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Sunday, August 7, 2005
Ceremony honors returning soldiers
By RON HURTIBISE | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — Myron and Margaret Sadberry spent long nights worrying after their son, Jabree, was deployed to Kuwait in January 2003 as a sergeant with the 194th Transportation Detachment of the Army Reserve.
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Everyone knew the United States was going to invade Iraq in a matter of weeks.
"When he first went over there, (Jabree wasn't allowed to reveal) where he was at, or where he was going to be," said his father. "I lost 40 pounds worrying about him."
Those days are over for the family. Jabree Sadberry is back at home in Orlando attending college after two deployments in Iraq and Kuwait.
Saturday in Jacksonville, the Sadberrys and their three other children joined their son and 170 of his fellow reservists and their loved ones in receiving a big thank-you from a grateful nation.
Seventeen reservists from the Daytona Beach-based 194th received special U.S. flags, lapel pins and commemorative coins in the Welcome Home Warrior-Citizen ceremony at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station. Eight units were honored, comprising the 1186th Transportation Brigade, headquartered in Jacksonville.
But while the soldiers received the honors, the ceremony was just as much for their spouses, families and employers, said Kathy Mode, unit administrator for the 194th.
Spouses and family members "go through a lot of changes, a lot of emotions" when their loved ones are deployed to a dangerous place, she said.
Mode has firsthand knowledge of what families go through. Stationed full time at the unit's headquarters, she serves as liaison between families at home and soldiers abroad.
She's the one asked to check on soldiers' well-being. She's the one who sends photos back and forth between soldiers and families. Last year, she provided hurricane updates to worried soldiers.
Thankfully, she said, she's never had to relay any tragic news.
Brigadier Gen. Steven Smith, deputy commander of the 81st Regional Readiness Command in Birmingham, Ala., told the assembly that his mother endured wartime deployments by his father and two brothers.
When Gen. Smith announced he was going on active duty in the current war, "my mother threatened to shoot one of my toes off so I would not have to be deployed," he joked. "Fortunately, she's 82 and I can run faster than she does."
Carole May Woerner, a South Daytona resident, said she was worried when daughter Jacqueline Boyle told her she was heading to Kuwait in February 2003 for what turned out to be 16 months moving heavy military equipment between container ships and trains.
"I was glad she was in Kuwait and not Iraq," Woerner said. Still, "she was at a port where I didn't know how safe she was."
Though no base is invulnerable during a war, reservists deployed to Kuwait said in interviews before the ceremony they seldom experienced bouts of paralyzing fear.
Still, active duty was no vacation, they said.
Staff Sgt. Kevin Todd, a Daytona Beach resident, told of wilting 125-degree heat, 12-hour work shifts and full-time military officers who viewed reservists as less important than themselves.
"The soldiers didn't realize if it wasn't for reservists working at ports unloading their equipment, they wouldn't have any equipment," he said.
Sgt. Stephen Harper, an Orange City resident, thought he'd be going home after a year. As the year neared its end, he was told he'd be retained another four months.
Jabree Sadberry said some soldiers had to be relocated from Camp Spearhead in Kuwait because sulfur, ammonia and chlorine from nearby refineries fouled the air.
He slept in a tent but "you couldn't really call it a tent," he said. "There was plywood for the floor. You'd hang a drape to have your own area. But it was small. Just enough size for a cot and maybe a cabinet and a chest. That's it."
Lt. Col. Gina Walters, a military police officer from Middleburg, arrived in Kuwait to learn she'd be bunking amid male soldiers in a large warehouse while sleeping tents were being erected. Though the men helped women hang blankets for privacy, she said, "I hated being in that warehouse."
Commanders did what they could to boost morale between work shifts. Tents were air conditioned. Food was good. Big-screen TVs played movies and sports.
Despite the discomfort, reservists interviewed for this story all said the mission was worthwhile -- an opinion, they acknowledged, not shared by everyone at home.
While news reports of the ongoing insurgency make it seem like Iraqis don't appreciate the U.S. effort, 1st Lt. John Sowell said his encounters with ordinary Iraqis told a different story.
Sowell, an Ormond Beach resident who now works full time as a helicopter pilot for the Flagler County Department of Emergency Services, commanded supply convoys throughout Iraq between April 2003, just after the war began, and March 2004.
The convoys only occasionally drew enemy fire, from people Sowell never met.
Otherwise, "every time we'd stop our vehicles, to fix a flat or take a break, Iraqis just came out of nowhere," Sowell said. "There were lots of children. Parents would let you pick them up. I had people from Iraq saying Iraq was the 51st state, that George Bush was the Iraqi president."
Whatever else the war turns out to be, for the parents of Jabree Sadberry, it was an experience that helped build their son's character.
Margaret Sadberry said Saturday she notices a "big change" in her son. "He's more responsible. More disciplined. I'm really proud of him. He turned out to be a good man."
Our warrior citizens
Seventeen Army Reservists attached to Daytona Beach's 194th Transportation Detachment were among about 170 to receive awards Saturday for their service in the Iraq war:
STAFF SGT. MARCUS BAUGH, PALM COAST: Deployed in Kuwait from February 2004 to February 2005. Responsible for safe loading and unloading of military equipment, heavy equipment operations, crane and convoy operations.
1ST LT. EARL FILMORE -ORLANDO: Deployed twice in Kuwait from April 2003 to October 2003, and in Iraq from August 2004 to March 2005. Part of a container management unit in Kuwait, and operations officer at Tallil Air Base in Iraq. Conducted investigation for misuse of battalion property.
SGT. LOREAN ROZIER -ORLANDO: Deployed in Kuwait, February 2003 to December 2003. In charge of air operations, making sure they were scheduled correctly. Oversaw and prioritized more than 2,000 missions in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia.SPC. ANTHONY WILLIAMS -ORLANDO: Deployed in Kuwait, February 2003 to December 2003. Supervised contract laborers loading and unloading military equipment onto huge cargo ships.
SGT. JACQUELINE BOYLE -Attends University of Florida in Gainesville, family lives in Daytona Beach: Deployed in Kuwait, February 2003 to June 2004. Port operations, loaded and unloaded heavy equipment onto container ships and trains.
1ST LT. JOHN SOWELL -ORMOND BEACH: Deployed in Iraq, April 2003 to March 2004. Platoon leader for heavy equipment transport company operating in convoys throughout Iraq.
SGT. KEVIN KOPIN -ST. AUGUSTINE: Deployed in Kuwait from February 2003 to October 2003. Oversaw 110 privately owned tractor-trailers leased for military use.
SGT. JOSE ALMODOVAR -ORLANDO: Deployed in Iraq and Kuwait from December 2003 to February 2005. Repaired electronic equipment such as night vision goggles, chemical detection agents, GPS systems, radio systems.
LT. COL. GINA WALTERS -MIDDLEBURG: Deployed in Kuwait from January 2003 to September 2003. Served as military police officer for transportation unit overseeing cargo operations. Provided security training, set up and oversaw checkpoints, searched vehicles, buses, carry-on baggage entering base.
SGT. STEPHEN HARPER -ORANGE CITY: Deployed in Kuwait from February 2003 to June 2004. Oversaw loading and unloading of military equipment moving to and from the Iraq theater.
SGT. JABREE SADBERRY -ORLANDO: Deployed twice in Kuwait, from January 2003 to December 2003 as a crane operator and from June 2004 to February 2005 as a motor sergeant. Oversaw fleets of civilian vehicles leased from private companies in Kuwait.
SGT. WESLEY ORVOSH -EDGEWATER: Deployed in Kuwait from February 2003 to December 2003. Worked on road and camp engineering construction teams. With his unit, paved roads at Camp Udari and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and in Safwon between Kuwait and Iraq.
SGT. 1ST CLASS KATHLEEN FITZGERALD -PALM COAST: Deployed in Kuwait from June 2004 to January 2005. Duties included personnel accountability reports, processing leaves, awards and promotions, financial paperwork and mail.
SPC. STUART BARTHOLOMEW -Attends Florida State University in Tallahassee, family lives in Tampa: Deployed in Kuwait from February 2003 to October 2003. Oversaw tractor- trailers for military use. In spare time, built shelves, tables, floors and dividers for soldiers living in tents.
SGT. DEAN SWEENEY -ORMOND BEACH: Deployed in Kuwait from February 2003 to October 2003. Oversaw tractor- trailers for military use.
SGT. 1ST CLASS MATTHEW PARTLOW -ORLANDO: Deployed February 2003 to March 2004. Drove trucks moving equipment and personnel.
STAFF SGT. KEVIN TODD -DELTONA: Deployed in Kuwait June 2003 to October 2004. Supervised movement of heavy equipment through base in northern Kuwait.