Local Guardsmen reflect on the future
Sunday, March 4, 2007 12:08 AM PST
Pat Caldwell Argus Observer
ONTARIO
For most of the residents of the western Treasure Valley, the month of June carries an array of connotations.
For some, the first month of summer means the end of school. For others it translates into a new work season, perhaps the most important, as harvest time looms on the horizon.
For two area residents — one from Payette, the other from Weiser — June could, and probably will, mean something entirely different.
For Jerry Lopez, 29, Payette, June will mean he is going back on active duty with the U.S. Army.
For Kendall Giambo, Weiser, June means he will leave his grandparents, his new wife and travel with Ontario’s Army National Guard unit — Company A, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry, (Armor) — to Fort Bliss, Texas.
While there has been no official word from the Oregon National Guard regarding a deployment, for most citizen-soldiers of Alpha Company, mobilization in mid-June is an almost unspoken fact.
No one seems to doubt the 3rd Battalion, and with it Ontario’s Alpha Company, will begin a journey toward Iraq in June. Lopez and Giambo are on opposite ends of the experience and age gauge for Alpha Company and both are linked by their service in the local, 70-man, citizen-soldier tank company.
Both men represent more than 300 other Guardsmen scattered across Eastern Oregon from tiny towns like Union to bigger hamlets such as Ontario and Pendleton that appear to be slated for mobilization.
Giambo, 19, said he never expected he would be going to fight in Iraq when he signed up for the Guard. After 9/11, the 2003 Weiser High School graduate said he expected to be deployed to Afghanistan to fight terrorists, not to Iraq.
“When I signed, nothing was going on in Iraq,” Giambo said.
Like many other Eastern Oregon Guardsmen, Giambo and his wife, Jennifer, pushed their wedding date up so they could tie the knot before the 3rd Battalion deployed.
Giambo said he tries to stay focused on the job at hand at the armory and not dwell on whether his unit will end up fighting insurgents in Iraq.
Still, it is hard to flee from the notion the citizen-soldiers of the 3rd Battalion could be deployed for more than 18 months and Giambo said he knows it.
“I try to keep up on the news. I Like to know what is going on over there. As far as worry, I try to keep that out of my head. I just stop thinking about it,” he said.
While Giambo said he could shift his attention to his civilian job at a local ranch or his Guard work, he conceded for his immediate family the prospect of a long deployment to a combat zone cannot be so easily dismissed. Giambo said his wife has a very straightforward perception about his upcoming deployment.
“She doesn’t like it at all. She likes to keep quiet about it just for the fact she does not like it,” he said.
Giambo said he is concerned about the unknown but said he is confident about his own well being because of the unique makeup of Alpha Company.
“I have faith in the guys around me. I mean the ones that are tight are great and the ones that are not, well they’ll come around,” he said. At the other end of the spectrum is Staff Sgt. Jerry Lopez, Alpha Company’s fulltime supply sergeant. Lopez said he also moved up his marriage date. Lopez and Wendy Quintero, Payette, originally planned to tie the knot in 2005. Now, with a possible deployment looming, Lopez said they will probably marry within the next month. Lopez said for Wendy the transition to life in the Guard had its difficulties. That transition, he said, is made even harder now that he faces an 18-month deployment.
“Going from knowing nothing about the military to being with me, who is gung-ho, I think it’s been a shock to her,” Lopez said.
Lopez will be leaving a big family behind. His two children, from a previous marriage, live in Coos Bay. Lopez and Wendy take care of three children — two from her previous marriage and their 14-month-old son Malaki. Lopez said the separation from his big family would be tough.
“It breaks my heart, I’m going to miss them all,” he said. “If it wasn’t for my family I would be ecstatic to be there (Iraq) because I’ve been a supporter of the military from day one.”
Lopez, a 1993 graduate of Ontario High School, said he spent three years on active duty before joining the National Guard.
Lopez said he has talked to his children, tried to explain why he has to leave and what he will be doing in Iraq. Initially, he said, the children seemed to take the news in stride. Later, though, he said the impact of the news gradually started to show.
“When we explained it to them it didn’t seem to phase them. I told them I was going over there to help people. But since then my oldest has complained of not sleeping. They’re worried about me,” Lopez said.
Lopez, like Giambo, said he makes every effort to focus on his job. Lopez also said he garners a sense of purpose regarding the upcoming deployment. And, like Giambo, Lopez said he could draw on the unique camaraderie of Alpha Company for strength in a time of uncertainty.
Pat Caldwell is the editor of the Argus Observer. He can be reached at PatC@argusobserver.com
