The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) March 26, 2003
"A Protector' For Her Infantryman
Mother Cites Aid of Prayer in Guiding Son
By Jennifer Jacobs
When Rashaad Shepherd would disappear into the city streets after dark, his mother prayed he would turn his life around.
"A lot of nights, I went out looking for him," said Amy Moore, of Palmer Avenue in Syracuse. "I'd tell him, "I will not stand over your casket."' Shepherd, 19, eventually joined the Army. Now, he's in the Army's 2nd Battalion, 54th Infantry Regiment, and is probably fighting in Iraq.
As a youth, Shepherd got into trouble with police three or four times, mainly for stealing. He dropped out of high school.
"He basically was in the streets, hanging out," Moore said.
"I remember at one point telling the police officer I didn't want to take him home. I said, "Obviously, he likes staying down there."'
Once in the Army, Shepherd was trained at the infantry school at Fort Benning, Ga., which produces "the world's finest" combat leaders for warfighting divisions, according to Globalsecurity.org, a military think tank.
The drill sergeants there are known for turning civilians into well-disciplined, highly skilled soldiers.
It took Shepherd six months to complete basic training. He was "recycled" - sent back to the beginning of the training process - for violating the rules.
On his graduation day, in November, a friend with a limousine drove his mother and aunt, Saundra Smokes, a former columnist whose work appeared in The Post-Standard, to the ceremony in Georgia.
"I think that was the proudest I've been of him since he's been on this earth," Moore said.
Shepherd had promised his grandmother, Rebecca Smokes, he would graduate high school. When she died, in 1999, he had not achieved that goal. Four months later, his father, Henry Shepherd, 41, died of a heart-related illness.
"He was angry with everybody," said Moore, who is a school bus driver for special needs children. "He would have moments where he would just sit back and cry."
If his mother couldn't find Rashaad on a Saturday night, she knew she could count on seeing him at Hopps Memorial CME Church in the morning.
"He's a firm believer in God," she said. "He knew he had to go to church every Sunday. The biggest influence in Rashaad's life is Christ Jesus."
After much prayer, Shepherd earned a GED and chose the Army over the streets.
He was deployed Jan. 8. He wrote a letter joking about eating "camburgers," saying there were no cows in Kuwait, so the meat must be camel.
His family has not heard from him since the war began.
"I don't like that he's over there," his mother said, "but I believe God is a protector."
GRAPHIC: PHOTO; Courtesy of Moore family; RASHAAD SHEPHERD is serving overseas. Color; Marilu Lopez-Fretts/Contributing photographer; AMY MOORE prays for her son Rashaad Shepherd, 19, an Army soldier, at Manifest Ministries Church in Syracuse. It was emotional for Moore to see Shepherd, a high school dropout, graduate from basic training at Fort Benning, in Georgia, in November. "I tell you," she said, "he came through with a lot of praying." Color
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