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Sunday, May. 31, 2009

48th Brigade families cope with deployments

Staff Sgt. Dwayne Watson and other members of the 48th Brigade left Camp Shelby in Mississippi last week to board a plane bound for Afghanistan.

Watson, 39, left behind his wife, Traci, and their two children — Allie, 10, and Chris, 3 — in Byron in exchange for serving as a military police officer in Afghanistan.

But he didn’t always have to go.

Watson had been promoted within the National Guard to a unit in Columbus that wasn’t going to deploy. But he couldn’t stomach the thought of staying home while other members of the 48th were set to head into a war zone.

“He requested that he stay with his original unit because they were deploying,” his wife, Traci, said. “He wanted to deploy with the people he had trained over the last couple of years.”

For many members of the 48th, they’d much rather go overseas into the danger zone with their comrades-in-arms than be left behind, even if that means leaving the comforts of home.

It’s a view shared by Lt. Col. George Fisher, executive officer of the 48th’s rear detachment.

“It’s nothing sexy or glamorous,” said Fisher, who helps supervise the part of the unit that does everything from keeping track of equipment to helping out with any problems the families of 48th members might be experiencing back home.

Fisher said he feels a little funny every time he goes out to lunch in Macon while wearing his uniform.

“I do wonder, do people see my patch and say ‘Why is he not (in Afghanistan)?’ ” said Fisher, who went to Iraq in 2005 when the 48th was last deployed. “Anybody in this business wants to be where the soldiers are.”

Traci Watson saw that same commitment in her husband, so she supported his decision to deploy, even though she wanted him to stay. He would be safe at home in Houston County, she said, and be available to help raise the children. Her initial relief at his assignment to a non-deploying unit quickly dissipated.

“I was a little excited, but I knew he wasn’t happy,” she said. “Deep down, I knew he’d find a way to still go. ... I wasn’t happy about it, but I understand.”

Dwayne Watson previously deployed to Bosnia in 1997 as an Army reservist when the couple was first married. But with two children now, Traci Watson has a lot more responsibility to handle on her own.

“You take for granted being able to go to the grocery store alone,” she said. “Everything becomes more hectic when you have one or two kids tagging along.”

Allie Watson is old enough to have a basic understanding of what it means for her father to be heading into a war zone. While her grades haven’t fallen, her mother said teachers have noticed that Allie’s schoolwork has reflected her father’s deployment.

“She’s just turned 10,” Traci Watson said, her voice choked with emotion. “They’ve studied war. She knows what happens — that people don’t come home.”

REALITY OF DEPLOYMENT HITS HOME

Allie said she’s the only one among her friends whose father is serving overseas. She said they’re understanding, knowing that things are rougher for her without her father at home.

“(Soldiers) go overseas to help us stay alive,” Allie said. “I’m very proud of the way he is helping us, helping with freedom and all that.”

Normally, Allie enjoys playing video games with her dad. These days, though, she has to help her mom keep an eye on her brother.

“Unfortunately, I have to rely on her,” Traci Watson said. “It’s hard on her. We try to do things for her to make up for it,” including having sleep-overs with her friends and going out for ice cream.

Traci’s father, Bill Fuchs, also pitches in to help out the family. Fuchs, who lives two doors down, served in the Navy during Vietnam.

“Whatever she needs,” he said. “I’ve got two grandkids to take care of, so I do whatever I’ve got to do. ... It’s an unfortunate situation. You just hope (the troops) ... keep their heads down and come back. Unfortunately, we’re stuck over there. Someone’s got to be there. You just don’t want anyone to come back in a body bag.”

Dealing with the wounded and the dead is the biggest concern of the rear detachment, Fisher said. One of the key duties of his part of the unit is informing family members when a soldier is wounded or killed.

“What scares us is the casual notification,” he said. “Having to go to someone’s house and tell them (about a soldier’s death) — most of us would rather be in Afghanistan than have to do that.”

Fisher said the job is even more difficult, because deployed soldiers have access to so much technology such as the Internet and cell phones. The worst thing that can happen, he said, is for a family to find out bad news about a loved one via a phone call or Facebook before the unit has a chance to do it officially.

“Finding out (a loved one) is wounded would be tragic enough, but could you imagine finding out if (the loved one was killed)?” he said.

Still, it’s a necessary part of the rear guard’s duties, said Don McDaniel, the unit’s chaplain.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to minister to a soldier’s next-of-kin in their greatest time of need,” McDaniel said. “I consider it an honor to be able to do that. It’s what I’m called to do.”

HELP AVAILABLE FOR FAMILIES

Traci Watson helps to mitigate things between the unit and the families, serving as chairwoman for the family readiness group for her husband’s battalion. She often acts as a liaison for a family, helping with everything from pay matters to home-repair issues.

About two years ago, her husband “volunteered” for her to help out, she said.

“I didn’t necessarily want to do it for a big deployment,” she said. “But they asked me to do it.”

As Traci Watson steps up to help other families, her own friends have stepped up to help her, she said.

“You really find out who the friends are that you can rely on,” she said. “People will say, ‘I’m going to the grocery store — do you need anything?’ ... There’s an end-of-school party that Allie is going to, and a friend of mine is glad to take her to it. We want to make sure the little things that we’ve always done we can still do.”

The 48th officially began deployment in January to train Afghanistan’s army and police force to fight insurgents. Unlike previous deployments, the unit is going over in stages from their training camps at Camp Shelby and Camp Atterbury in Indiana. About 2,500 48th soldiers are spending about 10 months in Afghanistan before returning stateside.

Traci Watson said she purposely doesn’t spend a lot of time watching the news for fear of hearing about a bomb in Afghanistan and getting worried about Dwayne.

“It doesn’t matter which part of the country it goes off in,” she said. “It seems like it happens right next to him.”

The 48th tries to discourage all of its families from watching those reports.

McDaniel said that initial reports about war zones don’t always contain all the facts, which could lead families to worry unnecessarily about soldiers in those areas.

“We encourage the families not to watch the news 24/7, because their anxiety level will go through the roof,” he said.

At the end of the day, Traci Watson said, all she can do is put the war out of her mind and try to live as normal of a life as possible. She said she also knows this is unlikely to be his last deployment.

“He’s enlisted through 2012,” she said. “But I know he’ll re-up after that.”

To contact writer Phillip Ramati, call 744-4334.