thedrifter
01-23-07, 08:25 AM
'I don't know what's going to happen'
January 23, 2007
By Jim Hook Staff writer
As President Bush defends his plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, mothers of Southland men who already have served in Iraq are wondering what it will mean for them.
Sue Zavorka is braced for the possibility that her son, Brent, will go back for yet another tour with his Marine reserve unit.
"I don't know what's going to happen," said the Tinley Park mother of four grown children. "I don't know if Brent will be sent back.
"But I'm preparing for that possibility," she said.
During his annual State of the Union speech tonight, Bush is expected to explain his plan to turn the tide of the war by increasing troop levels, particularly in Baghdad.
As part of the escalation, the Pentagon is expected to send 4,000 more Marines to the Anbar Province.
Zavorka's son, Brent Annen, is a 26-year-old Marine reservist who served a nine-month tour in 2005 in the area near Baghdad referred to as the "triangle of death."
Annen joined the Marine reserves six years ago while a student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
"It was right after Sept. 11, and he felt a great deal of patriotism," Zavorka said. "He wanted to serve his country. He wanted to be a Marine."
She said she supported her son's decision (to join the Marines), but suggested he finish college and go in as an officer.
"I told him I'd be proud of him, whatever he decided," Zavorka said. "But I really wanted him to finish college first."
Annen's commitment to country was too strong even for his mom to rein in.
"I'm proud of him and all the young men and women over there," Zavorka said.
Now, as he waits for phone calls from law enforcement agencies where he has applied for jobs, Annen also waits for a possible call from the military wanting him to return to Iraq.
He has two years remaining on an eight-year commitment.
"I back him 100 percent," Zavorka said. "He's in the best hands when he's over there.
"He's in God's hands," she said. "Brent's following his passion."
Bonnie Price, of Worth, said her son, Jim, is doing the same thing as a member of the Army National Guard.
He is in the fourth month of a scheduled 15-month deployment in Iraq.
Bonnie Price fears the president's plan will make for longer tours of duty for soldiers already in Iraq.
"I think they'll be over there even longer than what they were told," she said. "The military has spent a lot of money training them.
"I'm not happy about the prospect of them staying longer, but they need to do the job they were sent to do," Price said. "But I really wish they were all home where they belong."
Jim Hook may be reached at
jhook@dailysouthtown.com
or (70 633-5961.
Ellie
January 23, 2007
By Jim Hook Staff writer
As President Bush defends his plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, mothers of Southland men who already have served in Iraq are wondering what it will mean for them.
Sue Zavorka is braced for the possibility that her son, Brent, will go back for yet another tour with his Marine reserve unit.
"I don't know what's going to happen," said the Tinley Park mother of four grown children. "I don't know if Brent will be sent back.
"But I'm preparing for that possibility," she said.
During his annual State of the Union speech tonight, Bush is expected to explain his plan to turn the tide of the war by increasing troop levels, particularly in Baghdad.
As part of the escalation, the Pentagon is expected to send 4,000 more Marines to the Anbar Province.
Zavorka's son, Brent Annen, is a 26-year-old Marine reservist who served a nine-month tour in 2005 in the area near Baghdad referred to as the "triangle of death."
Annen joined the Marine reserves six years ago while a student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
"It was right after Sept. 11, and he felt a great deal of patriotism," Zavorka said. "He wanted to serve his country. He wanted to be a Marine."
She said she supported her son's decision (to join the Marines), but suggested he finish college and go in as an officer.
"I told him I'd be proud of him, whatever he decided," Zavorka said. "But I really wanted him to finish college first."
Annen's commitment to country was too strong even for his mom to rein in.
"I'm proud of him and all the young men and women over there," Zavorka said.
Now, as he waits for phone calls from law enforcement agencies where he has applied for jobs, Annen also waits for a possible call from the military wanting him to return to Iraq.
He has two years remaining on an eight-year commitment.
"I back him 100 percent," Zavorka said. "He's in the best hands when he's over there.
"He's in God's hands," she said. "Brent's following his passion."
Bonnie Price, of Worth, said her son, Jim, is doing the same thing as a member of the Army National Guard.
He is in the fourth month of a scheduled 15-month deployment in Iraq.
Bonnie Price fears the president's plan will make for longer tours of duty for soldiers already in Iraq.
"I think they'll be over there even longer than what they were told," she said. "The military has spent a lot of money training them.
"I'm not happy about the prospect of them staying longer, but they need to do the job they were sent to do," Price said. "But I really wish they were all home where they belong."
Jim Hook may be reached at
jhook@dailysouthtown.com
or (70 633-5961.
Ellie