Sgt. Alberta Cole, right, gets a hug from neighbor Chicketta Lofton, who will care for the single mother's four kids while she's serving in Iraq. Birthday boy Donovan Cole, 1, sat on Mom's lap during Tuesday's farewell party at Fort Huachuca.
Posted on 08/22/2006 10:31:12 PM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Seized with sorrow as she said goodbye to her four small children, Army Sgt. Alberta Cole resorted to a time-honored trick employed by parents everywhere.
"The kids said, 'Mommy, you're crying.' And I said 'No, my eyes are just watering,' " said Cole, a 30-year-old single mom who left for Iraq on Tuesday, her youngest child's first birthday.
Hundreds of loved ones waved and wept as members of Fort Huachuca's 86th Signal Battalion boarded a plane bound for Baghdad.
Cole is one of 340 Southern Arizona soldiers scheduled to spend a year overseas. A neighbor is watching her children — ages 1, 6, 7 and 9 — while she's away.
"I can't do it. I can't leave my babies!" Cole blurted, briefly overcome after a final round of fervent hugs and kisses. Brushing away tears, she quickly composed herself. "No matter how much you try to prepare for it, when the day comes, you don't want to go," the sergeant said of her first wartime deployment.
About half of the unit's soldiers left before daybreak on Sunday; the other half left on Tuesday. They will run and maintain communications networks, including Internet, telephone and satellite service, at 17 locations in Iraq.
Army officials tried to lighten the mood for Cole and other departing soldiers.
A military band pumped out upbeat tunes as troops assembled before dawn. Trays of cold cuts were piled high on side tables, and banners on the wall read "Stay Safe and Hurry Home."
Fort Huachuca's top commander, Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast, gave a going-away speech, urging troops to be proud of their service.
"Every soldier, airman, sailor and Marine believes they are making a difference when they go to Iraq," Fast said. The military is bringing "freedom of choice" to the Iraqi people, she said.
For some soldiers, Tuesday's deployment marked their second, third or fourth tour overseas.
Army wife Kindra Rawlings has said four goodbyes in five years. This time, she couldn't sleep during Pfc. Wilson Rawlings' last night at home.
She lay awake thinking about how much she would miss him and how hard his absence would be for their children, ages 4 and 8.
Their youngest, now old enough to know what "deployment" means, had started crying a lot lately. To soothe her, Kindra Rawlings doused a brown Army T-shirt with her husband's cologne and gave it to the little girl, who clung to it on Tuesday as she watched her father's plane fly away.
"It doesn't ever get any easier," Kindra Rawlings, 28, said of the frequent separations from her 27-year-old spouse. "But this is what he does," she said. "It's his job, and I support him."
Jennifer Newbury also couldn't sleep.
Nearly eight months pregnant, she once again will give birth while her husband, Sgt. Pagaen Newbury, 27, is at war.
Their first son, now 4, was born while his father was in Afghanistan. They are expecting another boy on Oct. 2.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, life has been a revolving door of training and deployments, said Jennifer Newbury, 26. This is her husband's third time overseas.
"It keeps getting harder, and I keep dealing with it because I have to," she said.
But sometimes, she said, "it just makes you feel numb."
* Contact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo at 573-4138 or at calaimo@azstarnet.com.
Story of Troops Deploying to Iraq.
God bless them and bring them home safe and sound. May they be able to get the job done, that peace may be true...
I didn't like to be deployed over seas, but it came with the territory.
I didn't like getting shot at, but it came with the territory.
I didn't like NOT getting paid, when I was in a foxhole up to my ying yang in water, but it came with the territory (thanx to Jimmah Carter and a Rat congress).
No matter, it was all worth it serving my country.
Speaking of Jimmah Carter, would you please sit down and shut the *uck up. You Mr. Carter are a waste of skin, and you take up too much oxygen. Dickhead.
5.56mm
This article features a lot of female GIs - I know I'll offend a lot of women when I say this, but I'm still waffling about women in combat situations. I'm a woman, by the way, who believes anyone can do anything he/she sets out to do, but I still don't know if this is a good idea. Not trying to start an argument; this article just raised all those questions again.
I think it's a perfect time to bring up the issues you did.
First of all, I don't know how anyone can read the article and look at the picture of Sgt Cole with her baby and her neighbor, and not be effected. It's heart wrenching.
That said, I think we have to ask ourselves how we got to this point? Thirty to 40 years ago a single parent with even one child would have been discharged from the service. I maintain we are where we are because the purveyors of political correctness have put us there. Liberal and feminist groups like NOW, along with a willing congress, have seen to it that we can't go back.
There is only one way to deal with the current situation and that is to go all the way. By that I mean we should remove all restrictions on who can and who can't be in combat. A good start would be to include 18-year-old women in the requirement to register with the Selective Service System. After that, when the balloon really goes up, let the chips fall where they may.
BTW, I believe there are plenty of women who are capable of performing any job in the military. For many years now our high schools and universities have been producing women jocks. Without reducing any standards in any military specialty, we should turn 'em loose.
God keep them safe.
Those women have chosen to serve their country in the armed forces. They know the demands and the risks, and they accept them. Why can't you?
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