DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Family and friends said goodbye yesterday to members of the Hawaii National Guard 193rd Aviation's Charlie Company heading to Iraq. Cassand Wilson hugged her boyfriend, Spc. Andrew Salvador, as he lined up to get on the bus at Wheeler Army Airfield.
Isle reservists, Guard
leave for duty in IraqMilitary families and friends
say goodbye as their loved
ones depart for a yearPresents and hugs fill final hours
Since World War II, the parade ground at Schofield Barracks' historic C Quad has seen many tearful and emotional farewells as soldiers headed for combat, and yesterday's send-off for members of the Pacific Reserve's 411th Engineer Combat Battalion was no different.
After Jeanette Worthy hugged her son, Chief Warrant Officer Brian Cox -- one of several long goodbyes before he boarded a bus for Hickam Air Force Base -- she acknowledged that she never expected this moment.
"I'm proud, but at the same time I am very sad," said the Kaneohe resident. "I am talking through tears with a lump in my throat."
The 80 soldiers of the 411th Engineers are joining another 168 Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers from the 193rd Aviation's Charlie Company for the flight to Kuwait. In all the 411th will send 600 soldiers to Kuwait and stay there 10 days before moving by truck convoy to Baghdad.
By the end of the week, the rest of the 411th, commanded by Lt. Col. Jonathan Wung, will be in Kuwait. The reservists will be in Iraq for a year.
Cox, who has been a member of the Army Reserve for 16 years, also admitted that he never dreamed that he would be mobilized for a war. "But I am ready," said Cox, 38, who in civilian life runs an Internet data center.
Worthy said it was ironic that her son is leaving, since just a year ago her grandson, Andrew Ching, who was then contemplating enlisting in the Pacific Army Reserve's 100th Battalion, asked his uncle if there was any chance he could be mobilized.
GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Jeanette Worthy of Kaneohe gave her son, Chief Warrant Officer Brian Cox, a long hug yesterday before he boarded the bus that took him to Hickam Air Force Base and a year in Iraq as a member of the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion.
Worthy said her son's answer was: "No way. They leave us alone here in Hawaii. Just after he said that, he (Cox) got the word."
Ching, a 2001 graduate of Kahuku High School, said the possibility of being activated and going to war "may be a good experience."
"If you got to go," said Ching, now a medic with the 100th Battalion, "you got to go."
Anxiety was written on the faces of many of the soldiers as they waited with their families. Many spent the time calling family or children on the mainland. Bright and scented leis hung around their necks in contrast to an M-16 rifle slung over a shoulder.
"I am just trying to keep my emotions under control," said Pfc. Boyd Hayselden, 19, who graduated from the Big Island's Waiakea High School in 2002.
"I am just trying to focus, to get through today and get everything done."
Maj. Gen. Eric Olson, commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division, dropped by and told the reservists, "I am proud of all you have accomplished ... and I am impressed by your performance."
Olson, who leaves next week for a year in Afghanistan to take over as head of U.S. and coalition forces there, made a point to talk to soldiers, leaving behind a personal message. "Stay safe. Thanks for everything you are doing. We'll see you in a year," he told each group.
As a parting gift, Olson was given a black T-shirt that pictured a hammerhead shark brandishing a M-16 rifle. The general promised that during his year in Afghanistan he will visit the reservists, who will be stationed in Baghdad with the 1st Cavalry Division.
Wung said the hammerhead was selected "as our informal mascot, not only because it represents the Pacific, but because it is something tenacious."
Then it was time for the 80 soldiers to board the buses and leave C Quad, which has been their home since Jan. 5.
Many of the families had already left by then, trying to make the break a little less painful.
Darcie Heth was one of those people. After several long hugs with her husband, 1st Lt. Kelly Heth, she and their children, Rachel, Joshua and Zachary, left the parade grounds, never looking back to wave.
Then Heth joined his platoon. Next stop: Kuwait, and 10 days later, Iraq and Baghdad.
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DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Jercel Esprecion, foreground, held the hand of her fiance, Bryan Redor, and Tiffany Alameta kissed the hand of her fiance, Darin Pa-Toilolo, yesterday before the bus left Wheeler Army Airfield.
Presents and hugs
fill final hours before
guardsmen’s goodbye
Spc. Kevin Asato never thought he'd be sent to Iraq.
Even as American military action in the country progressed over the 12 months, he was sure Hawaii National Guard soldiers were immune from a massive Middle East deployment.
So when he got word that he and more than 200 other Hawaii-based guardsmen were headed for a year-long tour in Iraq, "it didn't really set in."
"I'm kind of excited in a way," Asato said yesterday, as he joined his fellow soldiers at Wheeler Army Airfield shortly before departing for Iraq. "It's just that you'd never think you were going to do this."
The soldiers from Charlie Company, 193rd Aviation, were mobilized Jan. 7 and include helicopter mechanics and pilots.
At a two-hour gathering yesterday afternoon, families ate an Army-provided lunch with their leaving loved ones. In the hangar set aside for the event, soldiers' duffel bags sat in straight lines ready to be loaded into a truck.
Nearby, families formed circles around deploying relatives. Some said goodbye to a spouse yesterday, while others bid a parent or child farewell.
Spc. Stephen Macugay held his 18-month daughter, Haleigh, in his arms as he stood with his wife and parents before leaving.
The 19-year-old's brother is just finishing up a year-long Iraq tour and the two could meet up later this month in Kuwait.
"He told me to be careful, stay aware," Macugay said. "I am scared, (but) excited for the adventure."
Sgt. Jae Wan Jun was crowded by 15 of his family members -- wife, children, siblings and parents -- yesterday as one relative grabbed video of him and another took photos.
Jun's three children gave him letters to take with him and read on the trip to Iraq. He put the notes in his jacket pocket and patted them lightly as he spoke.
"I never thought about this kind of deployment," he said, adding, "We are prepared."
Maile Gonzales gave her father, Sgt. Victor Ortiz, his going-away present a week ago.
Gonzales said she induced labor of Ortiz' grandson, Blaze, five weeks before the baby's due date so that her father would be able to spend some time with the infant.
"We're going to pray for him," she said, "and ... just hope for the best."
As most of his colleagues prepared to leave yesterday, Spc. Aldwin Pita was happy to stay. He got news just hours before his expected deployment that he would spend two more months in Hawaii before going to a training school in Virginia and joining his company later in the year.
"I can't believe it," Pita said, as his wife, Lisa, beamed widely. "I'd rather have him here," she said.
Spc. Phil Richardson, of Aiea, transferred from another unit so that he could get to Iraq.
"I'm going to think of it as a beach with no water," he said. "As long as you keep active, it goes by really quickly."
His mother, Leanne Weaver, had initially supported her son's decision. But yesterday, she was having doubts.
"I don't want him to go," she said, as tears welled up in her eyes. When he joined the guard, she thought he'd be helping out with "homeland security, typhoons, hurricanes, but never this."
Not all of the deploying soldiers had family members to see them off. Iwalani Fujihara saw one guardsman without any family at the ceremony and offered him a farewell hug, which he accepted.
"I needed to reach out and make sure we're with him," she said. Fujihara's brother, Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Hurley, flies a helicopter with the company.
"We're all ohana here," Fujihara said. "My brother's going to be safe."
