Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Chicago Tribune
November 28, 2008
Pg. 35
3,000 Illinoisans ready to leave for Afghanistan
By James Janega, Tribune reporter
ROCKFORD — The Christmas shopping was done before Thanksgiving dinner was even on the table. A New Year's Eve party had been celebrated the night before in a Rockford bar, and Sgt. Ashley Calhoun's duffel for an East Coast Army base—and then Afghanistan—was ready for the morning.
With the last hours of leave ticking away after months of training, Calhoun wanted to cram a busy holiday season into the hectic few days off she was given, her last before shipping to an overseas war zone for a year.
Nearly 3,000 members of the Illinois National Guard are deploying this holiday season for a year in Afghanistan. Last weekend, the main body of them finished intense training in North Carolina and were given a four-day pass to go home for Thanksgiving. Most crammed far more into those days.
Unexpected demands and well-wishes started even before they got back to Illinois. As they traveled in uniform, strangers introduced themselves in airports or nodded respectfully, forcing impatient soldiers to put on a polite public face. A flight attendant on at least one U.S. Airways flight from Charlotte to Chicago singled out eight Illinois Guardsmen and women based in Dixon earlier this week and announced that on-board beverages would be free for the flight.
Members of the Machesney Park-based 135th Chemical Co., including Calhoun, arrived home on Tuesday relieved and apprehensive, tired but already busy, a 96-hour clock ticking until they must return to duty Friday. By then, many hoped to have rushed through Thanksgiving, winter holiday shopping, New Year's celebrations and birthdays.
"I wanted to do all that [with my family], knowing I can touch them one last time," Calhoun said.
Thursday was the least hectic part of Calhoun's leave. A Rockford police officer on her second deployment, Calhoun now has a husband, a daughter, and a schedule that had involved everything from picking out a Christmas tree to a quiet night at home—all in three nights and four days.
She arrived Tuesday and leaves Friday. On Wednesday, Calhoun and her husband, Tim, took 15-month-old Zoey for her first haircut. The parents went Christmas shopping for their daughter, then met friends for drinks.
They sat down with extended family Thursday in the Rockford home of Calhoun's mother-in-law.
"We just have to squeeze it all in," said Pat Fausett, who was the host of the holiday dinner. "Get it in and talk about stuff. Other stuff."
Illinois is in the midst of its largest guard deployment since World War II, sending to Afghanistan one in every four citizen soldiers in the state Guard.
By January, 2,700 Illinois men and women will be on yearlong missions in Afghanistan, emptying National Guard armories from Chicago to Carbondale as part of a still-larger national effort.
Since April 2007, the Pentagon has alerted more than 60,000 National Guard troops nationwide to be ready for tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, underscoring the Army's growing reliance on the Guard and Reserve.
The ramifications of that national demand have played out in Illinois soldiers' crowded holiday week.
"The last two months have felt like six," Calhoun said, composing herself and looking at her husband, daughter and extended family. "It means a lot, now that I'm home, to spend time with them."
November 28, 2008
Pg. 35
3,000 Illinoisans ready to leave for Afghanistan
By James Janega, Tribune reporter
ROCKFORD — The Christmas shopping was done before Thanksgiving dinner was even on the table. A New Year's Eve party had been celebrated the night before in a Rockford bar, and Sgt. Ashley Calhoun's duffel for an East Coast Army base—and then Afghanistan—was ready for the morning.
With the last hours of leave ticking away after months of training, Calhoun wanted to cram a busy holiday season into the hectic few days off she was given, her last before shipping to an overseas war zone for a year.
Nearly 3,000 members of the Illinois National Guard are deploying this holiday season for a year in Afghanistan. Last weekend, the main body of them finished intense training in North Carolina and were given a four-day pass to go home for Thanksgiving. Most crammed far more into those days.
Unexpected demands and well-wishes started even before they got back to Illinois. As they traveled in uniform, strangers introduced themselves in airports or nodded respectfully, forcing impatient soldiers to put on a polite public face. A flight attendant on at least one U.S. Airways flight from Charlotte to Chicago singled out eight Illinois Guardsmen and women based in Dixon earlier this week and announced that on-board beverages would be free for the flight.
Members of the Machesney Park-based 135th Chemical Co., including Calhoun, arrived home on Tuesday relieved and apprehensive, tired but already busy, a 96-hour clock ticking until they must return to duty Friday. By then, many hoped to have rushed through Thanksgiving, winter holiday shopping, New Year's celebrations and birthdays.
"I wanted to do all that [with my family], knowing I can touch them one last time," Calhoun said.
Thursday was the least hectic part of Calhoun's leave. A Rockford police officer on her second deployment, Calhoun now has a husband, a daughter, and a schedule that had involved everything from picking out a Christmas tree to a quiet night at home—all in three nights and four days.
She arrived Tuesday and leaves Friday. On Wednesday, Calhoun and her husband, Tim, took 15-month-old Zoey for her first haircut. The parents went Christmas shopping for their daughter, then met friends for drinks.
They sat down with extended family Thursday in the Rockford home of Calhoun's mother-in-law.
"We just have to squeeze it all in," said Pat Fausett, who was the host of the holiday dinner. "Get it in and talk about stuff. Other stuff."
Illinois is in the midst of its largest guard deployment since World War II, sending to Afghanistan one in every four citizen soldiers in the state Guard.
By January, 2,700 Illinois men and women will be on yearlong missions in Afghanistan, emptying National Guard armories from Chicago to Carbondale as part of a still-larger national effort.
Since April 2007, the Pentagon has alerted more than 60,000 National Guard troops nationwide to be ready for tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, underscoring the Army's growing reliance on the Guard and Reserve.
The ramifications of that national demand have played out in Illinois soldiers' crowded holiday week.
"The last two months have felt like six," Calhoun said, composing herself and looking at her husband, daughter and extended family. "It means a lot, now that I'm home, to spend time with them."