A call to arms
Sunday, March 4, 2007 12:08 AM PST
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| TAMI HART | ARGUS OBSERVER
Pvt. Jason Brown (left) and Staff James Bates wait to board a plane for Fort Bliss, Texas, at the Pasco airport Friday. Brown and Bates are Oregon National Guardsmen with the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade. |
Tami Hart Argus Observer
PASCO, Wash.
Five-year-old Alexius Harris perched on her grandmother’s shoulders behind the fence, waving her small American flag with enthusiasm.
In a scene that has become all too familiar across Idaho and the nation, Harris was at the airport to bid goodbye to her father, Oregon National Guardsman Sgt. Jesse Harris.
Harris, a citizen-soldier with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry Brigade, was at the Pasco, Wash., airport with more than 400 Oregon Guardsmen Friday to board a plane that would take them to Fort Bliss, Texas, where they will train for a possible deployment to Iraq. They will join soldiers from the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 116th Cavalry Brigade, who deployed to Texas earlier in June.
Dawn Harris, Alexius’ mother and wife to Jesse Harris, said the deployment is something that has been at the back of her mind for a while and she and her husband have done what they can to prepare the family for the eventuality.
The youngest Harris knows exactly what her father is doing.
“He’s going on the airplane,” she said. “He’s going to work for a long, long time.”
Dawn Harris said the family support group spearheaded by other Guard wives is something she will count on in the coming months. “The other military wives know what it is we’re all going through,” she said.
On the other side of the fence, Guardsmen prepared their equipment and themselves for the trip to Fort Bliss. Canteens were emptied and refilled. Weapons were checked and rechecked and duffel bags became temporary seats as soldiers waited for their turn on the Tarmac.
Sgt. First Class Wayne Chastain, a platoon sergeant with Alpha Company, Ontario, said his troops are apprehensive about what lies ahead, but most are also excited relieved to finally get the mission started.
“I can’t speak for them, but for me it’s a relief. I want to get this over with. I tell my guys they need to stay focused and stay motivated and do what they have to do to come home,” Chastain, a Baker City resident, said. Sgt. Brian Allender has been with Alpha Company for nine years. Although he is trained as a tanker, Allender, who works at Amalgamated Sugar, said he will be used as an infantryman in Iraq.
“When you first think about it, there’s not a whole lot of protection for you in a Humvee,” Allender said.
Allender said he has a plan to get him through the coming months.
“I’m going to try to concentrate on my job — during the off time I’ll think about my family and try to write letters, but I’ll concentrate on my job at hand because if you don’t and you let your guard down who knows what can happen?”
