Chesty
USMC
Posted on 05/10/2002 1:14:21 AM PDT by Snow Bunny
MEDFORD -- "Pardee!" howled 1st Sgt. Randy Mefford, hollering to be heard above the whining idle of the 727 airliner some 100 feet behind him.
"Yes, First Sergeant!" Ben Pardee yelled in response, already moving to his rucksack. He hoisted it to his shoulder and trotted toward the rear of the plane, M-4 assault rifle dangling behind him.
"Quezada!" "Yes, First Sergeant!"
The citizen-soldiers of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry, Oregon National Guard, were assembled before Mefford. It was still only 6:15 a.m. Thursday, and the sun had not yet cleared Roxy Ann, the butte to the east of Medford Airport, to bake the morning nip out of the air.
"Rawding!" "Yes, First Sergeant!"
From the back of the pack, Capt. Eric Riley, Alpha Company commander, marveled at the sight. In the past two weeks, he had seen his troops go from college students, police officers and medical technicians to full-time soldiers heading into possible danger. Riley himself is a wildlife biologist who lives in Roseburg and works in the Umpqua National Forest.
Under normal circumstances. "It's amazing watching this," he said. "It's amazing what we ask them to do, leaving home for this mission. These are my fellas. I love them all."
Alpha Company was on the first of three planes that took 529 soldiers of 1st Battalion on the first leg of its journey to the biggest Oregon National Guard infantry deployment since World War II.
Come mid-July, the unit will assume duty with the Multinational Force and Observers , a United Nations peacekeeping force that monitors the Sinai Peninsula to ensure peace between Egypt and Israel. The concept was born of the 1978 Camp David accords, the treaty between the two warring countries.
The Oregon National Guard troops, only the second Guard unit to do this since the first forces occupied the Sinai in 1981, won't be back until late January. The first stop Thursday was Fort Carson, Colo., at which they will train for the duty for two months.
After that, the Oregonians will relieve 1st Battalion, 153rd Infantry of the Arkansas National Guard. They will maintain checkpoints, observe movements of Egyptian and Israeli armies and keep the Strait of Tiran open.
They also will broil in 120-degree heat and endure an isolation few of them have experienced before. And they will endure it in a volatile part of the world, just down the peninsula from the agony between Israelis and Palestinians and within rapid deployment range of Iraq.
First Battalion drew the assignment in December, when the Pentagon decided to use the Oregonians instead of an active duty unit based in Alaska. With ongoing and potential military brushfires all over the world, Army resources are stretched thin.
The final two days before the planes came to haul the soldiers away was a disjointed swirl of last-minute preparations, checks, double-checks, soul-searching -- and one-lasts.
One last chance to fill out the next-of-kin paperwork. One last sweaty session of physical training. One last picnic at Emigrant Lake with families. One last look into the rucksacks, the utility backpacks that will carry all the soldiers' lives with them into the desert.
It happened all over the 186th's drawing area, at armories in Klamath Falls, Medford and the regiment's headquarters on Main Street in Ashland.
In Ashland, the soldiers assembled in formation at 8 a.m. for daily orders, then scattered in groups to prepare.
By Thursday, the soldiers were sick of waiting. "I'm anxious to go," said Sgt. Dave Bowman, a military policeman from Tualatin. "Once we get past this" -- he swept a beefy arm across the indoor concrete drill pad as soldiers scurried across it -- "I'll be a lot better. We need to get the wheels up and the boots in the sand. We're finding a lot of stress around here this week."
Another, less visible undercurrent flowed: The soldiers are headed into an uncertain future.
They all see what the rest of the public sees: A suicide bombing in Tel Aviv . . . Israeli tanks in Ramallah . . . ambushes in Afghanistan . . . pundits speculating on when, not if, the United States will attack Iraq.
And nobody really knows what it all portends. "It can be very good," said Sgt. Maj. Kevin Swogger, the top enlisted man in the expedition, "and it can be very bad. It's hard to get a handle on how they feel when the situation changes every couple of weeks."
Swogger is confident of this much: 186th soldiers could handle whatever looms. "They're as well-trained as any unit in the active duty Army unit," he said. "I'd put these soldiers up against anybody."
So would Sgt. 1st Class T.J. Santoyo, a platoon sergeant from Medford who will run a group of infantry soldiers in the Sinai. But his soldiers are less certain. "Sure, we're excited about going," he said. "But some of them are scared. . . . Right now, we all just pray that we come back the same as we left."
Barring a radical change, they will, according to Ron Tammen, director of the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University.
"This (multinational force) is one of the great untold stories of success in the Middle East," he said, "because it works. It has served its purpose well -- neither side has tested it."
An invasion of Iraq? "I don't think these guys will be in the line of fire," Tammen said. "They're isolated, scattered around and not really a high-value target."
But could they become a rapid deployment force in Iraq? "I doubt it," Tammen said. "In a crisis, they'll be even more valuable where they are. (Their presence) will keep the tension down and keep both the Egyptians and Israelis more at ease."
Lt. Col. Dan Cameron, the 41-year-old commander of the 186th, is too busy to be concerned with the what-ifs. He's been dealing with the whats for six months.
He's built a force: The average age is 26. About a dozen of his senior enlisted troops have soldiered in the desert -- some during Desert Storm, some during the deployment of a company of the 162nd Infantry out of Gresham to Saudi Arabia more than two years ago.
He saves the best for last: Nearly everybody who is going volunteered for the mission.
"I'd say that only about five percent are reluctant to go," he said. "We've lost some to routine medical examinations. . . . There are quite a few people around here who are pretty upset that they can't go."
"Respini!" "Yes, First Sergeant."
Capt. Eric Riley, wildlife biologist, reached for his rucksack. "Well," he said. "Time for me to go."
He turned for a moment, smiled broadly and waved to the cluster of families pressed against the window of the waiting area.
Kristen Riley waved back to her husband while their sons, 4-year-old Cole and 1-year-old Logan, played at her ankles and their unborn third child grew a little more inside her.
"It's definitely gotten more emotional in the past five months," she said. "It's almost like, 'hurry up and go' so he can get back sooner."
The new baby is due July 27, about the time Eric Riley unpacks his rucksack in the Sinai Desert. He will miss the birth.
Is she ready for this? "Do I have a choice?" she said. "No, really, I have good family support around me. We have e-mail -- we bought a digital camera together so we can see each other."
The 727 started rolling along the tarmac at 6:42 a.m. Men and women cried and held each other as it taxied to the runway.
At exactly 6:55 a.m., when the rear wheels lifted off the runway, the Oregon citizen-soldiers became soldier-citizens.
Michael Love served as a U.S. Navy Corpsman during the Vietnam War.
This painting on the side of his office is a tribute to all veterans.
Let's all remember to pray for all of those who have it out on the line today, and for all of those who are sacrificing so that they may do so.
Let's also remember those who are perhaps not risking bodily harm, but are nonetheless sacrificing much in the political war to restore and defend our beloved Republic's foundational principles on the home front.
Keep up the good work, my friend!
EV
10. Last night you had a dream and everyone was using acronyms.
9. You think Ft. Polk is a resort area.
8. You have 3 sons and their names are Riley, Hood, and Stewert.
7. Your baby's first words were Hoowaa!!!
6. Your relatives refuse to write your phone # down in ink in their address book.
5. You have a bumper sticker that reads, I'd rather be packing out!!
4. Your spouse tells you they are going TDY and you immediately think of ways how to spend the extra money!
3. Your children ask if they can go to the PX while you are on leave.
2. Every time there is a threat of any kind in the world, your mom calls and asks if your spouse knows anything about it.
1. When you go the PX, your 10 month old calls out daddy to anyone wearing a set of BDU'S
My hubby was a military spouse for many of the years I was in the Air Force. He also served in the AF for four years, but separated when we got married. While I was deployed for ODS, he was "Mr Mom" and supported the war effort as a civilian working in Transient Alert at Hill AFB.
Thanks for this thread today Bunny. What a great tribute to Joe Brower and I love that today is Military Wives Appreciation Day!
Good Morning to all of our troops! You are in my prayers! Thank you for fighting for our freedom and our safety! Y'all are the BEST!!!!!!!
Carlson: Retired Burlington dentist is ready for Air Force drill By JOHN CARLSON Register Columnist 05/10/2002 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can only imagine what the teen-agers thought when they saw Charles Thie step to the front of the line at the military induction center in West Des Moines.
Not that he looks ancient or anything. But the truth is, Thie was the oldest man at the enlistment center that day last December. Or probably any other day.
To every other enlistee in the place, it must have looked like Dad was signing up to go off to war.
"I didn't exactly blend in," said the 57-year-old Thie.
But he passed the physical and took the oath, swearing to defend his country.
Now he's at home, getting ready to head out on a new adventure.
Well, it's not all that new for the Burlington dentist. Thie was in the Air Force from 1969 until 1972, when he came home to start what became a very successful practice.
"I retired a couple of years ago," Thie said. "I had a nice practice, but I figured 30 years is enough to do anything. My wife and I traveled and enjoyed ourselves. I built an experimental airplane and worked on getting my pilot's license."
Then, one Tuesday last September, Thie stared at his television and watched two American cities burn.
He thought about his daughter, Cathy, who lives in Philadelphia and just a week earlier had been to the World Trade Center area in New York.
And he worried about his son, Paul, an Army captain who on Sept. 11 was a tank commander on the Kuwait-Iraq border.
"I watched television two straight days," Thie said. "I thought I was probably too old to do anything to help, but I decided I was going to try."
Pam, his wife of 34 years, said it sounded like a fine idea, and so did Cathy and Paul.
Thie talked to recruiters and found out the military needs dentists.
"I told them I wanted to go back into the Air Force. They told me 57 was a little old, but that I should go for it," he said.
Now he's packing a suitcase for what will be a four-year enlistment.
Thie left the military three decades ago with the rank of captain. He'll go back in as a major, assigned to duty at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. A promotion to lieutenant colonel will come within a few months.
"I took the oath on April 22," he said. "We visited the base last week. I got my uniforms. I go on active duty June 1."
Thie is pretty excited about the whole thing, and he said friends and family are supportive.
"So many people have told me they'd love to be able to do what we're doing. But they can't for health reasons, or the military doesn't need their particular skill or it's not practical. It just happens to work out for us."
**** It turns out the mailbox bomber was stopped by police for traffic violations in three states - and released - before authorities figured out who he was.
It could be worse.
An Iowa law enforcement officer stopped a van in Johnson County in the fall of 1974 and spoke briefly with the driver before sending him down the interstate.
As the van drove away, kidnapped newspaper heiress turned bank robber Patty Hearst crawled out from under a blanket where she'd been hiding. Hearst was arrested a year later.
**** An Iowa psychiatrist read the nutty notes the bomber spread around the country and speculated that an older man who was possibly involved in agriculture was blowing up mailboxes.
An assistant Iowa attorney general said Iowa has a bunch of nut cases, so he thought the bomber might well be an Iowan.
Not quite, gentlemen. The self-confessed terrorist is a 21-year-old college student from Minnesota.
There's a story going around about some guys from Minnesota who drove to the Iowa border and threw a few sticks of dynamite across the state line.
An Iowan saw it happen, so he lit the fuse and threw the dynamite back into Minnesota.
This is an article that deserves a thread of it's own, but I don't know how to do it.
You can see the original copy here:
http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c5917686/18155534.html
Will somebody please ping Tonk to this story. I can never remember his "proper title" here.
You would tell me I was crazy, no one could be all this, but the fact is I know people who do all these jobs. They are known around the community as a special breed. One would think with a title like that they would be few and far between, but they are all over the world, and all over our home Country.
One may live next door to you. You would think to be able to keep up with all the jobs they do, this breed would have to be very tough, focused on one thing, that is getting the job done. You’re right on the matter of getting the job done. They not only get the job done; they do it better than most under the conditions they have to work.
The one thing I noticed watching this breed is that they look and act different than one would think. They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. All different colors-they even have different interests and past times. You can see them sitting in a crowded car in the middle of the night while the rain pours down. Screaming kids fighting, kit packed into every extra space.
You will find them chasing their youngest to put their mitts on, while they can’t feel their own feet from standing out in the freezing cold for so long. They can be found sitting for hours on the same chair in the most uncomfortable places. No matter what place you see them, they are there for the same reason - to support their husbands.
You will find them standing next to their husband beaming with pride, putting on a brave face as their husband kisses them quickly and says “ I have to go”. Waving good-bye with a smile on the outside while their insides come crashing down. They turn and look down at the little faces looking up at them, waiting to hear the comforting words, as they too watch their daddy go away. As they speak those magic words to the children, they think to themselves is it going to be okay?’ It has to be okay; they have to go on.
They have doing a job, because this is their job. With aching bones they tuck the last little one in. Sitting in the quiet for a moment they look around and realize they are alone again. Quickly getting up they put their pain in their back pocket, and go on knowing they are one of many.
Ouch, Doc, that hurts!!!!
Thanks for my doll, Misty!
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