 | » Tips for Teachers |  |
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Families, soldiers hopeful as change begins
By DONNA CALLEA | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — They’re proud. They’re worried. They’re hurt. They’re hopeful.
Several local soldiers who have served in Iraq and the mothers of others who could still be in danger also say they are guardedly optimistic about Monday’s transfer of power there, two days ahead of the planned transition.
But it’s too soon, they say, to know whether the hand over of sovereignty to the interim Iraqi government means the beginning of the end of conflict in that war-torn land – at least for Americans. Or whether conditions for American troops will get worse before they get better.
“I’m scared for everybody over there,” says Jerry Peterson, 31, an Army specialist from Pierson, who now walks on crutches and may be permanently disabled as a result of an injury he suffered in Iraq in January. About 400 pounds of armor plating fell on his back.
If enough Iraqis can be trained to take the place of American soldiers there might be reason for hope, says Peterson in a telephone interview from Fort Riley, Kan., where he’s now stationed.
Then “there would be more of their people to shoot at than our people,” says the former tree surgeon, who’s waiting for the military to determine his future. But, during his seven months in Iraq, Peterson says the only Iraqis he saw being trained were professional people. “Everybody else was hostile.”
Which is why he continues to worry about “the outstanding men and women trying to make our country and their country better.” He’s especially concerned about his brother, Samuel Peterson Jr., 34, an infantry sergeant who’s been in Iraq since March. “I pray for them every day,” he says.
So does Lorie Farley of DeLeon Springs, whose 20-year-old son, Maurice Young, has been serving in Iraq for nearly two years. He’s due to come home today for a brief leave, but then he’ll be going right back to the war zone.
The transfer of power, Farley says, won’t change the fact that her son will remain in danger. “The last word he got was he’ll be deployed until May of next year,” she says. “He’s my son – I feel very proud,” she adds.
Young “hates that the press shows so much negativity” about the war, says his mother, but “when he leaves (to go back), it just kills me.”
Shellie Lewis, an Edgewater firefighter-paramedic who was deployed in Kuwait for 16 months with the Florida National Guard and spent a brief time in Iraq, says she looks at Monday’s transition as “definitely a step in the right direction. I’m glad we’re seeing progress.”
We’re giving the Iraqis “a chance at having a free country,” says Lewis, 38. And she thinks “a lot of (Iraqi) people appreciate it.”
But there are also many in that region who aren’t likely to come over to our way of thinking anytime soon.
Army Reservist Jai Hunter, 29, of Deltona, who returned home from Iraq last week, says he expects the resistance to continue at first. But, he hopes, with U.S. aid, the new Iraq government will succeed.
“Once the people that are against (the new government) see that it’s going to happen and stay in effect, they will probably change their way,” he says.
Sgt. Ron Almodovar, 36, of Orange City, who’s also a member of Hunter’s unit, the 351st Military Police Company, says with U.S. military aid, Iraq is ready to govern itself.
He compares Iraq’s situation to that of Bosnia, where he served in the mid-1990s. “They were basically the same thing,” he says. “It was trying to set in a government that everybody was happy with.
Mary Toner, however, says she’s worried “the fighting will go on for a long time. I don’t think they’re going to stop.” And for the Ormond-by-the-Sea mother, who hasn’t heard from her son Glen Menas in six weeks, every day is an eternity. The 26-year-old Marine has been stationed in Iraq since January, his second deployment.
“I just want to hear from my son,” says Toner. “I want to talk to him. He’s very tired.”
Karen Peterson, meanwhile, worries about both her sons — the one who’s injured and the one who’s still in danger. On Father’s Day, she says, her son, Samuel Jr., got hit with shrapnel.
“They can hand over all they want and nothing’s going to change,” laments the Pierson mother. “Every one of our men and women over there are going to pay, mentally if not physically.” But, she adds, with all the optimism she can muster, “my kids are strong boys.”
Staff Writer Mark Harper contributed to this report.