Posted on 12/24/2007 6:46:58 AM PST by SandRat
CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — It was thousands of miles and many time zones away but through today’s technology the family of Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Mann was present in Iraq, when the 11th Signal Brigade soldier re-enlisted Sunday.
For Mann, the brigade’s engineering noncommissioned-officer-in-charge, it was 6 p.m. and for his wife, Lorelei, and children Kaia, 7, and Nathan 5, in Sierra Vista it was 8 a.m. when he raised his right hand and took the oath from Chief Warrant Officer Ron Buckles.
As the final preparations for the ceremony went on, Mann waved to his family and said to Nathan, “good morning.”
The boy waved back, as did daughter Kaia and his wife.
Bringing laughter from about two dozen people in a conference room in Iraq, Mann noted that his family has a reputation of being 15 to 20 minutes late for social engagements.
“I’m glad you guys made it,” he said to his family.
After repeating his willingness to support and defend the Constitution, those in the room and his family applauded.
His wife works for a contractor in Greely Hall and the two children are students at Town and Country Elementary School.
Mann is a 1995 graduate of Buena High School, where he was a member of the Army Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program.
The 30-year-old soldier has been in the Army for more than 11 years.
He is serving on his second deployment to Iraq and has deployed to East Timor.
For the soldier, “family is very important to me, my two kids are very important to me.”
And, critical is his wife, “who always supports me,” he said.
What is important for people to understand is the military is “an honorable profession,” Mann said, noting he is a little more than halfway through his Army career.
The people in the conference room filed out shaking his hand, leaving him alone to speak to his family.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
FR WAR NEWS!
So we can expect this to show up on NBC nightly news tonite?
Not a chance, sadly.
I just woke up so it took me awhile to understand the family was on a TV monitor. One day they might have holograms right there in the room with you.
God Bless that SFC!!
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