The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT) February 09, 2003
'They're going to have to go house to house'
By John Briggs, Staff
The looming war with Iraq has brought his family closer together, says Chris Tudor of South Burlington. His Indiana cousin, Corey Jenkins, 26, a National Guard infantry sergeant, is already in Kuwait training for house-to-house assault.
Jenkins' mother, Deb Warren, who lives in Huntertown, Ind., a small town near Fort Wayne, is keeping tabs on her son with tools that didn't exist for World War II or Vietnam War soldiers, and she's keeping the whole family informed. "He has access to a telephone, and he calls his mother," Tudor said. "Then she uses the Internet to e-mail the news on to us. She's also sending e-mails to prayer rings all over the country. That's her way of asking people to pray for him. We're sending that on to people in Vermont."
The family is also using the Internet to pull up useful Web sites:
- armywives.com (practical and emotional support for army spouses).
- ausa.org (the Association of the United States Army).
- globalsecurity.org (provides information about unit deployments and other military topics).
"It lets the family be tuned in to the same sources of information," Tudor said. "It's been pretty important. We can see the exact wording of resolutions, for instance, by going to the United Nations site. We can send pictures back and forth, too."
The instant images from the Gulf and from around the world have made Tudor, a stay-at-home father for 9-month-old Becca, witness to the troop build-up. He can make educated guesses about the way this war might develop.
"They're going to have to go house to house," he said. "That's what Corey's been training for. It's going to be a lot more messy than it was the first time."
Jenkins, a "weekend warrior" from Fort Wayne whom Tudor calls "level-headed," has had his number come up twice. He joined the reserves after three years on active duty as an airborne soldier. He spent much of 2000 and 2001 in Bosnia on peacekeeping duty a buffer between Bosnian factions.
That experience "matured" him, Tudor said. Land mines were a constant risk, and Jenkins told his family that many of the locals, whatever their factional allegiance, disliked Americans, routinely "flipping them off" when the soldiers passed.
"When he came back," Tudor recalled, "he said, I'm not gonna take for granted anymore what America is."'
After his return, Jenkins took a job in a local plant, bought a house and was reassigned to his Fort Wayne infantry unit. The timing couldn't have been worse. The Fort Wayne unit was activated in November for duty in Kuwait.
"He had Thanksgiving at home, and then he left," Tudor said.
Tudor said he and his wife and the rest of the family send packages to Jenkins, write to him and pray for him, but it seems insufficient.
"I wish I could do more - have a more direct role," he said.
"They have a tough job ahead," Tudor continued. "That's what really worries me. How is he going to complete his mission without getting hurt or without killing someone. He's not had to do that. How's he going to respond to it? You take a level-headed person and you never know how they're going to react.
"He wanted a normal life," Tudor said, "and now he may have to go and kill someone. He may see the person's face. That's pretty scary."
Contact John Briggs at 660-1863 or jbriggs@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
Copyright © 2003, The Burlington Free Press (Burlington, VT)
