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Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Returning also means starting over
By MARK I. JOHNSON
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
OAK HILL — When Greg Gfell walked out of the Oak Hill Police Department in December to serve with the U.S. Army Reserves in Afghanistan, he left behind more than a new career. He also left a wife and newborn at home.
Now, nine months later, the patrol officer is having to reorient himself to civilian life, both professionally and personally.
“My son (Hunter) was two months old when I shipped out. He was born on Sept. 11, 2002,” the first-time father said. “He was not even crawling when I left. Now he is walking and talking.”
Gfell said when he walked into the back door of his house in August, the toddler ran up to him but stopped about 10 feet away.
“He did not know who I was,” the 25-year-old officer said.
Leaning against his patrol car outside the police station, Gfell said he has slipped back into life as a civilian, taking a vacation to Ohio to see family, spending time with his wife of five years and getting to know his son again. But he said he never will get back the time he lost, all the dirty diapers, early morning feedings and other experiences of fatherhood.
“My wife tried to videotape everything, but those are things I am never going to see,” he said.
Not being with his son was the biggest challenge the citizen soldier said he faced while serving as a truck driver with the 18th Airborne Corps supporting coalition and Afghan soldiers.
That’s why Gfell said he has decided to leave the military life he has known since 1996 when his reserve contract expires in March. Until then, however, he remains on alert and could be recalled to service at any time.
“I feel like I accomplished something. All that training paid off,” he said of his time in Afghanistan, “but I realize I have served my country and now I need to serve the city and my family.”
That is good news to Oak Hill Police Chief Gus Beckstrom.
While he was able to fill Gfell’s vacancy with reserve officers without loss of service to his residents, having the officer back full-time is a plus.
“He is part of the family,” the chief said. “We are glad to have him back and well.”
Personal safety was not always guaranteed, Gfell said. While conveying supplies across southern Uzbekistan and Western Afghanistan, he battled snowy nights filled with temperatures in the teens and hot, dusty days where the mercury reached more than 120. That was in addition to occasional rocket and mortar attacks.
“When you see a rocket coming at you, you tend to say, ‘This is not good,’ ” he said.
Gfell, who was hired as a full-time officer in Oak Hill in August 2002, will spend a couple more days in reorientation, learning new policies and procedures that were implemented while he was overseas and then return to patrol on his own.
“I have missed doing police work,” he said. “I missed the contact with the public.”
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