thedrifter
03-11-07, 11:14 AM
Article published March 11, 2007
Program aids area families with Marines in Iraq
Official singles out locally based unit for national honor
By JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
When his son, Jon, was deployed to Iraq, Dan Meyer didn’t know how he would handle the “in between.”
“I envisioned not being able to sleep, my wife not being able to sleep,” he recalled.
Instead, the retired Anthony Wayne teacher and counselor got involved with the family readiness program at the Perrysburg Township-based Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines. Before long, Mr. Meyer was working with families of Marines stationed in Iraq, communicating daily through e-mail that connected them “like family you hadn’t met before.”
“It wasn’t like you say good-bye and you don’t see your son for a year with nothing in between. There’s a lot in between,” Mr. Meyer of Waterville said. “I can’t think of going through this deployment without being part of something like this.”
The 1st Batallion, 24th Marines was singled out last month by Assistant Secretary of Defense-Reserve Affairs Thomas Hall for having the best Marine Reserves family readiness program in the country. The Perrysburg Township weapons company is one of five companies that belong to the Macomb County, Michigan-based battalion.
With the recognition came a plaque and a $1,000 check from the Military Officers Association of America, the nation’s largest veterans’ organization for active duty, National Guard, Reserve, former, and retired military officers.
Col. Jess Ramirez of the association said programs that actively involve and support family members at home are crucial to troop readiness in the field. “If the family is supportive of the soldier, the more ready the unit will be,” he said.
Julie Szyskowski, who works as the key volunteer coordinator for the local weapons company, said part of her job is keeping family members informed, in touch, and in control when life seems to get out of hand.
She recalled one wife who called recently to say that her hot water tank wasn’t working and she didn’t even know how to turn off the gas. Ms. Szyskowski called a handyman who volunteers his services for the Reserve unit, and he had the problem fixed in no time.
“Sometimes it’s that little thing that can create a breaking point,” Ms. Szyskowski said. The wife is thinking, “He needs to come home. I can’t do this.”
Lt. Col. Joe Reimer of the 24th Marines Weapons Company said the program operates with strict confidentiality in part to encourage family members to tell volunteers when they’re having problems. They know, for example, that if they need help paying bills, the information won’t be passed on to their husbands.
The family readiness program cannot solicit funds but happily accepts donations of services, money, or discounts. An auto repair shop, for example, offers free labor for Marine families and charges for parts only, Lieutenant Colonel Reimer said.
Ms. Szyskowski said volunteers have stayed close to deployed Marines’ wives who are having babies while their husbands are far away, and they’ve been right there when the unit sustained casualties.
Twenty-one members of First Batallion, 24th Marines have been killed in Iraq, including two from the weapons company. Lance Cpl. Jeremy Shock of Green Springs, Ohio, and Sgt. Bryan Burgess of Westland, Mich., were killed in separate incidents in November.
A crucial part of what the family readiness volunteers do involves e-mail. “The big part of it isn’t so much the information you pass on to other families; it’s the contact you make,” Mr. Meyer said. “It’s the fact that you’re passing things on. People aren’t forgotten.”
They connect parents with parents and wives with wives, pass on information about the Marines, and enlist those at home to send birthday cards, condolences, and other extensions of friendship for the Marines in Iraq and their families back home.
Edith Chandler, a 75-year-old grandmother from Defiance, was the firsthand recipient of such support when her grandson, Evan Miller, was injured by a mortar round that exploded near his checkpoint in Fallujah Jan. 29. “I got quite a few cards sent to me after Evan was hurt, just cards of encouragement. It’s been really great that way,” Mrs. Chandler said.
Her grandson, whom she has parented since he was 16, had shown her how to use the computer before he was deployed in June, and it’s enabled Mrs. Chandler to communicate regularly with other Marine moms.
She said Ms. Szyskowski was there to help and answer questions as she made arrangements to fly to San Diego to see her grandson when he was flown back to the United States. She spent three weeks at the hospital there and flew home with him March 1.
“Julie was really helpful,” Mrs. Chandler said. “Whenever I had a question, I’d just ask her. Even when I got back home, there was a little problem with getting medicines set up. I just called her and told her the problem, and she said, ‘I’ll take care of it.’”
The 90 members of the weapons company now serving in Iraq are expected to return to the United States in May.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at:jfeehan@theblade.comor 419-353-5972.
Ellie
Program aids area families with Marines in Iraq
Official singles out locally based unit for national honor
By JENNIFER FEEHAN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
When his son, Jon, was deployed to Iraq, Dan Meyer didn’t know how he would handle the “in between.”
“I envisioned not being able to sleep, my wife not being able to sleep,” he recalled.
Instead, the retired Anthony Wayne teacher and counselor got involved with the family readiness program at the Perrysburg Township-based Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines. Before long, Mr. Meyer was working with families of Marines stationed in Iraq, communicating daily through e-mail that connected them “like family you hadn’t met before.”
“It wasn’t like you say good-bye and you don’t see your son for a year with nothing in between. There’s a lot in between,” Mr. Meyer of Waterville said. “I can’t think of going through this deployment without being part of something like this.”
The 1st Batallion, 24th Marines was singled out last month by Assistant Secretary of Defense-Reserve Affairs Thomas Hall for having the best Marine Reserves family readiness program in the country. The Perrysburg Township weapons company is one of five companies that belong to the Macomb County, Michigan-based battalion.
With the recognition came a plaque and a $1,000 check from the Military Officers Association of America, the nation’s largest veterans’ organization for active duty, National Guard, Reserve, former, and retired military officers.
Col. Jess Ramirez of the association said programs that actively involve and support family members at home are crucial to troop readiness in the field. “If the family is supportive of the soldier, the more ready the unit will be,” he said.
Julie Szyskowski, who works as the key volunteer coordinator for the local weapons company, said part of her job is keeping family members informed, in touch, and in control when life seems to get out of hand.
She recalled one wife who called recently to say that her hot water tank wasn’t working and she didn’t even know how to turn off the gas. Ms. Szyskowski called a handyman who volunteers his services for the Reserve unit, and he had the problem fixed in no time.
“Sometimes it’s that little thing that can create a breaking point,” Ms. Szyskowski said. The wife is thinking, “He needs to come home. I can’t do this.”
Lt. Col. Joe Reimer of the 24th Marines Weapons Company said the program operates with strict confidentiality in part to encourage family members to tell volunteers when they’re having problems. They know, for example, that if they need help paying bills, the information won’t be passed on to their husbands.
The family readiness program cannot solicit funds but happily accepts donations of services, money, or discounts. An auto repair shop, for example, offers free labor for Marine families and charges for parts only, Lieutenant Colonel Reimer said.
Ms. Szyskowski said volunteers have stayed close to deployed Marines’ wives who are having babies while their husbands are far away, and they’ve been right there when the unit sustained casualties.
Twenty-one members of First Batallion, 24th Marines have been killed in Iraq, including two from the weapons company. Lance Cpl. Jeremy Shock of Green Springs, Ohio, and Sgt. Bryan Burgess of Westland, Mich., were killed in separate incidents in November.
A crucial part of what the family readiness volunteers do involves e-mail. “The big part of it isn’t so much the information you pass on to other families; it’s the contact you make,” Mr. Meyer said. “It’s the fact that you’re passing things on. People aren’t forgotten.”
They connect parents with parents and wives with wives, pass on information about the Marines, and enlist those at home to send birthday cards, condolences, and other extensions of friendship for the Marines in Iraq and their families back home.
Edith Chandler, a 75-year-old grandmother from Defiance, was the firsthand recipient of such support when her grandson, Evan Miller, was injured by a mortar round that exploded near his checkpoint in Fallujah Jan. 29. “I got quite a few cards sent to me after Evan was hurt, just cards of encouragement. It’s been really great that way,” Mrs. Chandler said.
Her grandson, whom she has parented since he was 16, had shown her how to use the computer before he was deployed in June, and it’s enabled Mrs. Chandler to communicate regularly with other Marine moms.
She said Ms. Szyskowski was there to help and answer questions as she made arrangements to fly to San Diego to see her grandson when he was flown back to the United States. She spent three weeks at the hospital there and flew home with him March 1.
“Julie was really helpful,” Mrs. Chandler said. “Whenever I had a question, I’d just ask her. Even when I got back home, there was a little problem with getting medicines set up. I just called her and told her the problem, and she said, ‘I’ll take care of it.’”
The 90 members of the weapons company now serving in Iraq are expected to return to the United States in May.
Contact Jennifer Feehan at:jfeehan@theblade.comor 419-353-5972.
Ellie