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Saturday, December 25, 2004
Holidays tough for soldiers’ families
By MELANIE STAWICKI AZAM | News-Journal Staff Writer
DAYTONA BEACH — Every morning, Kathy Bunch pins to her shirt a tiny American flag pin, given to her by a little girl whose dad was in Desert Storm.
When the Deltona waitress opens her book to take an order, she sees a photo of her son Michael Konermann, dressed in Army fatigues.
The 19-year-old Army Reservist shipped out Oct. 24 from the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Daytona Beach to Fort Benning, Ga., then headed overseas earlier this month for a 12- to 18-month stint. He is serving in transportation in Kuwait, his mother said this week.
“It’s going to be tough, and the holidays are going to be tough,” Bunch, 41, said. “But as long as we can keep on communicating . . .”
Bunch and other Volusia and Flagler county families spending the holidays without loved ones in the service ease the worry with frequent calls and e-mails. They work their schedules around the eight-hour time difference, become familiar with maps of the Middle East and cautiously listen to the latest news of the region.
But they say they won’t truly be at peace until their family member returns home safely.
Families are going through a tremendous adjustment, said Janet Hardesky, adviser for the Family Readiness Group for the Daytona Beach Army Reserves Transportation Detachment Unit.
She said her group, made up of volunteers, tries to help by contacting the families monthly to see how they are doing. They also send care packages of toiletries, snacks, magazines and phone cards to the soldiers, she said.
Tim Henderson’s 20-year-old son, Tyler, left in the same unit as Konermann.
“He wishes he was home for Christmas; we wish he was, too,” said the Port Orange resident. “We’re close. I think of him every day.”
Henderson said his son told him he’ll be moving to Qatar from Kuwait and the family plans to send him a package once he gets a more permanent address. He said he just hopes his son will not be sent to Iraq.
“The term they use is ‘going north,’ ” Henderson, 56, said. “We’re hoping he doesn’t get sent north, but that’s always a possibility.”
But Henderson said he’s worried about all the bombings and unrest in the entire region and even areas outside Iraq don’t seem safe.
He said he constantly reminds his son that he’s in a part of the world where many people don’t like Americans and he has to be alert.
“It looks pretty dicey right now,” the father said. “I’m sure every parent that’s got a son or daughter in the Middle East is a little nervous right now.”
Nancy Muscat of Daytona Beach has a son Larry, 22, who is serving in Kuwait. “I do miss him — that’s my baby,” she said.
She has stopped watching the news. It really upsets her when she hears of another bombing and more U.S. soldiers killed or injured.
“I can’t handle that; it’s very hard on me,” she said.
Beverly LaFlamme, 70, of New Smyrna Beach is hoping her granddaughter, Jessica Rasley, 22, and Jessica’s husband, Sean, will return home in February. They have been stationed with the U.S. Air Force in Afghanistan since September.
“She’s a good kid — she’s got a lot of heart,” LaFlamme said. “I just hope that nothing happens.”
Bunch shares that hope virtually every waking moment. She said she lost a baby boy 14 years ago to sudden infant death syndrome and has faith God won’t take away her remaining son.
“I’m not losing another one — he’ll come back,” she said.