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Focus on White County: Called to duty

The 39th Infantry Brigade soldiers on the doorstep of Iraq

By Stephen Zeigler    26 Oct 2003
Editor

White County gave a rousing sendoff Friday at Spring Park in Searcy to the 140 local troops of the 39th Infantry Brigade who begin heading to Fort Hood Tuesday. From there, the troops go to Iraq sometime in March.
There were balloons, hugs and tributes.
But it is the third deployment since 1998 for members of the Second Battalion, 153rd Brigade, who went to Kuwait on the Iraq border in 1999 and then to Egypt in 2001, just returning in August.
It is safe to say they were hoping for an extended time home before being deployed again.
The honor to White County is significant, but so are the sacrifices. Lt. Sgt. Kirk Van Pelt estimates the soldiers' active duty time will be 18 months, including deployment to Iraq for a year.
Many businesses will have to compensate for the loss of valued employees for that period. Many cities will lose public officials, including police and firemen.
Bradford is losing a mayor.. The Riverside School District is losing a superintendent.
Some soldiers are newly married. Some are leaving behind pregnant wives. Many families are losing a parent for a time very important in children's lives.
The soldiers themselves face worries about what to expect in Iraq, concerns for their wives and children, and uncertainties about their safety and their friends' safety.
But they are called to duty. Here are just some of their stories.
Command Sergeant Major James "Larry" Nowlin, 55, was born in Searcy and now lives in Jonesboro.
"For the first 30 years, the only tours I went on were to Honduras, Panama, and Wales, each for two weeks' training. After 9/11, everything changed," Nowlin said.
He has two boys, but doesn't worry too much about them because they are 23 and 19. He does worry about the other families, however.
"We'll be so busy we'll think about our families when we have time, but the time will pass so fast for us. The wives will be pulling the load for the whole family while we're gone. A lot of wives are expecting."
Nowlin has been superintendent of the Riverside School District for six years.
For three of those, he has been gone.
"I always try to e-mail with my students but will probably be limited this time," Nowlin said. "When we were in Egypt I e-mailed with about 60. They want to know what the kids are like there, the culture, the schools. When I got back from Kuwait they'd made me a quilt with messages on it, and they made me a throw when I got back from Egypt."
His biggest worry is the usual one for officers.
"What I'm scared of is the possibility of losing soldiers. The thought of having to notify families that their loved ones might not come back or be disabled is the biggest fear I have. We're fixing to put 3,000 soldiers over there from Arkansas, altogether in one group. That's a concern."
Staff Sergeant Joshua Stewart, 24, was married in July to Dana Martin from rural White County, where they both went to White County Central school. They now live near Fayetteville in West Fork. Dana is attending the University of Arkansas.
"We got a phone call the unit had been put on duty the day our honeymoon in Pigeon Forge ended," Stewart said. "I wasn't surprised, but I'm not at all eager to go. My enlistment ended last February, but I was involuntarily extended."
"I wasn't married or thought that I would be soon when I wanted to quit in February.
"It's not what I wanted in the first six months of my marriage but I'm prepared. What we'll face will be different from our training. A lot of weight will bear down on every decision we make. The outcome will be more than a slap on the wrist if we make a mistake."
Pfc. Tyson Weaver, medic, 20, of Little Rock, has been in the Guard two years and three months. He and hs wife Jennifer, 19, were married May 31.
"I had a feeling I was going to be able to come home from training and raise my family," said Weaver. "This was a complete shock to me, but I'm ready to go do my job and come back to my family."
Weaver says his extended family gave him a party at his grandmother's house a couple of months ago.
"When I was walking out the door in my greens, my grandmother started crying because it's the last time I'll see her for about 18 months. At first I was completely torn up, but then I remembered this is what I signed up to do, so there's no point crying about it. If you're accepting taxpayer money you can't gripe when you're called to do your job."
Even at 20, Weaver has seen what happened to some veterans of the Vietnam war. He fears being traumatized by what he may see.
"I'm most afraid of changing, of being a different person when I get back. I believe now I'm a happy person. I'm secure and things don't get to me. I'm afraid of coming back a hard-hearted person, cold to my family. That's not who I am."
Weaver says he will try to keep himself centered with lots of letters and communication back home.
He and Jennifer have a baby girl, Olivia, due Christmas day.
"We're coming home Dec. 20 to Jan. 3, so I'll be there when the baby's born. It tears me up. She'll be walking and talking when I finally get home. But my wife is a very strong person. She'll cope."
Like many other medics, Weaver fears another thing.
"I'm scared of having to bag one of my buddies."
Specialist Jeremy Abele, 21, of Bald Knob, has been in the Guard four years. He and his girlfriend Jennifer have been together 14 months.
"I slightly expected it but it hasn't bothered me yet. I won't think about it until I get there. I'm a medic, so I'll probably see things a lot of doctors in a hospital don't see. I'm taking it day by day."
Abele's 16-year-old brother Derreick was in school Friday in Bald Knob, missing the Spring Park tribute.
"I don't want him to enlist. I don't want him to go through this."
Sgt. Randall Martin, 27, of Searcy, will turn 27 on Monday. He has been in the Guard 7.5 years, went to Kuwait in '99 and Egypt in '02, and is a first-year nursing student at ASU-Searcy.
"I wasn't expecting it so soon. You have mixed emotions. You feel good you're selected out of so many units in the nation. But sometimes, it's sad and heartbreaking to miss out on the experience of being there."
He and his wife Kelly have a child due May 10, to be named Mac if it's a boy, Emma if a girl.
Kelly said, "I just try to be positive. I know he likes the military and that's what he chooses to do so there's not much I can do about it. I have a great support system in Randall's mom and my grandparents."
Specialist James Poyner, medic, 26, from Bald Knob, has served 7.5 years and also has just returned from Egypt. His wife Leah was born in Searcy and raised in Bald Knob. They were married in 1998. They, too, heard about the new deployment in July.
"I wasn't expecting it, neither was my wife. These two deployments back-to-back are really difficult. I've got a four-year scholarship to UALR. Now it'll take seven years."
The timing is as bad for him as for most.
"Leah's upset. We're best friends and it's hard to be away from each other. It's time to start having childn, but we don't want to be apart for that."
Poyner does operations and network administration for Restaurant Equipment Company in Searcy. His absence will be stress on his boss, John Faucett, and the company, he said, but added that Faucett has been very supportive.
"He's a true patriot, and he says my job will be waiting. It's a great company, and going back to it is something I'll think about every day to keep me going in Iraq."
Poyner is confident about his readiness.
"I'm in a treatment squad, recently moved from the field. We'll see 80-100 percent of the injuries, and we're not treating strangers, they'll be friends and guys I'm close to. Seeing them go through pain is something I'm trying to be prepared for. This past summer camp a friend went down with heat stroke and stopped breathing. We cut him out of his clothes and doused him with water, and he's OK. When you're doing the treatment you're in a zone doing the work."
Sgt. Jerome George, 40, has served 17 years, counting two in the Army. He is originally from Holly Grove, moving to Searcy in late 1994.
His wife Bambi is the president of the White County Family Readiness Group. They have four children: Chance, 13; Annie, 12; Hunter, 10; Savanna, 8.
"The last time I was deployed, in Egypt, the loss was apparent in Chance. He didn't get in trouble or anything, but his grades fell. A dad needs to be there to explain things at that age," George said.
"I'll miss the holidays, the anniversaries, the birthdays, children's dance recitals and sports. I'll miss part of their childhoods. What'll happen is there's a transition period when you get back. You have to be really careful what you do and say, because the spouse is used to being the total parent figure. It's a transition for the spouse, the kids, everybody.
"When I told the kids, I didn't tell them all at the same time. I told the oldest first, then the next, then we were all together telling the youngest. Let's just say they weren't happy, the wife wasn't happy, but we've done it before and it's what I have to do."

Veterans Affairs