Rob Biron, an Army Reservist, will head back to Iraq to help set up medical clinics. Biron is presently the medical manager for Raymond W. Bliss Army Clinic. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)
Posted on 09/05/2007 5:43:17 PM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — At a time when many are wondering when the war will end, a man from this city is headed to what could be considered the front line of Iraq.
U.S. Army Reserve Capt. Rob Biron is a nurse with trauma background and 14 months experience handling battlefield casualties in Landstuhl, Germany. In December he will begin a year of providing his services to ordinary people in Iraq.
“I’m going to be going into the neighborhoods,” the 46-year-old Biron said.
Biron calmly patted the head of his black Labrador retriever, Silky, as he relaxed Tuesday in his home on Golden Eagle Drive.
His bags were packed many days ago. Today, his orders would be cut from the Army’s Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne). He will be at Fort Bragg on Monday. He will serve with the 443rd Civil Affairs Battalion of Warwick, R.I.
“One of my cats is going to miss me more than anything,” he joked.
His home is full of patriotic symbols. The front yard has a tall, metal flag pole flying the American flag. He is not ashamed of his political beliefs as his car bears a bumper sticker expressing support for the war and the commander in chief.
In April, Biron re-enlisted in the Reserve for three more years to secure his retirement as a captain. He had already given the service 28 years including three active years and casualty-assistance duties during Desert Storm.
A couple of months later came the call-to-duty from Civil Affairs. He suspects his re-upping could have had something to do with his deployment. He also believes that his extensive qualifications, including his master’s degree in nursing and his job as a case manager with Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center on Fort Huachuca, came up in a keyword search. “I think that’s why they selected me.”
Biron does not characterize his deployment as part of the “surge.” Some senior officers on post have told him they believe his mission will be a humanitarian component of America’s anticipated drawdown in Iraq.
This will be his first trip to Iraq. He was told his tour would be 400 days, and on Tuesday he was still uncertain whether that included nine weeks of officer basic training at Fort Bragg, N.C., then two weeks of final preparation in Kuwait.
Besides his medical gear, he will also carry a .45 pistol.
The Civil Affairs battalion has deployed four previous times, and it is taking a lot of first-timers when it leaves in December.
“I’ll tell you, I’m scared,” Biron said with a grin and somewhat of a gleam in his eye.
“I got panicky the first day that they told me; it’s not that I didn’t want to go,” the father of two said. “When you go into their neighborhoods, you are at their protection, and I don’t know how great their protection is. That’s my concern.”
Biron’s wife, Theresa, a retired Army major who served as a family nurse-practitioner, supports her husband in this difficult time. She encouraged him.
“She said, ‘You want to go. You know you want to go,’ ” he said.
His deployment forced him to quit the presidency of the Cochise County Youth Orchestra, whose annual Fiddle in the Park event is slated for Sept. 22.
Biron’s older daughter, Sarah, 16, an 11th-grader at Buena High School, participates in the youth orchestra. His younger daughter, Elizabeth, 14, a ninth-grader, is a gymnast.
“When I told my oldest one, she cried,” Biron said. The younger daughter had a lot of questions.
Besides being a family man, Biron is a youth helper at Calvary Chapel on Wilcox Drive. He is a man of faith who has been given an honorary chaplaincy in the Reserve.
He hopes to take his guitar overseas.
“It’s my de-stresser,” he said, recalling some grueling days at Landstuhl. There, he also found release by keeping a daily journal, which he later published in a book, “At the Bedside of Warriors: Stories of Hope, Humanity and Heroism.” The book has sold several thousand copies.
Biron sees his mission as a humanitarian one. He knows that he must respect Muslim culture when he enters those homes.
“You don’t want to ‘dis’ them,” he said.
He finds it interesting that he has been given an opportunity to help kids.
“That’s always been my passion — the youth,” Biron said.
City Editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
Rob Biron, an Army Reservist, will head back to Iraq to help set up medical clinics. Biron is presently the medical manager for Raymond W. Bliss Army Clinic. (Ed Honda-Herald/Review)
Vaya con Dios!!
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