The News Journal February 26, 2013

Tearful sendoff as Guard unit heads off to war duties

By William H. McMichael

NEW CASTLE — The lively chatter from the 200 or so people crowded inside the big room did not speak of impending sadness. It sounded more like a party – albeit one with lots of adults wearing camouflage uniforms, calming therapy dogs and small children scurrying about.

But as 30 or so Air National Guardsmen said their farewells and filed out from the New Castle operations center Tuesday morning to begin a four-month deployment to support the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, some of the smiles became long faces and the tears began to flow.

The tears typically are shed by the younger spouses. The veterans – those whose loved ones have made multiple deployments – have been there before.

That doesn’t mean it’s not hard. Jackie Spears has seen her husband, Master Sgt. Andrew Spears of the 166th Airlift Wing, deploy four times during their six years of marriage. But this time, in addition to having 3-year-old Gavin at home, she’s cradling 3-month-old Abigail.

“It’s still hard. It’s as hard as the first one, even though we know what we’re doing,” Jackie Spears said with a pause.

“But I know what I’m doing,” she said. “So that’s kind of comforting.”

Andrew Spears and close to 40 others, including the crew of the C-130H2 aircraft carrying the soldiers to an undisclosed base in the Middle East, will spend part or all of the next four months assigned to the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. They will perform the “typical mission set” for a cargo aircraft, which mission commander Lt. Col. Chris Kilcullen says involves tactical airlift and aeromedical evacuation.

“It’s whatever the combatant commander needs moved around intratheater,” said Kilcullen, who has logged six deployments during his career. “It’s more going to the smaller locations with smaller loads – you know, beans, people, baggage, whatever the need.”

Nearly 40 more are slated to fly Thursday to the same base, which the Air Force does not name due to host nation sensitivities. However, defense research source GlobalSecurity.org identified it as Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.

One aircraft will return to Delaware with personnel rotating back from overseas deployments. Then, two other C-130s will replace the remaining airplane two months later, and stay another two months in the war theater before ending the 166th’s mission, Kilcullen said.

All that flux makes life hectic for unit planners, and for families as well. The Air Guard, however, provides a lot of places to turn for those in need.

“I try to be the support system,” said Technical Sgt. Yolanda DiVirgilio, a readiness manager for the 166th Airlift Wing.

DiVirgilio personally calls the contact person for each deployed soldier at least once a month, saying it is “to make sure they know I’m on the other end.” She can provide connections to a financial counselor, a military family life consultant for social services or other specialists.

“Thank goodness, funding has been kind,” she said of the Guard’s ability to maintain those services.

Exceptional problems notwithstanding, the key to getting through the experience without unforeseen issues, Guardsmen and family members say, is communication, which has benefited from improved cellphone and Internet services.

Veterans like Master Sgt. John Cargan, a former Army Ranger and current C-130 crew chief, can recall the old days of lousy connections and receiving letters by mail during his 19 years of active service.

“Yesterday, we hooked up the cameras for the first time to make sure they work,” he said.

Cargan plans to trade a lot of images and messages with wife Denise and daughters Jessica, 20, and Elise, 18, taking into account the 9-hour difference between Afghanistan and the East Coast.

“It’s important,” Denise Cargan said of the messages from her husband. “It’s like that nice little surprise at the end of the day.”