Families In Different Wars
(March 23, 2011) |
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| CONTINGENTCY OPERATION BASE SPEICHER, Iraq (March 20, 2011)
— “Ya know, I pick on her all the time, but her being over
there and us being here, it's hard,” said a teary-eyed Staff
Sgt. Robert Hawk, day shift battle captain with the 394th
Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment
Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a
Newton, Kan., native, whose daughter, Spc. Ashley Parkman,
.50 caliber gunner on the convoy escort team with the 425th
Transportation Company, 821st Transportation Battalion, was
recently deployed to Afghanistan. |
Staff Sgt. Hawk and his wife 1st Lt. Cheryl
Hawk, battalion maintenance officer with the
394th CSSB, arrived in Iraq in June 2010, but
two months prior to their deployment, they
watched as their youngest daughter packed up and
deployed to Afghanistan.
“We were just
crying as we went home as parents,” said Cheryl
Hawk. “At the same time, we looked at each other
as soldiers and knew that she was going off as a
soldier and just doing her job.”
The Hawk
family is not the only group of soldiers who
have two different sets of emotions due to dual
deployments. Staff Sgt. Constance Oberg, orderly
room non-commissioned officer-in-charge with
Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 394th
CSSB, and a Fremont, Neb., native, and Sgt. 1st
Class Toni Wright, equipment readiness NCO with
the 394th CSSB, and a |
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Staff Sgt. Constance Oberg (far left), orderly room non-commissioned officer-in-charge with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 394th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 3rd Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), and a Fremont, Neb., native; Staff Sgt. Robert Hawk (back), day shift battle captain with the 394th CSSB, and a Newton, Kan., native; his wife, 1st Lt. Cheryl Hawk (center), battalion maintenance officer with the 394th CSSB; and Sgt. 1st Class Toni Wright (right), equipment readiness NCO with the 394th CSSB, and a Newcastle, Neb., native, hold up photos of their children who are deployed to Afghanistan while they are all deployed to Iraq. Photo by
Army Pfc. Ashley Reiten |
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Newcastle, Neb., native, both have sons
currently deployed to Afghanistan. |
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Oberg said that she feels mixed emotions about her son,
Petty Officer 2nd Class Colin Oberg, a cryptologist with the
U.S. Navy, stationed at Misawa, Japan, being deployed to a
war zone.
“On one hand, I was very worried about him,
but on the other hand I am very proud of him for doing what
he is doing,” she said. “I am really proud of Colin for
doing everything he has done. I have told him that countless
times while we have been on the phone.”
She said she
was shocked to hear that he was deploying to Afghanistan.
“He called me when I was at Fort Hood [Texas] mobilizing
to come to Iraq,” she continued. “He said that he had
something to tell me, which never comes across well. Because
he knew that I was going to Iraq, an opportunity to deploy
came up and he grabbed it, only to find out that they were
heading to Afghanistan and not Iraq. Being in the Navy, you
think of them being on a sub or a ship, and never really
think of them as being in Afghanistan.”
Wright said
that although her experience as a soldier helped her
understand the hardships that her son, Spc. William Wright,
an ammunition stock control and accounting specialist with
the 452nd Ordnance Company, a Newcastle, Neb., native,
deployed to Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, would be facing,
she never stopped worrying about him.
“I worry about
him all the time!” she exclaimed. “I knew what was expected
of my son, and I knew he could handle it. But, as a mother,
you always find time to think about your children, no matter
where you are.”
The three families said that, because
they are soldiers themselves and have been on multiple
deployments, they were able to prepare their children for
the possible challenges that they would face in a deployed
environment.
“Because I had deployed before, I knew
what to push to her to get her prepared,” said 1st Lt.
Cheryl Hawk, who is on her fourth deployment. “Not every kid
has that option. It was pretty lucky for her to have parents
with insight.”
Wright said that in addition to the
benefit of being through her previous deployment, her son
helped her pack her bag this time around, so he was able to
have an idea of what he will do when he packed his.
“It helped him to prepare both mentally and physically
because he would ask me questions about what I had to do
before I deployed,” she said. "Plus, he probably remembered
from my first deployment that I worked a lot of long hours.
He also helped me pack my duffle bags. So I think he had
some training.”
All three families say that they have
good communication with their children while they are
deployed. Through updated technology, staying in touch has
been easier than ever for families, both home and abroad, to
stay in touch with their loved ones.
Oberg said that
she and her son use Facebook and Skype to stay in touch as
much as possible.
“That is the reason we got Facebook
accounts,” she said. “We can share pictures and messages
easily.”
The Hawk family used the Army's DSN
telephone lines to keep in
contact with each other.
Cheryl Hawk said that about twice a month, her daughter
would call and they would be able to chat for about an hour
or so.
Her daughter has since redeployed stateside
but still reminisces of the steady communication she had
with her mother while deployed.
“Her Facebook page
says, ‘glad to be home, but misses phone time with mom,'”
said Cheryl Hawk with a smile.
Being soldiers
themselves, the parents understood the dangers that their
children would be facing while in a deployed environment.
“It wasn't a big deal until I found out she was a
gunner,” said Robert Hawk. “That kind of scared me. On my
first tour I was a gunner. She said to me, ‘I want to be
just like you, Dad.'”
His wife said that there was
only one time during her daughter's deployment that she was
really nervous for her, and that is when the dining facility
at her daughter's base was blown up while her daughter was
in it.
“I talk to her at length about her missions,
and I have seen videos of her missions, and none of that
bothered me because I looked at it from the soldier
perspective,” she said. “But when she told me that the chow
hall had been hit and she was in it, that is when the mom
side of me kicked in a bit and kind of got to me.”
The 394th CSSB is close to redeployment, with Parkman
already home. Each parent expressed the joy of the thought
of being reunited with their children.
Cheryl Hawk
and her husband said they are excited about redeploying and
being able to spend time with their four children and three
grandchildren.
“I can't wait to get home and see them
all,” she said. “I miss them a lot.”
Wright said that
because she gets to head home before her son does, she will
be the first person there to greet him as he comes off the
plane.
“I just can't wait to see him,” she said. “I
am going to be Mom waiting for her son to return from the
war.” |
By Army Sgt. Gaelen Lowers
3rd Sustainment Brigade
Copyright 2011 | |
Provided
through DVIDS
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