Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Chicago Tribune
September 30, 2008
Pg. 4
Illinois deployment of National Guard troops is highest since WWII
By James Janega, Tribune reporter
The deployment has gone on for months, a drumbeat separating Illinois soldiers from their families and civilian jobs to fill a need overseas that has pulled troops out of National Guard armories from Chicago to Carbondale.
The state is in the midst of its largest guard deployment since World War II, sending to Afghanistan one in every four citizen soldiers in the Illinois Guard.
By October's end, some 2,700 Illinois men and women will have left for training and yearlong missions in Afghanistan -- 28 units from 27 communities -- an enormous burden that's part of a still-larger national sacrifice.
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 even as frustrated states fought the demands by the federal government.
But the soldiers are leaving. Tuesday and Wednesday, it will be the turn of the 135th Chemical Company, based outside Rockford in Machesney Park.
The 135th never deploys, its members say. With a mission to clean chemical spills and contain biological attacks, the unit has a purpose so apocalyptic it has never seen war. But its members retooled to guard bases and convoys in Afghanistan -- a risky assignment in this increasingly out-of-control war.
This month, the official reading of the deployment order was as short as it had been shocking the previous spring.
Family members of the soldiers leaned forward in a Machesney Park auditorium as an officer with staccato delivery began the goodbye ceremony.
"The Army National Guard of the United States has ordered the 135th Chemical Company to active duty for an initial period of up to 400 days in support of Operation Enduring Freedom," the officer said.
That was it.
For the 150 men and women standing at attention on stage, the words "400 days" floated in the air.
Among them were soldiers who in daily life include a police officer, a construction worker and a theft prevention expert for Target.
Staff Sgt. John Binger
Staff Sgt. John Binger wanted the war movie send-off -- a military formation in a sun-drenched field. He wanted tears of pride in his family's eyes, a sense he would see, and make, history. He got a ceremony at the Machesney Park high school and pointed questions from daughter Annmarie, 12.
A wiry, hyperactive Rockton construction worker and squad leader in the 3rd Platoon of the 135th Chemical Company, Binger, 35, learned he was bound for Afghanistan after a weekend of training in May. It jarred soldiers so thoroughly they used a phone tree to make sure buddies got home safely.
Rattled, Binger had to pull over on the drive home. From the side of the road, he phoned his fiance's parents.
Karen Ullrich, the mother of their then-10-month-old son, Joshua, is 21. Though she energetically supports Binger's unit, the soldier couldn't tell her it would take him away. The Ullrichs met him at the young couple's apartment. He took a breath and just let the words out.
On July 2, he married Karen. They wanted a big wedding, but got a courthouse. "I wanted her to be 'Mrs. Binger' before I left," Binger said.
He is idealistic and proud. He watches war movies, especially relishing the scenes when soldiers leave for war, and repeats patriotic sayings about service.
"This is my time to go play a part in history. Most people don't get a chance," he said.
He found the actual ceremony vaguely disappointing, the setting mundane.
"Then one of the speakers mentioned our families," Binger said. "And I could see mine."
They were sitting in the back left corner of the auditorium, near the aisle. His mother-in-law was holding Joshua. Karen was standing behind the last row of seats with a video camera. She had tears in her eyes, and suddenly, so did he.
At last, he thought, a moment that fit the circumstances.
Sgt. Ashley Calhoun
Though the 135th Chemical Company never went to war before, a dozen of its soldiers have.
Sgt. Ashley Calhoun -- a Rockford police officer with a new husband, a new daughter and an Alabama accent -- is one of them. She is proud of her time in the Army, is addicted to its bonds and wants to wear the uniform for 20 years.
But she is considerably more circumspect about this mission than she had been in Tikrit, Iraq, in 2003.
"I didn't have any worries back then," she said. "Now? I have a little girl and a husband. I don't want to leave them."
She married Tim Calhoun in March 2007. The following August, their daughter Zoey was born.
Her mother-in-law, Pat Fausett, says the thought of missing Zoey's first words -- first anythings -- comes the closest to making Calhoun panic.
It is not the large details of leaving that stand out for her. Little things seem far more pressing.
"I had to teach my husband how to pay bills," she joked. Insurance was an issue. She bought Web cameras for herself and for her husband.
"We've been taking pictures of me and my daughter together. So when I'm gone, she can say, 'This is mommy, this is mommy.'"
Calhoun, 32, refuses to share her emotions about going to Afghanistan.
Her father, Paul Bartinikaitis, is more open.
"I am a lot more worried about this deployment than the last. I just don't feel good about it. It's a lot more dangerous than it was," he said.
He doesn't tell her he worries. "God's going to take care of her," said Calhoun's stepmother, Linda Bartinikaitis. Paul says little more.
Out of earshot, Calhoun clenches her jaw.
"I've been there," she said. "I know what to expect."
1st Lt. Corey Stoglin
As orders reached other Illinois Guard units, rumors grew that the Machesney Park 135th Chemical Company would be next, said 1st Lt. Corey Stoglin, 34, who leads the unit's 2nd Platoon.
"There were inklings. You hear whispers," Stoglin said. "You know people throughout the state."
He tried not to pin his hopes too high either way but struggled to contain them. Stoglin is not married. He enlisted at 18, and the Army gave him a career, a purpose and a sense of duty. He went through ROTC at the University of Iowa on the GI Bill. Now that he had his lieutenant bar, he didn't want his graduating class to lead troops in war without him.
"I was champing at the bit a little," he said.
Word came at a meeting for platoon leaders, the Saturday before others learned.
It would be Afghanistan.
The 135th would provide force protection -- guarding convoys, securing a major base, protecting units that ventured outside. As he contemplated his military responsibilities, Stoglin also realized how much civilian life consumed him.
He works in loss prevention at Target and may go to law school. To serve in the 135th, he drives 2 1/2 hours from Iowa City to Machesney Park. (The Illinois Guard offered better chance for advancement, he says.) In Iowa, he represented the Iowa City Human Rights Commission, led Affirmative Action duties for the Johnson County Democrats and volunteered for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
"All your plans go out the window. You put your life on hold," he said.
Instead of attending community meetings, he turned to Web sites for Army officers, learning about roadside bombs and enemy ambushes.
He heard about two Illinois Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan. They'd been there less than a month. But he's resolute.
"You need to have been there and done your fair share."
September 30, 2008
Pg. 4
Illinois deployment of National Guard troops is highest since WWII
By James Janega, Tribune reporter
The deployment has gone on for months, a drumbeat separating Illinois soldiers from their families and civilian jobs to fill a need overseas that has pulled troops out of National Guard armories from Chicago to Carbondale.
The state is in the midst of its largest guard deployment since World War II, sending to Afghanistan one in every four citizen soldiers in the Illinois Guard.
By October's end, some 2,700 Illinois men and women will have left for training and yearlong missions in Afghanistan -- 28 units from 27 communities -- an enormous burden that's part of a still-larger national sacrifice.
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 even as frustrated states fought the demands by the federal government.
But the soldiers are leaving. Tuesday and Wednesday, it will be the turn of the 135th Chemical Company, based outside Rockford in Machesney Park.
The 135th never deploys, its members say. With a mission to clean chemical spills and contain biological attacks, the unit has a purpose so apocalyptic it has never seen war. But its members retooled to guard bases and convoys in Afghanistan -- a risky assignment in this increasingly out-of-control war.
This month, the official reading of the deployment order was as short as it had been shocking the previous spring.
Family members of the soldiers leaned forward in a Machesney Park auditorium as an officer with staccato delivery began the goodbye ceremony.
"The Army National Guard of the United States has ordered the 135th Chemical Company to active duty for an initial period of up to 400 days in support of Operation Enduring Freedom," the officer said.
That was it.
For the 150 men and women standing at attention on stage, the words "400 days" floated in the air.
Among them were soldiers who in daily life include a police officer, a construction worker and a theft prevention expert for Target.
Staff Sgt. John Binger
Staff Sgt. John Binger wanted the war movie send-off -- a military formation in a sun-drenched field. He wanted tears of pride in his family's eyes, a sense he would see, and make, history. He got a ceremony at the Machesney Park high school and pointed questions from daughter Annmarie, 12.
A wiry, hyperactive Rockton construction worker and squad leader in the 3rd Platoon of the 135th Chemical Company, Binger, 35, learned he was bound for Afghanistan after a weekend of training in May. It jarred soldiers so thoroughly they used a phone tree to make sure buddies got home safely.
Rattled, Binger had to pull over on the drive home. From the side of the road, he phoned his fiance's parents.
Karen Ullrich, the mother of their then-10-month-old son, Joshua, is 21. Though she energetically supports Binger's unit, the soldier couldn't tell her it would take him away. The Ullrichs met him at the young couple's apartment. He took a breath and just let the words out.
On July 2, he married Karen. They wanted a big wedding, but got a courthouse. "I wanted her to be 'Mrs. Binger' before I left," Binger said.
He is idealistic and proud. He watches war movies, especially relishing the scenes when soldiers leave for war, and repeats patriotic sayings about service.
"This is my time to go play a part in history. Most people don't get a chance," he said.
He found the actual ceremony vaguely disappointing, the setting mundane.
"Then one of the speakers mentioned our families," Binger said. "And I could see mine."
They were sitting in the back left corner of the auditorium, near the aisle. His mother-in-law was holding Joshua. Karen was standing behind the last row of seats with a video camera. She had tears in her eyes, and suddenly, so did he.
At last, he thought, a moment that fit the circumstances.
Sgt. Ashley Calhoun
Though the 135th Chemical Company never went to war before, a dozen of its soldiers have.
Sgt. Ashley Calhoun -- a Rockford police officer with a new husband, a new daughter and an Alabama accent -- is one of them. She is proud of her time in the Army, is addicted to its bonds and wants to wear the uniform for 20 years.
But she is considerably more circumspect about this mission than she had been in Tikrit, Iraq, in 2003.
"I didn't have any worries back then," she said. "Now? I have a little girl and a husband. I don't want to leave them."
She married Tim Calhoun in March 2007. The following August, their daughter Zoey was born.
Her mother-in-law, Pat Fausett, says the thought of missing Zoey's first words -- first anythings -- comes the closest to making Calhoun panic.
It is not the large details of leaving that stand out for her. Little things seem far more pressing.
"I had to teach my husband how to pay bills," she joked. Insurance was an issue. She bought Web cameras for herself and for her husband.
"We've been taking pictures of me and my daughter together. So when I'm gone, she can say, 'This is mommy, this is mommy.'"
Calhoun, 32, refuses to share her emotions about going to Afghanistan.
Her father, Paul Bartinikaitis, is more open.
"I am a lot more worried about this deployment than the last. I just don't feel good about it. It's a lot more dangerous than it was," he said.
He doesn't tell her he worries. "God's going to take care of her," said Calhoun's stepmother, Linda Bartinikaitis. Paul says little more.
Out of earshot, Calhoun clenches her jaw.
"I've been there," she said. "I know what to expect."
1st Lt. Corey Stoglin
As orders reached other Illinois Guard units, rumors grew that the Machesney Park 135th Chemical Company would be next, said 1st Lt. Corey Stoglin, 34, who leads the unit's 2nd Platoon.
"There were inklings. You hear whispers," Stoglin said. "You know people throughout the state."
He tried not to pin his hopes too high either way but struggled to contain them. Stoglin is not married. He enlisted at 18, and the Army gave him a career, a purpose and a sense of duty. He went through ROTC at the University of Iowa on the GI Bill. Now that he had his lieutenant bar, he didn't want his graduating class to lead troops in war without him.
"I was champing at the bit a little," he said.
Word came at a meeting for platoon leaders, the Saturday before others learned.
It would be Afghanistan.
The 135th would provide force protection -- guarding convoys, securing a major base, protecting units that ventured outside. As he contemplated his military responsibilities, Stoglin also realized how much civilian life consumed him.
He works in loss prevention at Target and may go to law school. To serve in the 135th, he drives 2 1/2 hours from Iowa City to Machesney Park. (The Illinois Guard offered better chance for advancement, he says.) In Iowa, he represented the Iowa City Human Rights Commission, led Affirmative Action duties for the Johnson County Democrats and volunteered for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.
"All your plans go out the window. You put your life on hold," he said.
Instead of attending community meetings, he turned to Web sites for Army officers, learning about roadside bombs and enemy ambushes.
He heard about two Illinois Guardsmen killed in Afghanistan. They'd been there less than a month. But he's resolute.
"You need to have been there and done your fair share."