Posted on 12/19/2003 8:04:48 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
2nd Brigade Combat Team will go to Iraq
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, December 19, 2003
FORT HOOD -- On Christmas Day, soldiers with the 1st Cavalry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team will be sitting near the tree opening presents with family.
Four weeks later, many of them will be patrolling downtown Baghdad, Iraq, in armored personnel carriers with M-16s slung over their shoulders.
The separation will rest heaviest on the spouses, children and parents they leave behind during their yearlong tour.
"It scares me, but I know it's his job," Amy Virden, 21, said as she watched her husband, Spc. Larry Virden, 28, march with 3,000 of his colleagues at departure ceremonies Thursday.
"While he's gone, I'll pay the bills and take care of the house," she said. "But it'll be hard keeping my composure."
Controlling emotions was difficult as about 300 relatives of the 2nd Brigade gathered on the parade field to hear 1st Cavalry Division Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli wish the troops Godspeed before they leave in January.
Eva Spikes, 67, has had plenty of practice keeping her feelings in check. Her husband retired in 1992 after 30 years in the Army, including a tour as an infantryman in Vietnam.
"Back in 1969, I was watching Walter Cronkite on TV to see where my husband's unit was in combat," she recalled. "You never get used to it."
Her daughter, Cassandra Spikes, 28, will ship out with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team as an enlisted X-ray technician.
"But you do learn to accept it and make a life for yourself while they're gone," said Eva Spikes, who will take care of Cassandra's 10-year-old daughter. "Your job is to hold the family together and see that they go to church."
Couples in the Army have a somewhat easier time adjusting.
"I'm not looking forward to his being away, but I know he'll do what he has to do over there and come back," Spc. Lois Lowe, 29, said of her husband, Sgt. David Lowe, 29.
She is an eight-year veteran. Her husband has been a soldier for 10 years.
"I'm used to it," she said of his overseas assignment. "When you're in the military, you live by a high standard of conduct."
Several of the soldiers' relatives at the ceremony said the capture of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by units of Fort Hood's 4th Infantry Division has boosted morale on the huge Army post.
"I'm glad he was caught," Mack Johnson, 10, said. "It makes me feel like the war is sort of in our hands."
But Mack said nothing can ease his sorrow at the fact that he won't see his father, Spc. Matthew Johnson, 29, for a whole year.
"We play catch and go camping and play video games together," the boy said. "I'll be sad because he won't be with me."
While it's never easy to leave loved ones behind, Col. Michael Formica, commander of the departing brigade, said his troops are eager to get to work.
"Our job is to do whatever it takes to keep the Iraqis safe," Formica said.
You couldn't find a hotel room in Killeen for love nor money. The army was doing exercises to try to prepare the soldiers for Iraq and every room in town had been reserved for the various personnel needed to run these exercises.
Luckily I had made my reservations before the exercise was scheduled.
Godspeed to the troops.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.