-Caveat Lector- From http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/354/nation/Home_front_suffers_ as_families_of_reservists_gird_for_call_up%2B.shtml
THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING Home front suffers as families of reservists gird for call-up By Christian Davenport, Washington Post, 12/20/2002 OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Officially, it's no go. There are no deployment orders, no war to fight. For the moment, the soldiers in the 443d Military Police Company are still just inactive reservists, obligated to serve one weekend a month, two weeks a year. But as the Pentagon prepares for a major National Guard and reserve call-up, nerves are fraying in the 443d. The Army unit, based here and trained to set up refugee and prisoner- of-war camps, returned home just three months ago after a year of post- Sept. 11 duty at an Army base in Texas. The long tour slowed careers and strained marriages. Now, the prospect of another deployment - this time the scuttlebutt is Turkey or northern Iraq - is roiling morale and discipline. On Wednesday, the Department of Defense mobilized an additional 4,700 reserve and National Guard troops, bringing the total to more than 55,000. The 443d could be called up for another year or longer. But a few of Captain Jonathan Bennett's soldiers have told him that if they're called for duty, they're not going this time. About a dozen soldiers more than normal didn't show up Saturday morning when Bennett ordered them to base. So Bennett is preparing AWOL papers, just in case. Although there are many like Specialist Jimmy Arbogast of White Marsh, Md., who are committed to serving no matter the price, he said some of his fellow soldiers are thinking: ''We just did our year. Leave us alone.'' Those who did crowd into a drab, dark classroom at the Jachman US Army Reserve Center watched a training video informing them that the anthrax vaccination they were about to receive goes to those ''deployed to high-threat areas.'' Those words made the rumors real. Shortly after the lights came on, one soldier yelled, ''I guess that's the go.'' The rest let out their battle cry, ''Hooah!'' The possibility of heading off to war has lingered since the 443d returned home to a teary, flag-waving ceremony in September. As possibility hardens into probability, they worry about how costly the new call to service will be. Some wonder whether their marriages will survive or worry about children with whom they have just been reacquainted. Others face putting off school for another year or falling further behind at work and continuing to lose income. A few are in plain denial. ''Some of them are burying their head in the sand,'' said Lieutenant Shawn Magowan of Arnold, Md. He said that about a third of his 35- member platoon didn't show up Saturday. ''They don't want to deal with reality,'' he said. ''They're done playing Army.'' While the troops rolled up their sleeves to get the anthrax vaccine Saturday, at least one of the soldiers balked. Bennett sat with him, speaking softly about how the vaccine could save his life, how the unit was depending on him. Then he took him out of the room, away from the other soldiers. When they returned a few minutes later, the soldier rolled up his sleeve and stuck out his arm. With a 6-month-old baby at home, Arbogast is scared, too. But like many in his unit, he's ready to go. ''There's no way I could stay home and watch it on TV,'' he said. ''I couldn't have my unit go without me.'' All the talk of war worries Mary Hayes, whose husband is in the 443d. The year she spent apart from Michael, a staff sergeant, was so stressful that they separated for a few weeks after he returned to their home at Fort Meade, Md. The children didn't respect his authority, she said. A part of her didn't want them to. She'd been the one taking the children to the doctor, getting them to school, helping with homework. Meanwhile, he had been living a bachelor's life in Texas. ''He had a whole different life in Texas, and I was really angry,'' she said. ''My life didn't change that way. I was left behind with the children.'' When he was gone, she developed a new routine with her children. Mekhi, 3, could have a sweet every now and then. Michael Jr., 9, could stay up late on weekends. But when Michael Sr. came home, he instituted his own discipline. No sweets. No video games after 10 p.m. ''I felt like, `I've been taking care of them for a year by myself, and you have no right to come in here and change the rules,''' Mary Hayes said. The last deployment put them at the brink of divorce. How would they handle another one? She confronted him: ''I need to know if our relationship is strong enough to withstand you leaving again.'' ''He says it's going to be OK,'' Mary Hayes said. ''And I believe it, because we've worked so hard at getting back together as a family. But I'm afraid there is going to be a glitch, and it's going to fall apart again.'' Staff Sergeant Regina Lucas is torn over the possible deployment. Part of her doesn't want to go because it ''will be extremely hard'' on her daughter Phranci, 9. The last time she was called up, Lucas, a single mother, had to send Phranci to her grandmother's in Mississippi. That meant she had to pull her daughter out of school and enroll her in one down South. Now, Lucas has warned both schools that she may have to do the same thing. This story ran on page A56 of the Boston Globe on 12/20/2002. � Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company. A<:>E<:>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forwarded as information only; everything sent has to stand on its own merits, not on my recommendation. Dissenting ideas are the health of the American system. 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