thedrifter
05-16-07, 06:49 AM
Article published May 16, 2007
Getting ready for war
By Sonja Elmquist
Staff Writer
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GREENSBORO — Derek Banks withdrew his application for Highway Patrol training.
Ryan Kelly and Joseph Kiser quit their jobs, and Kelly, 21, dropped out of school.
Jacob Perez is making plans to leave his wife alone with their two young children.
As Marine reservists, they live in two worlds. They prepare to leave their familiar, civilian lives for an eight-month deployment in Iraq.
They are among 12 Marines from the Greensboro-based Marine Reserve unit who were taking care of last-minute arrangements Tuesday to go to war.
The group, from Detachment 1 Electronics Maintenance Co., will leave for Iraq in August to augment a Marine logistics unit there. Their mission will include maintenance and repairs of radios and electronic devices. But everything has to be in place before June, when they will be stationed at Camp Lejeune for training.
They were officially notified of their deployment last week, but the unit has known since January that a group would be deployed this summer. So, many of them have been more attentive to the details of their lives that change with deployment.
"I've been kind of aggravated because I just want to leave," said Jerry Hilton, 22, of Catawba, a Marine corporal who will deploy with the group. Hilton's last-minute plans include hanging out with friends, drinking beer and going to the race in Charlotte.
They make sure their wills are up to date; they get out of leases or make sure their mortgage payments are automatic withdrawals. They make arrangements to return to their jobs when they get back.
And they do what they can with their relationships.
Perez, 27, a sergeant and the only member of the group previously deployed, has modified his work schedule so he can spend as much time as possible with his wife and two sons.
"They both know," Perez said of his children. "The little one is clinging to me like it's not cool. The older one knows that dad went away on a school bus and I was gone for a long time."
Kelly, a lance corporal who is single, said: "In January, when we found out, I said, 'I am not going to be in a relationship.'"
Banks, 22, of Love Valley, knows he will be able to return to his job with the Department of Transportation, but he made sure his girlfriend could care for his horses.
"You think you've got everything done," Banks said. "But you always think there's something you forgot."
Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or selmquist@news-record.com
Ellie
Getting ready for war
By Sonja Elmquist
Staff Writer
ADVERTISEMENT
GREENSBORO — Derek Banks withdrew his application for Highway Patrol training.
Ryan Kelly and Joseph Kiser quit their jobs, and Kelly, 21, dropped out of school.
Jacob Perez is making plans to leave his wife alone with their two young children.
As Marine reservists, they live in two worlds. They prepare to leave their familiar, civilian lives for an eight-month deployment in Iraq.
They are among 12 Marines from the Greensboro-based Marine Reserve unit who were taking care of last-minute arrangements Tuesday to go to war.
The group, from Detachment 1 Electronics Maintenance Co., will leave for Iraq in August to augment a Marine logistics unit there. Their mission will include maintenance and repairs of radios and electronic devices. But everything has to be in place before June, when they will be stationed at Camp Lejeune for training.
They were officially notified of their deployment last week, but the unit has known since January that a group would be deployed this summer. So, many of them have been more attentive to the details of their lives that change with deployment.
"I've been kind of aggravated because I just want to leave," said Jerry Hilton, 22, of Catawba, a Marine corporal who will deploy with the group. Hilton's last-minute plans include hanging out with friends, drinking beer and going to the race in Charlotte.
They make sure their wills are up to date; they get out of leases or make sure their mortgage payments are automatic withdrawals. They make arrangements to return to their jobs when they get back.
And they do what they can with their relationships.
Perez, 27, a sergeant and the only member of the group previously deployed, has modified his work schedule so he can spend as much time as possible with his wife and two sons.
"They both know," Perez said of his children. "The little one is clinging to me like it's not cool. The older one knows that dad went away on a school bus and I was gone for a long time."
Kelly, a lance corporal who is single, said: "In January, when we found out, I said, 'I am not going to be in a relationship.'"
Banks, 22, of Love Valley, knows he will be able to return to his job with the Department of Transportation, but he made sure his girlfriend could care for his horses.
"You think you've got everything done," Banks said. "But you always think there's something you forgot."
Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or selmquist@news-record.com
Ellie