Town fights fears as guardsmen deploy again

Staff Sgt. Jason Jones holds the Company E flag during his unit's mobilization ceremony and family day activities in Hamlet, N.C., on Nov. 16, 2008. Jones and other soldiers in Company E of the 120th Combined Arms Battalion in the North Carolina National Guard's 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team are preparing for another tour of Iraq.


Town fights fears as guardsmen deploy again
By Kevin Maurer and Mitch Weiss - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Dec 21, 2008 15:36:36 EST

HAMLET, N.C. — Christian Tyler knew exactly how to get ready for her first day of school: She slipped into her uniform, poured a bowl of Apple Jacks and plopped down on the living room couch to watch cartoons and wait for her dad.

The 9-year-old knew nothing about what was to come next.

Because her dad is a part-time soldier in the National Guard, the house, the school and the town — they were new.

All of it came together in the past few weeks as Christian’s father, Jobel Barbosa, prepared to leave home this month to train for a yearlong deployment to Iraq. She wound up with her grandmother with plans to spend her days at Ashley Chapel Elementary, where she starts with no friends and wonders during class whether her father will be safe.

~snip~

It has been nearly six years since the United States invaded Iraq, and while the war is not forgotten, the singular sacrifices of America’s all-volunteer military and their families sometimes slip the minds of civilians focused on their own pain amid the deepening economic crisis.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_30th_brigade_deploy_122108/%2e