thedrifter
10-04-07, 07:48 AM
For One Family, Answering Three Calls to Duty
Thursday, October 4, 2007; T02
Washington Post
These days, many military families live with the anxiety of a loved one's deployment to a combat zone, but Margaret Dixon of Howard County faces more than most.
In coming weeks, her husband and two of her sons will be leaving home in preparation for deployment to Iraq.
"Let's just say she's squeezing the rosary beads pretty hard," said her husband, Sgt. Kim Dixon of the Maryland Army National Guard.
Kim, 45, and his son Pfc. Kassey Dixon, 22, are deploying with the Guard's 290th Military Police Company and will depart this month for Texas to train. A second son, Cpl. Kristopher Dixon, 21, is stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and is leaving shortly for Iraq with the Marine Corps.
Margaret, 50, of Elkridge, takes consolation in the thought that her husband and sons might be able to look after one another. "It's one thing that's keeping me together," she said. "There's a chance they'll cross paths. I'm hoping and praying they do."
"It's kind of a shock," she added. "But there's some glory to it."
"She's got to grit her teeth," Kassey said.
Kim and Kassey serve in different platoons with the military police company and might not spend much time in the same location, the father said.
"It's strange going over with your child," said Kim, who served with the Marine Corps in Lebanon in the early 1980s and joined the Maryland Army National Guard in 1996. But, he added, "We'll have some stories to share. It'll make for some hellacious photos."
Kassey said he enjoys working with his father. "He has the wisdom, I have the speed," he said. "Put together, we make a good team."
At the same time, the thought of deploying together gives him pause. "Honestly, I have mixed emotions," he said. "If I'm over there and something happens to him, it'll probably haunt me the rest of my life, wondering what I could have done differently."
The two are used to working in the same unit. Since 2006, they have served on the Washington Hospital Center's security force. They work different shifts, Kim in the day and Kassey the evening, and are assigned to the center's elite special response team.
They "are highly respected within Washington Hospital Center and among their colleagues," said So Young Pak, a spokeswoman for the hospital. "Our chief of protective services considers them two of his best officers."
On Sept. 14, the father and son were honored by the protective services drill team at a special ceremony during a meeting of the hospital's department heads. Kris, preparing for deployment to Iraq, was unable to attend, but Margaret attended with two of their five children.
"That was marvelous," Kim said. "I didn't know it would be all that pomp and circumstance."
Celebrating the Navy -- and Its Memorial
Oct. 13 will mark the first Navy Day in Washington, celebrating the 232nd birthday of the U.S. Navy and the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Navy Memorial.
Events include performances and displays at Navy Memorial plaza, an open house at the Washington Navy Yard and a concert by the U.S. Navy Band at DAR Constitution Hall. Information is available at 202-737-2300 or www.navymemorial.org.
WWII Officer Is Honored
As a young officer with the Army's Office of Strategic Services during World War II, Jack Singlaub parachuted into occupied France to help a French Resistance unit. Later in the war, he went to China to help Chinese guerrillas against the Japanese. In the closing days of fighting, Singlaub led an OSS rescue team that parachuted onto China's Hainan Island and freed Allied prisoners from a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
On Sept. 20, at a ceremony in Vienna, Singlaub was presented with the OSS Society's William J. Donovan Award by Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Donovan, known as Wild Bill, led the OSS during World War II. The award honors "a person whose courage and commitment to country and freedom exemplify the life and public service of General Donovan," according to the OSS Society.
Singlaub, a resident of Arlington County, retired as a major general after 35 years in the military. President Jimmy Carter fired him as chief of staff of U.S. military command in South Korea after Singlaub suggested that withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula might encourage North Korea to invade the south.
Singlaub's career "has frequently reflected vanguard military action," a release from the OSS Society noted.
The award dinner was in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the founding in 1947 of the CIA, for which the OSS is considered the forerunner.
Ellie
Thursday, October 4, 2007; T02
Washington Post
These days, many military families live with the anxiety of a loved one's deployment to a combat zone, but Margaret Dixon of Howard County faces more than most.
In coming weeks, her husband and two of her sons will be leaving home in preparation for deployment to Iraq.
"Let's just say she's squeezing the rosary beads pretty hard," said her husband, Sgt. Kim Dixon of the Maryland Army National Guard.
Kim, 45, and his son Pfc. Kassey Dixon, 22, are deploying with the Guard's 290th Military Police Company and will depart this month for Texas to train. A second son, Cpl. Kristopher Dixon, 21, is stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., and is leaving shortly for Iraq with the Marine Corps.
Margaret, 50, of Elkridge, takes consolation in the thought that her husband and sons might be able to look after one another. "It's one thing that's keeping me together," she said. "There's a chance they'll cross paths. I'm hoping and praying they do."
"It's kind of a shock," she added. "But there's some glory to it."
"She's got to grit her teeth," Kassey said.
Kim and Kassey serve in different platoons with the military police company and might not spend much time in the same location, the father said.
"It's strange going over with your child," said Kim, who served with the Marine Corps in Lebanon in the early 1980s and joined the Maryland Army National Guard in 1996. But, he added, "We'll have some stories to share. It'll make for some hellacious photos."
Kassey said he enjoys working with his father. "He has the wisdom, I have the speed," he said. "Put together, we make a good team."
At the same time, the thought of deploying together gives him pause. "Honestly, I have mixed emotions," he said. "If I'm over there and something happens to him, it'll probably haunt me the rest of my life, wondering what I could have done differently."
The two are used to working in the same unit. Since 2006, they have served on the Washington Hospital Center's security force. They work different shifts, Kim in the day and Kassey the evening, and are assigned to the center's elite special response team.
They "are highly respected within Washington Hospital Center and among their colleagues," said So Young Pak, a spokeswoman for the hospital. "Our chief of protective services considers them two of his best officers."
On Sept. 14, the father and son were honored by the protective services drill team at a special ceremony during a meeting of the hospital's department heads. Kris, preparing for deployment to Iraq, was unable to attend, but Margaret attended with two of their five children.
"That was marvelous," Kim said. "I didn't know it would be all that pomp and circumstance."
Celebrating the Navy -- and Its Memorial
Oct. 13 will mark the first Navy Day in Washington, celebrating the 232nd birthday of the U.S. Navy and the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Navy Memorial.
Events include performances and displays at Navy Memorial plaza, an open house at the Washington Navy Yard and a concert by the U.S. Navy Band at DAR Constitution Hall. Information is available at 202-737-2300 or www.navymemorial.org.
WWII Officer Is Honored
As a young officer with the Army's Office of Strategic Services during World War II, Jack Singlaub parachuted into occupied France to help a French Resistance unit. Later in the war, he went to China to help Chinese guerrillas against the Japanese. In the closing days of fighting, Singlaub led an OSS rescue team that parachuted onto China's Hainan Island and freed Allied prisoners from a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
On Sept. 20, at a ceremony in Vienna, Singlaub was presented with the OSS Society's William J. Donovan Award by Navy Adm. Eric Olson, commander of the U.S. Special Operations Command.
Donovan, known as Wild Bill, led the OSS during World War II. The award honors "a person whose courage and commitment to country and freedom exemplify the life and public service of General Donovan," according to the OSS Society.
Singlaub, a resident of Arlington County, retired as a major general after 35 years in the military. President Jimmy Carter fired him as chief of staff of U.S. military command in South Korea after Singlaub suggested that withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula might encourage North Korea to invade the south.
Singlaub's career "has frequently reflected vanguard military action," a release from the OSS Society noted.
The award dinner was in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the founding in 1947 of the CIA, for which the OSS is considered the forerunner.
Ellie