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Soldiers Reflect On Fourth Of July Holiday
(July 4, 2011) | 
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Spc. Jeremiah Baird (right), a Dayton,
Idaho, native, sits with Spc. Eric Vibbert, a Redmond, Ore., native,
at the Tactical Operations Center of the 3rd Battalion, 116th
Cavalry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary
Sustainment Command on June 27, 2011. Baird said he knows exactly
what his folks and friends will be doing on the Fourth of July:
attending a parade. |
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JOINT BASE BALAD, Iraq (7/3/2011) – Spc. Jeremiah Baird already
knows what the Fourth of July will be like in his hometown of
Dayton, Idaho.
“We always have a parade in our little town,”
he said.
Baird, a member of Golf Company, 3rd Battalion,
116th Cavalry Regiment, 77th Sustainment Brigade, 310th
Expeditionary Sustainment Command, won't be there to see the parade
firsthand this year, but he might get to view the event anyway,
thanks to technology.
“Our house is right on the main road
where they push the parade past. My parents will try to Skype me
during the parade,” he said.
Baird, stationed at Joint Base
Balad, Iraq, is |
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just one of several dozen Idaho soldiers mobilized last year to
deploy to Iraq as part of eastern Oregon's 3rd Battalion. Members of
G Co., hailing from such Idaho towns as Blackfoot, Pocatello,
Preston, Montpelier, Boise, Twin Falls and Idaho Falls, will spend
this Fourth of July far from home. |
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Baird works in the battalion's Tactical Operations Center and said he
transported plenty of memories of his hometown's Fourth of July
celebration in Dayton when he deployed to Iraq.
“When the parade
ended, there was always a grease pole we'd put out and we'd watch about
100 people try to get the $100 bill off the top of it,” he said.
And, after the parade, a plane swoops low over the football field in
town and drops ping-pong balls.
“[The ping-pong balls] have
numbers on them and people could take them and get a prize,” he said.
While Americans everywhere will be in the midst of barbecues and
fireworks this July 4th, Idaho soldiers stationed at Joint Base Balad
will mark the renowned holiday in many different and subtle ways.
For some soldiers, the day is like any other – hot, dusty and, at
times, risky.
“Over here, it is just another day,” said Capt.
Shawn Reese, G Co. commander and a resident of Idaho Falls, Idaho.
The holiday will not translate into a break for many G Co. soldiers.
“Just because it is the Fourth of July doesn't mean we will sit back
and relax,” said Sgt. Jason King, a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected
vehicle driver with G Co. and a Boise, Idaho, native.
King said
he can easily reflect on memories of past Fourth of July holidays, even
as he is concentrating on his duties at Joint Base Balad.
“If I
was back home, I'd take the wife and stepkids and go to Boise, Julia
Davis Park, float the Boise River. Floating the Boise River is something
I've done since I can remember. This is one of the few years I won't get
the opportunity to float the river,” said King, 30, who resides in
Blackfoot, Idaho.
Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Dean of Blackfoot, Idaho,
said his platoon will mark the day and then go right back to the
mission. Yet Dean said he is happy he will be able to enjoy the holiday
with his soldiers.
“I will be missing a barbecue, sure. But here
I'm with my soldier family,” he said.
King left a family and new
wife when he deployed to Iraq last year, and that separation has been
difficult.
“It's been rough, given I just married my wife in
March 2010. I've been separated longer than I've been able to be with
her,” he said.
Still he said the deployment, his first, has
proven to be beneficial.
“I'd like to think we've made a
difference. And [the deployment] has made me a better person,” he said.
For Reese, the Fourth of July holiday is a good time to ponder the
accomplishments of his unit.
“I think we've done very well.
Everyone has done a good job,” Reese said.
Reese said while the
company's expedition in Iraq is ending in a few months, the focal point
is still convoy escort duties.
“We are trying not to think about
the end of the tour too much,” he said. “We are trying to keep our
focus. I do think though, at this point, we can see the light at the end
of the tunnel.”
Baird said he will take more than a moment to
consider his friends and family back home in Dayton enjoying the Fourth
of July Parade.
He said patriotism runs deep in Dayton, a fact he
discovered when he came home for leave.
“There were 20 flags
posted in front of our house that the Boy Scouts put out,” he said.
He is also confident regarding how his family will look the day of
the parade.
“They are planning on all wearing yellow ribbons,” he
said. | |
By Army SSgt. Patrick Caldwell
77th Sustainment Brigade
Copyright 2011
Provided
through DVIDS
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