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My wildly entertaining letters to my son and other American Soldiers suffering in Iraq and elsewhere...posted in no particular chronological order.
Friday, January 21, 2005
UPDATE 2005- Back to Iraq
To bring Plucky Letters up to date, here's a portion of an Illinois newspaper article featuring my son, the Army medic.
From the Decatur Herald & Review:
Sending off the soldiers
By Huey Freeman, H&R Staff Writer
January 8, 2005
URBANA- Sgt. Robert M_____ was put through some hard tests when he served as a medic with the Army's 101st Airborne Division during the first months of the war in Iraq.
But that tour of duty will always have a special place in his heart.
While serving in Iraq, M_____'s name was given to a grade school class in Bloomington, his hometown. When a letter arrived from the class, M_____ recognized the name of the teacher as someone who had been in his fifth-grade class.
While he appreciated the letters from the students, he appreciated even more the correspondence he began with the lovely brunette he lost contact with half a lifetime ago.
"We just kept corresponding," he said.
After he returned home and completed his active duty service obligation, M_____ joined the Illinois National Guard.
Six weeks ago, M_____ , 24, and his former classmate, Stacey, were married. "I'm very happy about it," M_____ said.
Sgt Robert and Stacey M_____ were at the Urbana Armory on Friday afternoon along with 183 other soldiers in the second battalion, 130th Infantry Regiment, and hundreds of other family members. The relatives gathered to honor the infantrymen who have been called up to active duty for 18 months.
The soldiers will fly out of Willard Airport in Savoy today for months of training at Fort Stewart, Ga. They will later serve in Iraq, according to Chief Warrant Officer Bud Roberts of the National Guard's public affairs office.
M_____, who has been working as a lab technician at Bromenn Hospital in Bloomington, said he did not want to return to Iraq, but he knows medics are needed there.
Of the infantrymen he will be serving with in the storied Blackhawk Battalion's Headquarters and Headquarters Company, M_____ estimates 95 percent have no combat experience.
"I am going to work with the (30) medics to get them ready for what to expect over there," he said.
Robert M_____ said he knows it will be rough in Iraq, but he loves his job. He is more concerned about how his newlywed wife will do in his absence.
"She's taking it better than I thought, but it's going to be hard," he said.
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