq next year with the name “Mississippi Rifles” taken from the oldest unit of the Mississippi National Guard‘s 155th Armored Brigade.

“We’re a proud unit that’s served in every war America has had and we’ll accomplish our mission, whatever that might be,” said Spc. Wesley Tagert, 31, of Richland, a student at Mississippi State University before the brigade was activated in August.

“I’m proud to go over there,” he said. “I’ve been in that part of the world twice. It may be a tough mission, but one we can accomplish.”

About 3,500 Mississippi soldiers make up the core of the team, which also represents troops from Arkansas and Vermont.

“You standing on the field before me today know what’s at stake,” said Lt. Gen. H. Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau. “You will all do your duty. You will come home successful. Mississippi Rifles, stand fast. Godspeed and God bless you.”

The Mississippi Rifles were formed in 1798.

Thousands of family and friends filled the 3,000-bleacher seats and spilled over onto the edges of the parade ground for the traditional farewell pass and review by the troops.

“I’m not happy about it at all,” said Cheryl Kendricks Rankin of Jackson. “I think it’s senseless. The National Guard is supposed to be for homeland. It’s supposed to be weekends for them. They’re giving up a year or two. We have too many young men dying over there.”

Her son, Master Sgt. Ashley Rankin, 25, was majoring in information systems at the University of Southern Mississippi when he was called to active duty.

“I’m all right about it,” he said. “No one wants to go, but I signed the paper, so let’s go and get it over with.”

Pam Cobb drove from Myrtle to be at the ceremony with her brother, Spc. James Smithey, 41, of New Albany.

“I’m sad,” Cobb said. “He’s got three kids at home. We just hate for him to be gone. We’ll miss him and be thinking about him daily. We’re proud that he’s serving his country.”

Smithey will miss his oldest daughter’s high school graduation and a year’s worth of birthdays and other milestones. “They’re doing real good now, but when I first got called up, they were pretty upset,” he said.

Soldiers’ families shoulder a large burden when the National Guard is called to service, said Reginald Brown, assistant Secretary of the Army. “Your families, they will be making the true sacrifice because they will not have your company,” Brown said. “I want them to know their country is grateful to them.”

With recent news reports about a lack of armor on some vehicles in use in Iraq and the attack Monday on a dining hall in Mosul where 13 U.S. service members were killed, families are uneasy about the deployment.

“You can’t hide from that kind of stuff,” said Gloria Rawson of Hattiesburg. Her son, Staff Sgt. Scott Rawson of Meridian, is in the 155th.

“I’m proud of him, but I worry about a lot about him,” she said. “I don’t let him know it.”

Don Rawson shares his wife’s worries. “I’m a little apprehensive, but I’m proud of him,” he said.

The brigade will be the first to move into Iraq with all of its vehicles armored, said Maj. Gen. Harold A. Cross, Mississippi’s adjutant general.

“That means you’re the best equipped,” he said. “I can also tell the crowd that you’re the best trained.”

BENEFITS

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Guard Bonuses Recruiting and Retention

National Guard Bureau

22 DEC 04

NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU

ARLINGTON, VA

Contact: Master Sgt. Bob Haskell, (703) 607-2647, Cell (202) 438-4115

By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell

ARLINGTON, Va. – The chief of the National Guard Bureau is bearing gifts of gold to some Citizen-Soldiers in the Army National Guard during this holiday season.

The gold is in the form of substantial increases in enlistment and reenlistment bonuses that LTG H Steven Blum announced at the Pentagon on Dec. 16. Some of the bonuses will be increased from $5,000 to $15,000. All but one is for enlisted personnel.

The increased bonuses for this fiscal year are earmarked for new Guard Soldiers who have never served in uniform, for people who join the Army Guard after serving on active duty, and for Guard Soldiers who agree to reenlist for three or six years.

Blum promised many Army Guard Soldiers he met with during recent trips to Iraq and Afghanistan that he would announce the increased bonuses in December and that they would be impressed.

Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers make up nearly 40 percent of the 148,000 troops in Iraq, and 42,000 Guard Soldiers are serving in Iraq and Kuwait, officials reported. Another 8,200 are serving in Afghanistan. Blum said that approximately 100,000 Guard Soldiers have been on active duty at home or abroad at any given time since terrorists attacked this country on Sept. 11, 2001.

The increased bonuses are an effort to improve the Army Guard’s recruiting and retention efforts during the global war on terrorism and build the Army Guard back up to its authorized strength of 350,000 troops.

The bonus increases for fiscal year 2005 include:

— An increase in reenlistment and extension bonuses for enlisted people from $5,000 to $15,000.

— An increase from $5,000 to $15,000 for prior service enlisted people who enlist in the Army Guard for six years. That includes former active duty members of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard who have fulfilled their military service obligation.

— An increase in enlistment bonuses from $8,000 to $10,000 for people without prior service who sign up for one of the Army Guard’s “top 10” military occupational specialties, such as the infantry, military police and transportation.

— A $6,000 bonus for newly commissioned officers and warrant officers and for officers who have served on active duty.

— A $2,000 bonus for enlisted Guard Soldiers who agree to be retrained for a military occupational specialty to meet the needs of the Army Guard provided the Soldiers are not receiving any other incentives.

Guard Soldiers will receive a lump sum for reenlisting. New Guard Soldiers joining the military for the first time and those with prior service will be given a 50-50 payment schedule.

Those who join the Army Guard’s enlisted ranks who still have a military service obligation following their active duty tours will be eligible for a $50 bonus for each remaining month of their obligation, it was explained. They can then receive a $15,000 bonus if they reenlist in the Guard.

The eligibility for receiving reenlistment bonuses has been extended by two years. Guard Soldiers previously could not receive a bonus after 14 years of service. They are now eligible for up to 16 years.

Blum has also promised to double the Student Loan Repayment Program – from $10,000 to $20,000 – for non-prior service people who have existing loans when they enlist.

The Army Guard will also offer Montgomery GI Bill Kickers of between $200 and $350 per month to non-prior service people who are enrolled in colleges or vocational schools provided they are already receiving GI Bill benefits.

“We’re in a more difficult recruiting environment,” Blum told news reporters. “There’s no question that when you have a sustained ground combat operation going that the Guard’s participating in, that makes recruiting more difficult.”

The Army Guard is adding 1,400 recruiters to its nationwide recruiting force – increasing it from 2,700 to 4,100 – over the next three months, Blum explained.

The Guard Bureau chief also said the Guard will change its recruiting message to more accurately reflect the fact that many Citizen-Soldiers are now pulling tours of duty overseas for at least a year.

“We are correcting, frankly, some of our recruiting themes and slogans to reflect the reality of today,” Blum told The Washington Post. “We’re not talking about one weekend a month and two weeks a year and college tuition. We’re talking about service to the nation.”

People interested in obtaining more information about the increased bonuses can call their local Army National Guard recruiters.

GUARD IN IRAQ

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Troops At Small Iraqi Base Enjoy Better Food, Presents

The Dallas Morning News

December 26, 2004, Sunday

By Gretel C. Kovach

CAMP ISTIQLAAL, Iraq – A cold rain and rifle rounds fell on Baghdad, Iraq, on Christmas Day, and Santa had to wear a costume bulky enough to cover his helmet and body armor.

But troops from the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, and the reserve and guard units nationwide assigned to Task Force 1/9 at Camp Istiqlaal (which means ” independence” in Arabic) still had some jolly times.

The small base in central Baghdad, commonly called Headhunter, is well known among the soldiers for its bad food. Instead of hunks of mystery meat or tasteless macaroni, on Christmas Day the soldiers were treated to lavish holiday spreads for both lunch and dinner.

Turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, pecan pie, eggnog _ they had it all.

Some troops were saluted on the way into the mess hall by Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, otherwise known as Pvt. 2nd Class Anthony Brooks, 21, from Los Angeles, who spent the day in costume.

“I was running around hugging people, letting them pull my tail. They got a kick out of it,” he said. “We’re trying to make everybody happy, trying to make them feel at home.”

“It’s fabulous. I really got into the Christmas spirit because of it,” said Sgt. Rowe Stayton, 53, from Denver. “Of course I’d rather be home, but I appreciate what they did.”

Cavalrymen in black Stetson hats served punch flowing from a fountain next to a large gingerbread house. And the guy in the kitchen dishing up slices of ham and shaking hands with the soldiers turned out to be Col. Mike Murray, 44, the 3rd Brigade Combat Team commander from Kenton, Ohio, visiting from his downtown base.

Sgt. Adam Ewing, 25, from Fort Hood, said the Headhunter staff really knows how to support the troops during the holidays. On Thanksgiving Day, the mess hall workers at the former Iraqi air force base had dressed as pilgrims.

“It’s a way for the commanders to show the soldiers they care. People in the rear know they’re not forgotten out here,” he said.

The soldiers stationed at Camp Independence may be separate from the large full-service bases near Baghdad International Airport and the Green Zone, which houses top commanders and coalition authorities.

But they are on the front lines of some of the most consistent violence in Baghdad surrounding nearby Haifa Street.

The insurgents didn’t take the day off, and neither did the soldiers. Capt. Chris Ford, 29, from Overland Park, Kan., and the Charlie Company from the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment started Christmas Day with a 3 a.m. sweep through Haifa Street and surrounding areas.

Many soldiers, aside from those who caught some sleep after the early morning raid, hit the phone banks first thing Christmas morning.

Sgt. 1st Class Terry Paden, 45, originally from Dallas, called Tylitha, his wife of 24 years in Albuquerque, N.M., to thank her for being so supportive during his deployment.

“She’s just really special. When you’ve been married so many years and they don’t want you to go but know this is what you want…” he said, thinking of the care packages she sent him and his maintenance crew filled with Hamburger Helper, a fancy thermometer and other thoughtful little gifts.

Others enjoyed the festive atmosphere with their military family.

First Lt. Christina Adams, from Poolesville, Md., who turned 24 on Christmas Day, looked around the dining hall full of soldiers and said, “This is the next best thing. If I can’t be home for the holidays with my family, I want to be with them.”

Besides family, surrogate or otherwise, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without presents under the tree. So Capt. T.J. Foley, 29, commander of Charlie Company, Arkansas National Guard 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry Regiment, helped distribute gifts sent from Batten & Shaw, the construction firm where he works as a project engineer.

Many companies shipped presents to the military in Iraq, and Batten & Shaw, which is based in Nashville, Tenn., sent 27 large boxes, from DVDs and Walkmans to socks. “They didn’t want any soldier to not have something to open on Christmas morning,” Foley said.

Drowning out the sounds of the power generators on base and the crackle of gunfire outside its walls was the Task Force 1/9 band, Headhunter Main with special guests, who rocked the mess hall with a Christmas concert.

The crowd laughed to hear their rendition of the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” complete with “Three gre-eh-nades, two RPGs and a sniiiper in Building 93.” But it was the 12th day that really got them going.

“And on the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me … a 12-month extension!”

The Task Force 1/9 soldiers shouted and groaned, “Nooo!”

Alone With Six kids, Mom Feels Strain; Kelly Crawford Has Little Time To Stop And Think How Hard It Is To Run A Family With Her Husband In Iraq.

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Portland Press Herald (Maine)

December 26, 2004 Sunday

By Kelley Bouchard Staff Writer

BRIDGTON – Kelly Crawford is quick to point out that many Maine families are dealing with the same fears, frustrations and difficulties of having loved ones serving in Iraq. “Just multiply mine,” she says.

Last January, her husband, Todd, shut down his fledgling law practice and left their six young children and a rambling 1800s farmhouse in her care. He is a lieutenant with the Maine Army National Guard’s 133rd Engineer Battalion stationed at Forward Operating Base Marez in Mosul, Iraq.

Except for two weeks in early September, when her husband was home on leave, Kelly Crawford has been holding down the fort. She’s a petite powerhouse, so lugging firewood, baking bread and carting the kids to soccer camp and dance lessons are duties that get done.

Many people in this close-knit community are pitching in to help, especially during the holidays. Still, going it alone has strained her patience, her politics and her emotions. Day in, day out, she is shouldering responsibility meant for two.

“There is no break,” says Crawford, 42. “I can’t get sick. I can’t depend on him to pick up the slack. I don’t want to sound selfish, but there is no ‘me’ time. There is no refueling time.”

Before the war, Kelly and Todd Crawford were inseparable for most of their 14-year marriage. Now they stay in touch by telephone, e-mail and Web camera, which gives them staggered but precious images of each other. On Christmas, Kelly extended the Web cam to the living room so Todd could watch the children open their gifts.

Each day after school, the older Crawford children arrive home in a noisy mob, eager to send instant messages to their father, who is eight hours ahead and stays up late to “chat” with his wife and kids.

“I miss them terribly,” Todd Crawford, 39, said in a recent instant-message interview. “But I have a brave crew.”

Not so brave all the time. Bailey, who is 7, and Cubby, who is 5, have been most deeply affected by their father’s absence. They don’t really understand why their father is gone, and any mention of the danger he faces only upsets them more.

When Kelly Crawford told her children that their father survived Tuesday’s suicide bombing of the dining hall at Marez, Bailey ran out of the room crying. Kelly often finds herself crying, too, but not for long.

“I’m afraid if I let myself go, I won’t be able to pick myself up, and I have too many people depending on me,” she says. “I think one of the reasons that I’m able to get through this is because I’m honest. If someone asks me how I’m doing and I’m having a bad day, I tell them.”

CONSTANT WORK

The Crawford household resonates with love and constant activity. Cubby can’t wait to take his snowy boots off before showing his mother the star-shaped Christmas tree decoration he made at school. Bailey giggles almost uncontrollably and practices pirouettes in the playroom that Kelly is renovating with help from neighbors.

Just up from a nap, 2-year-old twins Emma and Gard tease the cat and contribute to the afternoon frenzy. Helen, 11, and Alexandra, 9, take turns sending instant messages to their father from what used to be his home office. It’s smaller since Kelly renovated and expanded the first-floor bathroom.

After the children go to bed, usually around 8 p.m., Crawford’s day gets even busier. “That’s when I vacuum, dust, do laundry, iron. I try to get to bed by 11 because I’m up at 6.” She rarely gets a full night’s sleep because she is hearing impaired and awakens often, fearful that one of her children might need her.

Despite the demands of running a household, Crawford insists on making most of their meals from scratch. Breads, cookies, lasagna, quiche, you name it. “Prepared foods are too expensive,” Crawford says, “and I pride myself in making sure my kids eat good food.”

PATERNAL INSTINCTS

In her husband’s absence, she has come to appreciate what a good father he is. She knew it all along, since he took so easily to her son, Beau, who was 9 when the couple married. She wasn’t really surprised when his paternal instincts cropped up in Iraq, where he has befriended two children in the nearby village of Dahuk.

Villagers warned him to stay away from the brother and sister, ages 6 and 4, because they were Gypsies, a persecuted ethnic group also known as Roma.

Crawford was undeterred. At his request, Kelly sent them coats, shoes and toys. He looks for them every time he visits Dahuk, worried that his attention and gifts will make them targets for other villagers. He wonders whether they have parents and jokes with Kelly that he’d like to find a way to bring them home with him.

She knows he’s not really joking.

“That’s why I say to him, ‘Are we going to have two more children when you come back?’ Because it wouldn’t be unlike him,” Crawford says.

It’s also not unlike him to go where duty calls. The Crawfords met when he was in the Navy. She knows how much the military means to him. Still, it makes her angry.

“I was pretty pissed,” Crawford says. “There was no question when he was reactivated that he was going to war. He was going to protect his country. He was going to protect his family. He was going to lead his men. I’m proud of what he’s doing, but if he ever does it again, I’m out of here. I told him I’d shoot him; I’d cut off a leg to keep him from going again. He thinks I’m sadistic. He doesn’t see much humor in it, and I don’t think it’s funny, either.”

That anger creeps back occasionally. When people thank her for the sacrifice she’s making, she understands where they’re coming from, but she has to quell her resentment.

“I’m not doing this willingly,” Crawford says. “I support my husband and I support the men and women in what they’re doing. I don’t support what they’re being told to do. They’re doing good things, building schools, building roads. But he went there under a different assumption . . . But he has to stay on task, he has to stay on mission. You can’t stop what you’re doing because you were lied to. He’s going to work his ass off, do what he has to do and get back here as soon as possible.”

SOLACE IN SUPPORT

In the meantime, Crawford finds solace in the community’s outpouring of support. When local lawyers learned she couldn’t afford to send the kids to soccer camp this year, they took up a collection to make it happen. When she was racing to stack firewood before snowfall, Rick Marcella, a teacher at Bridgton Academy, sent three students to help her out. And when fellow members of the First Congregational Church realized how overwhelming her husband’s absence had become, they volunteered to take turns making dinner for the family every Sunday and Wednesday.

“I don’t know how she does it with all these little ones,” Jeannine Robinson said recently as she delivered a steaming pot of American chop suey and homemade biscuits. “We think an awful lot of them and we want Todd to know we’re taking care of them.”

Crawford is grateful for the help and the concern. Her biggest frustration is waiting and worrying, especially when she hears news like last Tuesday’s bombing that killed two Mainers. Her husband had left the building five minutes before the blast, but it was several hours before she heard from him.

As she struggles to keep it all together, she recognizes that she must choose her battles. Things that might otherwise ruin her day have become much less important. Like when the clothes dryer’s heating element recently died. Or when the power steering on her Chevy Suburban went out. Or when she withdrew $20 from a cash machine and left the money behind.

“It’s all so trivial,” Crawford says. “I just keep going. I can’t stop and feel sorry for myself for too long. My God, some people lost their loved ones the other day. My husband is alive and hopefully will be home in six months.”

Kelly Crawford with her daughter Bailey, 7, in their Bridgton home last week. She and her husband, Lt. Todd Crawford, have six young children at home. He is now in Iraq, based in Mosul.

HOMEFRONT: DEALING WITH DEPLOYMENT

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Fear, Relief For Families After Attack On Va. Unit

Washington Post
December 22, 2004
By Chris L. Jenkins

RICHMOND, Dec. 21 — The call came to Patricia Otto’s home at dawn, waking her from a restless sleep. Her husband, Lt. Shawn Otto, a 40-year-old soldier stationed with the Virginia National Guard in Iraq, was on the other end of the line.

“He said, ‘I just want you to know that I’m okay,’ ” she recalled from her Williamsburg home. ” ‘You’re going to hear about some horrible stuff that’s happened today. I can’t say anything more . . . but I’m okay.’ “

Thus began a day of fear, relief and sorrow for Trish Otto, 38, and dozens of others with loved ones in the Richmond-based 276th Engineer Battalion, the Virginia National Guard unit that was among those attacked Tuesday by Iraqi insurgents outside the northern city of Mosul.

There was relief for families that heard directly from relatives telling them they had survived. There was fear, because others hadn’t had any direct reports. There was sorrow because family members felt the pain of others whose worst fears might have been confirmed.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which has reporters embedded with the unit, two of the battalion’s soldiers were killed in the attack.

“We have not been able to confirm any of those reports,” Lt. Col. Chester Carter III, a Virginia National Guard spokesman, said Tuesday afternoon.

Despite extensive news reporting on the attack, the families had little direct information.

“That’s the hardest part about this for so many,” said Melissa Doss, 32, of Henrico County. She did know that her husband, Capt. Chris Doss, also 32, was not wounded.

As the organizer for families of the guardsmen, she had received a flurry of e-mails and calls from worried people looking for answers.

“It’s been a hard, hard day,” Doss said. “Many of the families are in turmoil, trying to understand what’s happened and if their loved ones are okay.”

Just two weeks ago, the support group held a family day for the soldiers’ children and spouses.

Virginia’s leaders expressed support for the families of the guardsmen, who have been in Iraq since March and are scheduled to come home by the first week of March 2005.

“This further reinforces the enormous sacrifice . . . of these citizen soldiers,” Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) said in front of the governor’s mansion. Warner said he had spent time with the battalion exactly a year ago Tuesday, as they were being deployed to Fort Dix, N.J., before shipping out for Iraq.

“These are our bravest men and women who are putting their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we all enjoy,” state Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R) said.

The 276th Engineer Battalion, which Virginia Guard officials said can trace its history to Colonial times, has a mission that is shared by companies throughout the war-torn country: finding and removing land mines, securing bridges, building fortifications. Its soldiers also are responsible for securing the border with Syria, where many insurgents are thought to be slipping though.

The battalion’s soldiers number more than 500 and range in age from their early twenties to early fifties. Its three companies are based in Powhatan and West Point, in the Richmond area, and Cedar Bluff, in southwestern Virginia.

They secured Virginia’s two nuclear plants after the Sept. 11 attacks and have helped raze a dilapidated housing facility in nearby Petersburg.

Then, last December, the 276th became one of several Virginia Guard units called up for service in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Several family members said the soldiers had experienced the war’s violence: an attack on their mess tent or a nearby explosion in the middle of the night. But family members said that the guardsmen considered themselves lucky that they had not suffered any fatalities during their stay in one of Iraq’s most dangerous regions.

“We just want them home,” said Millie Byler, grandmother of Evan Byler, 26, a soldier who has been injured twice but was reported to be okay after this latest attack. “We just want them home.”

Family plans 2nd Christmas Celebration When Husband Returns

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The Associated Press State & Local Wire

December 26, 2004, Sunday

By Dan Murtaugh, Mobile Register

STAPLETON, Ala. – It was Christmas day, and in Debbie Bryars’ home the stockings were hanging above a small fire, the floor was covered in toys and wrapping paper, and the family held hands in the kitchen as Bryars said a prayer before dinner.

But for Bryars, Saturday was only a “practice” Christmas.

The real thing won’t happen until her husband, Sgt. Kevin Bryars, returns from Iraq, where he’s stationed with the 711th Signal Battalion of the Alabama Army National Guard.

“We’re leaving the tree up,” she said. “If the neighbors have to look at garland and lights in March, they’re still going to be there.”

Bryars is one of thousands spending Christmas without their spouse because of the conflict in Iraq. The 711th, which is based in Bay Minette, Foley and Atmore, left for the Middle East in January.

The battalion has about 700 troops, making it one of the larger Alabama units to be deployed to Iraq since the war began.

Bryars said the holidays have been the toughest time, but she has gotten through them because of faith, family and long-distance phone calls.

Most of the soldiers in the 711th are expected to return by early spring, although about 50 will be coming home this week, said Rebecca Caudill, head of the local family support group for the battalion.

Caudill’s husband, Sgt. Richard Caudill, will be among the early arrivals, but she still had to spend Christmas without him. She said she missed their ritual of opening their presents to each other on Christmas Eve, before putting gifts for their two children under the tree.

“It’s very emotional for the women whose husbands aren’t there to share the holidays with them,” she said.

Despite the sadness of a holiday apart from her husband, Bryars said she’s proud of what he is doing in Iraq. When he came home for a two-week visit in October, he told his wife about a 3-year-old boy who blew kisses to the troops as they passed by.

Earlier this week, Kevin Bryars and some of his fellow troops tried to bring a little holiday cheer to Iraq, Bryars said.

“He told me they were hooking up surround-sound at the mother board for communications, and they’re going to be putting on Chevy Chase, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” Bryars said.

Bryars said that she knew the holidays could be tough: Her worst day since her husband left was Easter, when he couldn’t call because the phone lines were so tied up and she cried all day.

There were no tears Saturday.

Kevin Bryars called home at 5 a.m. and talked to Debbie and her two children from a previous marriage, 9-year-old Blake and 7-year-old Bethany, as he opened the presents they had shipped him. Bryars said the presents were mostly small items, like DVDs, so he could pack them easily when he came home.

Bryars had the extra support of her sister, Julie Thomaston, who also has a husband in Iraq. Sgt. Dan Thomaston works alongside Kevin Bryars in the 711th.

The two also have another sister whose husband is in Turkey with the Air Force.

“This is the hardest part, the holidays,” Julie Thomaston said. “But it’s been a blessing having my sister here.”

Several other family members also gathered at Bryars’ home in Stapleton on Saturday. The adults spoke in the kitchen while children played with newly unwrapped toys. Blake drove his remote-controlled Hummer around the living room as Thomaston’s 1-year-old daughter, Morgan, squealed with glee.

Bethany wore around her neck a dogtag Kevin Bryars sent her from Iraq, with the inscription “From Daddy with love. U.S. Army, Iraq 2004.”

She said she got “a thousand” presents, but she didn’t get the one thing she wanted the most.

“I wrote Santa a letter,” she said, then grabbed a nearby notebook and scrawled:

“All I want for Christmas is for my Daddy to come home.”

Military Liaison Helps Soldiers’ Families In Northwest Arkansas

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The Associated Press State & Local Wire

December 26, 2004, Sunday

ROGERS, Ark. – Military families who need assistance are finding help from 20 family assistance coordinators stationed around Arkansas.

Jennifer Wilson helps in Rogers, where she works at the National Guard Armory answering questions about how to fix leaky pipes and broken vehicles and offering advice about balancing monthly bills and finding childcare.

“This community is not aware of all the people that are needing help,” Wilson said. “I want to be here for you.”

Wilson said she handles questions from more than 80 military familes from all branches of the service. She connects them with people who can help them solve their problems, she said.

HOMEFRONT: DEALING WITH AFTERMATH

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Widow Still Frozen In Time

The Daily Reflector

12-21-2004

By Stanley B. Chambers Jr.

WINTERVILLE, N.C. – The message on the answering machine in the Winterville home is a simple one.

“Hey, Dawn, it’s me,” the voice says. “Just calling to say good night. I love you. I miss you. I’m heading back out in the field, so I won’t be able to talk to you in a couple of days, and I’ll call you when I get back in.”

But those words were left more than a year ago by someone who won’t be coming home. Capt. Chris Cash, speaking in the message to his wife, Dawn, was killed near Baqubah, Iraq, on June 24 when his armored vehicle came under attack.

Chris, 36, a company commander with the N.C. Army National Guard, was shot as he shouted from the hatch of his vehicle for his men to take cover. Cash grew up in Old Orchard Beach and graduated from Old Orchard Beach High School.

For Dawn, many aspects of life have been frozen since that day in June. She calls home at least once a week just to hear Chris’ message, left while he was training in Georgia. Chris’ parents, who live in Maine, call as well.

Dawn has no plans to erase the message. She can recite the words from memory; she plays it every night before going to bed. She also has kept the outgoing message Chris recorded.

Chris’ brown dress shoes still sit in front of his clothes hamper next to the bedroom dresser. In the hamper are clothes left in February right before he was deployed.

On Dawn’s fourth finger, left hand is her wedding ring and engagement band. On the middle finger of her left hand is Chris’ white gold wedding band, engraved with “I love you, 8-4-01.” Aug. 4, 2001, is the day they were married.

“When you go through something like this, you don’t want to face the reality that things have changed,” she said. “It’s hard to describe; you don’t want things to change, so you’re not going to change with them.”

There have been changes in her life, though. Tears, which can come without warning, tend to ruin her makeup on bad days. She also finds herself attending memorials and other military-related events. Recently, she spoke at an East Carolina University graduation ceremony.

In late November, it was a military appreciation breakfast at the Ramada Inn. Dawn, another military widow and the parents of a 20-year-old whose son served with Chris shared their stories of losing a loved one, and the country singing group Shedaisy performed a few songs.

The one that struck a chord with Dawn was “Come Home Soon,” a song about the life of a military wife whose husband is deployed.

“That song just cut to the heart, because you know that your soldier is not coming home and that you will be dying alone,” Dawn said.

Chris was supposed to come home in March 2005. He had two sons from a previous marriage, but the couple wanted to start their own family.

Chris had made his home in eastern North Carolina while attending East Carolina University. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in health and fitness in 1997 and a master’s in health education in 2002.

Chris’ first marriage had ended in 1994, and he met Dawn, an accountant for a local accounting firm, in 1999 when a mutual friend introduced them. Chris was ecstatic when Dawn told him in April she was training for a 10-mile run. Her exercise regimen had included aerobics and weight training, but she didn’t run much before meeting Chris.

After his death, she didn’t run at all. Eating wasn’t much of an option, either.

“My body did not want it,” she said. “Even the thought of food would make me sick.”

About a month after Cash’s funeral, Dawn finally went for a run with one of Chris’ running buddies. Now, she’s out running up to five times a week, running for about 20 minutes and then walking for one minute, doing the routine for up to six miles.

“It makes me feel connected to Chris, since he loved to run so much,” she said. “It helps to clear your mind; it helps wash everything from your brain. I know it sounds weird, but I feel Chris beside me when I run.”

Dawn also visits Chris’ grave in Pinewood Cemetery on N.C. 33 a few times a week. “I feel closer to him here,” she said. “Especially in the summer, I would take my journal out there and write.”

She wrote letters to Chris in the journal, telling him of the events in her life, her thoughts and feelings and how proud she is for what he had done in Iraq. She supports the decision to send U.S. troops to Iraq, she said.

“Chris believed with all his heart in their reasons for being in Iraq,” she said. “He believed in giving people the life they deserved to have.”

Sometimes she becomes frustrated with media accounts of the situation in Iraq because she feels they’re not telling the entire story. Chris’ unit provided security for the town of Balad Ruz, protecting schoolchildren and helping create a water system for farmers. She was told Chris was well liked by the town’s mayor and citizens.

While the death and destruction that is reported from Iraq continues to upset her, she still tunes in. Some of Chris’ men are still over there. Dawn is also taking steps to come to terms with her loss; one step involves a weekly appointment with a grief counselor.

It was about seven weeks after Chris’ death when she first saw the counselor on the recommendation of a friend. Their meeting day varies upon each other’s schedule, but the topic is the same – what happened to Chris and how she is dealing with it.

“She’s able to let me talk and get out my feelings,” Dawn said. “She just sits there and listens and tells me I’m not crazy, that this is all normal.”

Their sessions last about an hour; Dawn doesn’t know when they’ll end.

“I don’t know, that’s one of the issues I’m dealing with,” she said. “Before he left, I knew what my future was. It was going to be with him and us starting our family. Now, I don’t know what my future is. Honestly, you can’t think that far in the future. You just think about the next day, how you’re going to survive the next day.”

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http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/12202004/maine/54932.htm

GENERAL

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Guard Troops to Help Inaugurate State Commanders in Chief

American Forces Press Service

21 December 2004

By Master Sgt. Bob Haskell, USA

ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 21, 2004 — National Guard troops in 11 states and Puerto Rico are preparing for some post-holiday festivities in January. They will take part, in one way or another, in the inaugurations for their state commanders in chief — their governors.

In events like the inaugurations, National Guard soldiers and airmen get to take part in a public celebration while supporting state and local law enforcement agencies in the name of homeland security.

Gubernatorial elections were held in American Samoa, Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Puerto Rico, Utah, Vermont, the state of Washington, and West Virginia in November.

Wherever there was a gubernatorial election, there will be an inauguration early in the new year, said a spokesman for the National Governors Association. The inaugurations will begin as early as Jan. 2, if a winner is declared in Puerto Rico, and will last practically until George W. Bush is inaugurated for a second term as president in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20.

Guard troops are expected to take part in every state inauguration except in American Samoa, which does not have a National Guard force.

Missouri is pulling out all of the stops for Gov.-elect Matt Blunt, according to Guard officials in the “Show Me” State, who have prepared Operation Order 05-05 with the catchy subtitle “Show-Me Smooth Transition” for the Jan. 10 inaugural festivities in Jefferson City.

The order calls for the 35th Engineer Brigade to have a Quick Reaction Force ready to roll in case of an emergency. Members of Missouri’s 7th Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team and the state’s newly minted team of Guard people trained to help emergency responders and victim’s deal with weapons of mass destruction will also be on duty or on call.

Missouri’s new team is one of 12 Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear or High-Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Packages that have been trained and evaluated across the country within the last year. Called CERFP teams, they can be deployed to wherever they are needed, including other states, to provide medical aid and decontamination support for civil authorities during the inaugural season.

The nation’s 32 Army-certified Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams can also serve in other states.

Other Missouri Guard troops, meanwhile, are preparing to take part in the pomp and ceremony of Blunt’s inauguration.

The state’s 135th Army Band will perform; F-16 fighters from the Missouri Air Guard’s 131st Fighter Wing will perform a flyover over Jefferson City, the state capital; and members of the 135th Field Artillery Brigade will fire a 19- gun salute to the new governor at high noon on Jan. 10.

An estimated 40 members of the Indiana Guard will participate in the two days of ceremonies for that state’s Gov.-elect Mitch Daniels in Indianapolis on Jan. 9-10, explained Capt. Lisa Kopczynski, the Indiana Guard’s spokeswoman.

The Hoosier Guard members will provide protocol personnel for gala events scheduled for the day before the Jan. 10 inauguration. They will escort Daniels to the inaugural ceremony, post the nation’s and state’s colors, fire an artillery salute, and provide protocol personnel for an open house in which members of the public can meet the new governor.

The state of Washington’s National Guard will provide an honor guard of 40 volunteers for the Jan. 12 inaugural ball at the state capital in Olympia, explained retired Col. Rick Patterson, the Washington Military Department’s spokesman.

That state’s inauguration committee maintains that the ball will take place even though all election results have not been tabulated. The National Governor’s Association reports that Dino Rossi has been certified as the winner of a machine recount, but the hand count is still going on. Stay tuned, Patterson advises.

(Army Master Sgt. Bob Haskell is assigned to the National Guard Bureau.)

Children Find Way To Honor Deployed Dad At School

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WRAL.com

December 22, 2004

GARNER, N.C. — While their loved ones fight for Iraq’s freedom, the families of deployed troops have a battle of their own — trying to celebrate the holidays without a family member.

Maj. Scott Boyle has been deployed with the North Carolina National Guard in Iraq for 10 months. Every Monday and Wednesday morning, his children are in charge of raising the American flag outside of their school.

Two young children are doing that by turning a school ritual into a way of honoring their father.

For a lot of families, Christmas can be a hectic time with a lot of rushing around. For the Boyle family, it is a time of waiting and worry.

“Last night, Parker was laying in the bed with Daddy’s picture just crying,” Pam Boyle said of her 6-year-old son.

Maj. Scott Boyle has been deployed with the North Carolina National Guard in Iraq for 10 months.

His picture hangs on a small tree at Rand Road Elementary honoring the deployed.

“They know dad’s on the firing line, dad’s risking his life every minute for our own safety here at home. We want the kids to know we’re thinking of them,” said Linda Pearson of Rand Road Elementary.

The school has also given Parker, and his sister, Tanner, 7, a special task.

Every Monday and Wednesday morning, they are in charge of raising the American flag outside their school.

“They act like they’re honoring their dad by doing it. They love doing it, so we have to get up early a couple mornings a week,” Pam Boyle said.

The task is a special way to deal with feelings of sadness and fear.

“It’s scary, because you don’t know where he’s at at times and you never know if he’s hurt or not,” Tanner said.

The Army has not told Boyle’s family the specific date when he will be coming home. He hopes to be home before Tanner’s birthday on Jan. 7. He missed her birthday last year due to his deployment.

Reporter: Megan Hughes

Online Producer: Michelle Singer

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