Shipping Out - Again
An Army Reserve Unit prepares to Head to Iraq--proudly, but not without doubts
DEVENS, MASS.--They file in, eyes cast down, camouflage caps in their left hands. Many look like kids, with their fresh new buzz cuts and uniforms that haven't yet been lived in. As they pass their families, some can't resist making faces, or grinning self-consciously. It is the farewell ceremony for these reservists, a transportation company on its way to Iraq for 18 months. Some have been there before and know they have one of the most dangerous missions in the country. Many have stopped watching the news, which is filled these days with either reports of soldier deaths or antiwar protests. Their company commander, Capt. Lance Oliver, gives the final speech, in which he captures the crosscurrents of this particular moment in American history. "Many in our country believe we should not be in Iraq, but a soldier does not ask these questions," he says. "We have our opinions, but that is not why we are here. We are here because our country called us and because we are patriots."
It is always difficult when soldiers leave for war, a time filled with tears, pride, and unmentionable anxieties. These 175 men and women are certainly patriots. What they are giving up is immeasurable--children's birthdays, relationships, time away from the rest of their lives. But for these citizen-soldiers, their departure is doubly difficult, coming at a moment when the public mood toward the war has soured, when many--their compatriots, their families, sometimes even themselves--question the value of their sacrifice. Polls show growing disapproval of the president's handling of the war in Iraq. Army recruitment is falling short of its annual goal. Guard and Reserve members, once known as "weekend warriors" for their commitment of one weekend a month and two weeks per year, now account for 40 percent of the 138,000 troops on duty in Iraq. Military officials worry about whether these troop levels are sustainable, with next year expected to be the toughest recruiting year yet. "What keeps me awake at night is, what will this all-volunteer force look like in 2007?" Gen. Richard A. Cody, Army vice chief of staff, asked at a Senate hearing earlier this year.
The 220th is but one unit in hundreds of similar units, marching in a farewell ceremony replicated in small towns and communities all around the country. Spc. Justin Derr is 19 and has a crooked, cocky grin. He and his best friend, Spc. Arron McLaughlin, both enlisted just after Sept. 11, 2001. They were juniors in high school then, in East Hampton, Conn., and didn't know what else to do. Now they are older, and have started their lives. Justin just proposed to his girlfriend; when he comes back, he wants to become a firefighter in South Boston. Arron thinks about being a cop. They are "20 percent scared, 80 percent excited" about going over to Iraq. They take pride in the fact they were singled out to train as gunners on the humvees. But they also have questions. "I don't agree with the war, but I'm in the military, and I was told to go," says Derr. "I just wish we were going to Afghanistan instead--they're the ones who caused 343 firefighters to die on 9/11."
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.
Help not wanted. Last time Moreira was in Iraq, he was based in Nasiriyah and drove fuel around the country--a job that now faces one of the highest frequencies of insurgent attacks. With an air of resignation, Helene says, "I don't think we should be over there anymore. They just keep on killing us; they obviously don't want the help." As Moreira joins his fellow soldiers for a formation, Jordyn runs after him, and Helene pulls her back. "No, no, stay with Momma," she says. "Daddy's got to go to work."
Though the military has not announced how long it intends to keep U.S. troops in Iraq, it has drawn up worst-case scenario plans that would keep forces there through 2009. With the active and Reserve Army 25,800 recruits behind its 2005 goal as of the end of July, and every active-duty soldier having served at least two tours in Iraq by the end of the year, it is clear that the Guard and Reserve will continue to play a large role in the war--and suffer its casualties. Since May 1, more than 122 Guard and Reserve forces have been killed in Iraq. This can have an effect on public opinion toward the war. With active-duty soldiers, when a unit takes casualties, they are not all from the same place. But in one week in August, 14 members of the Ohio Marine Reserve were killed by a massive roadside bomb, three Georgia National Guard troops were killed by a suicide bomber, and four soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard were killed in a single attack. "With Guard and Reserve units, you can end up with a lot of people from one part of the country dying in one day, and that gets people's attention," says Lawrence Korb, a defense expert at the Center for American Progress.
Specialist Derr's mother, Linda Honey, says that although she thinks the war is dragging on too long, she is 100 percent behind her son and the other soldiers. "I'm sad because he's only 19, he's my only son, and he's going to turn 21 over there, and when he comes back he's not going to be this little boy anymore," she says. "I look around the room, and it's like, wow, all these soldiers are going, and all these families will be affected, and this is just one little unit. And then you think of all the people who have gone before. Before, I had my opinions, but it wasn't in my own backyard. Now it's in my own backyard."
With Silla Brush
This story appears in the September 5, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.