Spc. Matthew Clark, 23, kisses his wife, Sandra Rossa, 21, moments before boarding a bus Monday. Soon after, Clark and more than 200 other members of his unit, the 596th Maintenance Company, left on the first leg of their journey to Iraq for a yearlong tour. Clark and Rossa married two months ago and expect their first child in March 2007. Rossa said she was thinking the same thing everyone else was thinking as the troops loaded on buses: “I hope they all come back,” she said. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
GRIESHEIM, Germany — More than 200 soldiers of the 596th Maintenance Company got their farewell Friday, a day after getting final marching orders for Iraq.
This week, the unit leaves for its second one-year hitch to Iraq since May 2003.
The soldiers had prepared for the deployment for months, but the news that they will leave in just a few days still came as a bit of a shock, said company 1st Sgt. Darrold Harper before the farewell ceremony for his unit.
But the soldiers and their families exuded confidence as the deployment loomed.
Staff Sgt. Christopher Dulaney, 34, a platoon sergeant from Cleveland, addresses the troops of the 596th Maintenance Company after Friday’s farewell ceremony. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Pvt. Angie Ferrin, 22, from Puyallup, Wash., joined the Army nine months ago knowing she’d likely go to war. She has looked forward to the deployment since arriving in Germany in June.
“It’s a good experience to have,” Ferrin said. “Everyone has their own story, but you’ve got to go down for yourself to get your own story.”
Harper said about 40% of his troops have deployed before, and he’s relying on them to help the new soldiers adjust to life in a combat zone.
Leaders from U.S. Army Europe, the 3rd Corps Support Command and the 596th Maintenance Company shook hands with hundreds of 596th soldiers before a farewell ceremony Friday. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
“They’ve been there, they’ve done it, they know what to expect,” said Harper, who has done two tours in Iraq, once for Desert Storm and once in this war.
Families of soldiers are relying on experience as well.
Jennifer Ario, 33, wife of Spc. Brian Ario, said she’s better prepared for this deployment than when her husband left with the 596th in 2003.
During that deployment, Ario lived near family in the Duluth, Minn., area. There weren’t people around who understood what she was going through, and that was hard, she said.
Now living in Germany, with a legion of experienced Army spouses who know what she’s going through close at hand, Ario said she’s more confident as her husband prepares to leave again.
“This time I have the support of my community,” she said.
That doesn’t mean she’s looking forward to the separation.
“I’m sad, but at the same time I know that God’s going to be there for him,” said the mother of four.
Capt. Douglas M. Sweet, left, commander of the 596th Maintenance Company, and company 1st Sgt. Darrold Harper case the company’s guidon as Spc. Richard Louis, center, holds the staff Friday during a farewell ceremony in Griesheim, Germany. The unit, based in Darmstadt, leaves for its second Iraq deployment in the next few days. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Staff Sgt. Rogelio Campos consoles his 6-year-old daughter, Marisol, before boarding a bus for the first leg of his journey to Iraq. Campos’ wife, Tania, held 15-month-old daughter Celina, who, unlike Marisol, didn’t have as clear an understanding of what was going on. Marisol, however, has already waited through one deployment for her father’s return. “She remembers the first time,” Mrs. Campos said. “Now she understands.” (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Spc. Autumn Richardson, left, is consoled by friend and fellow soldier Pfc. Monique Fernandez as a bus carrying Richardson’s boyfriend, Spc. Jared Foulk, left on the first leg of a journey to Iraq. Foulk’s unit, the 596th Maintenance Company, left Monday for a one-year deployment. Richardson, 23, is pregnant with Foulk’s child and said she worried that Foulk might not return home. “I just want his baby to be able to know his father,” she said. On the right, Pvt. Jessica Lind, with beret, consoles Spc. Danielle Marsha, whose husband, Sgt. Brad Marsha, also left with the 596th. More than 200 596th Soldiers left Monday, and about three dozen will join them in about two months. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
Nadean Alvarado, 33, also has dealt with deployment before. Her husband, Sgt. Juan Alvarado, deployed to Jordan and to Kuwait before getting orders for Iraq.
“It’s all part of it if you’re in the Army” she said. “It’s not the first time, so I know what to expect.”;
For her, the hardest part of deployments isn’t what the separation does to her, but how it affects her children, ages 6 and 11, who miss holidays and birthdays with their father, as well as simply talking with him.
“You have to be strong for the kids,” she said.
That her husband will be gone for a year is a fact that still hasn’t hit her, Alvarado said. “When he actually leaves, then it will.”
Natalie Hepting holds onto her son, Jordan, 3, as the toddler watches his father, Sgt. Robert Woodring, board a bus on his way to a one-year deployment to Iraq. Woodring is one of more than 200 596th Maintenance Company soldiers who said goodbye to friends and family before leaving Monday. Hepting is pregnant, and expects to give birth in January, she said. (Matt Millham/Stars and Stripes)
