Shipping Out - Again
An Army Reserve Unit prepares to Head to Iraq--proudly, but not without doubts
Last week, President Bush spoke to a group of Idaho National Guardsmen, breaking away from his vacation to counter the visibility of the antiwar protesters camped out outside his Crawford, Texas, ranch. The activists are led by the mother of a soldier killed last year in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, who has called for an immediate withdrawal of troops. A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll shows that 58 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way the Bush administration has conducted the war in Iraq, but only 37 percent say they favor pulling the troops out immediately. That split public mindset--thinking it's a mistake to have gone to war but that it would also be a mistake to get out prematurely--pulls on the reservists and their families.
In his Idaho speech, Bush spelled out some of the new measures his administration has taken to make the National Guard and Reserves more attractive--tripling the possible re-enlistment bonus, expanding healthcare and education benefits--and stressed the need to stay the course in Iraq. "An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists," he said. "As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down, and when the Iraqi forces can defend their freedom by taking more and more of the fight to the enemy, our troops will come home with the honor they have earned."
The administration's justifications for war in Iraq may resonate with some troops, and perhaps a couple of years ago, when fewer Americans were being killed on the streets of Baghdad and beyond, more soldiers would have openly echoed the president. The more than one dozen soldiers of the 220th interviewed for this article said they want to serve the country, yes; they are eager to do their duty, absolutely. But not one, when asked how they feel about going to Iraq, volunteers that he or she wants to fight in order to bring democracy to the Middle East.
Different this time. Staff Sgt. Kevin Moreira, a 27-year-old corrections officer from Raynham, Mass., holds his 5-month-old son Tyler, who wears a camouflage cap to match his own. His wife, Helene, sits with their daughter, Jordyn, on her lap. Jordyn, a 2-year-old with an impish smile, was born during Kevin's last tour in Iraq, which was in 2003 and lasted a year. "I never thought he would be called up this frequently," says Helene, wiping a wisp of blond hair out of her face. "I guess last time it was harder, because I was alone during my first pregnancy, but this time I also have two kids to worry about."
Most of the soldiers say the government is taking better care of them now that the Guard and Reserves have assumed such a major role in the war effort--that the deployment will not be bad for them financially, and that they don't worry about losing the jobs they hold (which some did a few years ago). The Army tripled the re-enlistment bonus in December, from $5,000 to $15,000 for a six-year commitment, for those whose military specialties are most in demand. Right now, that includes truck drivers, known as "88 Mikes" (a reference to the code in the Army handbook, 88M)--which is what makes up the 220th. Because there are not enough soldiers "re-upping," especially for convoy-driving duty, the military was forced to pull people from all over the country and train new recruits to fill the company. That also means that the tour of the 220th will be a long one.
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