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Guard members are never far from Calahanıs mind Melodie Phelps News Editor Note: This weekıs Outlook includes our annual Progress edition, featuring a special section dedicated to the members of the local National Guard Unit. Photos and messages from family and friends are featured in this ³Heroes² section. After the edition went to press, SSG. Donald Calahan, an 18-year member of the National Guard and a Desert Storm veteran, returned from Ft. Dix to Monticello, where he will head up operations at the local armory. The Outlook felt this would be the perfect story to help introduce Progress 2005 to our readers. Donald Calahan is back in Monticello, after spending more than eight weeks training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey with the local National Guard Unit. Itıs good to be home, but itıs also difficult to think about the ³brothers² that are thousands of miles away, serving in Iraq. From his office inside the National Guard Armory, they are never far from his mind. A recent e-mail from the commander let him know that everything was okay and that everyone was getting plenty to eat. Heıs gathering addresses so the platoon leaders can get multiple copies of the newspaper to pass around. He wants to provide CDıs of a day filled with local radio programming, so the men can get an idea of what is going on at home. Thatıs important and Calahan knows it. Heıs been there, serving with the local unit when it was mobilized for Desert Storm. But as Calahan will quickly point out this is a different time and a different war. ³This is a totally different conflict,² said Calahan during a recent interview. ³During Desert Storm, we had an army that we were fighting, an army that actually wore uniforms. This time itıs a bunch of little pockets of aggressors.² This time Battery C has a different job. The MLRS unit is providing security for convoys, from Camp Anaconda, which is near Baghdad. The transition from a field artillery unit to basically a military police assignment was the focus of the weeks of training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey, where the local soldiers were stationed until they were deployed to Kuwait at the end of January. ³The transition went well, considering these guys are artillery men,² said Calahan. ³They got a lot of experience with things that we have not had like shooting while in a moving vehicle, shooting M-16ıs with live rounds out of humvees.² Officials at Ft. Dix seemed pleased with the training the local unit came there with. The Monticello unit went there on November 20, and began training to prepare for their overseas assignment. Calahan knew at the time that he would not be in Iraq, since he had agreed several weeks earlier to stay in the rear and head up things at the local armory. He admits it was a difficult decision, and that it took several days to decide to stay behind. ³They came to me when we first got the call to get mobilized,² he explained. ³I was in a squad leaderıs position and I had nine men under me. They came to me and I never would have guessed that this was what they wanted to talk to me about.² ³They wanted me to stay in the rear,² he continued. His first reaction was no, that he could not stay at home while his men were in Iraq. But over a period of the next three days, unit leaders continued to talk with him about staying behind. He sought advice from his squad, as well as other members of the guard unit. ³I wanted more input so I called home and asked my wife,² he said. ³Sharon said this is your decision. I canıt make this decision for you. Youıre going to have to make it. Whatever you decide, I will back you 100 percent.² Calahan began to think of his experience and how much he could assist others back at home. Even after he made the decision, Calahan didnıt realize how hard it would be to part from his unit. ³As they were getting ready to go to the airport, it was very emotional for me,² he said. ³I felt like I should go too.² No one can say how long the unit will be gone. Calahan said the original orders were for 545 days, and that could be extended. When he served in Desert Storm, the tour was actually shortened since the war ended quickly. The unit was notified in December 1990 that they would be activated. They spent about three months training stateside and about three months in the desert. During the deployment his wife, Sharon, who is a teacher at A.J. Lloyd Middle School, found out she was expecting their first child. He made it home before his son Austin, who is now 13, was born. The Calahans also have a daughter, Ariel, who is 11. After being in the desert for three months, Calahan can provide insight as to the climate and conditions the soldiers are facing now. His unit was there at about this same time of year. ³Everybody knows the desert is extremely hot. It is hot, but it is a totally different hot than we have here...Itıs a very dry heat,² said Calahan. That makes it easier to withstand high temperatures, he explained. During the summer, it can get as hot as 130 degrees, then drop to the 70ıs by evening. Calahan explained that the body has difficulty adjusting to that kind of change, so the 70 degree temperature actually feels cold. While many think of only the desert in Iraq, Calahan noted that while traveling in the region during Desert Storm, the troops found many beautiful places. Some of those photos, showing lush greenery and beautiful locations, can be found on websites of some of the units who are stationed in Iraq now. ³The most beautiful places are around the cities,² he explained. ³That is where they have irrigation systems and bring in water.² Sand everywhere is a pretty daunting sight, Calahan noted. Itıs like walking to the edge of the ocean and looking out water. The desert brings a similar feeling. Sand storms are a problem for troops in the region, and there are specific seasons when sand storms are worse. Calahan said a sand storm actually looks like a little tornado coming across the desert. During a sand storm, he said ³you canıt see, you canıt half breathe, and the sand is hitting you so fast it feels like little needles.² Sand literally gets everywhere. Calahan noted that the camp where this unit is stationed, Camp Anaconda, is one of the larger ones in Iraq. There is a large PX, about the size of Wal-Mart, where soldiers can buy what they need. There is a Burger King and a couple of other restaurants at the base. There are also two pools, one indoor and one outdoor, a sports complex and a theater. Technology has come a long way since Desert Storm and computers are the best way for soldiers to keep in touch at home. The Family Support Group for this unit helped purchase an Internet hub, that will allow more e-mail access. Calahan can e-mail a single member of the unit or he can send an e-mail that reaches everyone. Many of the soldiers have web cams for their laptop computers. Many are carrying MP3ıs with music they downloaded while at Ft. Dix. ³They took items with them that made them feel more at home,² said Calahan. ³Some took very few items...but they will share. Itıs like a brotherhood and they are all brothers.² Calahan added that the community support throughout this mobilization has been overwhelming to the soldiers. Word spread from Ft. Dix to units from across the country, after the local community joined together to raise a large amount of money that was needed to bring them all home for Christmas. ³We were all worried about how we were going to raise that kind of money...then we got the e-mail that we had it,² he said. Calahan noted his appreciation to the community response, and to the response for the Adopt-A-Soldier program. Itıs comforting to know that you have the support of a community, while you are so far away from home. Add a comment |
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