Engineers take break during Iraq preparation

After spending two days together, area families, including four in Cape Girardeau, are saying their goodbyes today to 17 servicemen who have been preparing for deployment to Iraq.

Members of the Engineering Brigade 35th ID have been training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and Fort Riley, Kan., for the last four weeks. After a two-day break over the weekend, they will today join another engineering brigade at Fort Leonard Wood, where they will receive two more weeks of training. From there they will be deployed to Iraq for up to 18 months.

The 35th ID, made up of 60 servicemen, has not been called up; rather, 17 have been hand-picked to carry out specific missions, said Lt. Col. Jerry Sanders of Cape Girardeau, the 35th ID administrative officer. The men live scattered across the state from Poplar Bluff to Springfield to Jefferson City. Four, including Sanders, live in Cape Girardeau.

"In terms of the civilian world, we're like the department of public works for a town," said Sanders, who will lead the team of 17. Their main objective will be to upgrade facilities for soldiers.

"I know that Jerry is a career military and he's doing this because I know this is what he feels he needs to do," said Sanders' wife, Becki. Her husband has served in the Missouri National Guard for 28 years.

She has already endured her husband's absence while he was deployed to Bosnia for nearly a year. The toughest thing to adjust to was the loss of contact, Becki Sanders said. So, this time around, she will be the volunteer leader of a support group for the families of the 35th ID, with the goal of developing a sense of unity through newsletters and activities.

Lynda Tully, 41, of Cape Girardeau said she has mixed emotions about the deployment of her husband, Maj. Brian Tully, who has served in the Missouri National Guard for 19 years. The Iraqi people will be helped, she said, yet their 3-year-old son, Johnathan, will have the toughest time adjusting to his father's absence.

However, "he knows that Daddy has to go help people," Lynda Tully said, even though he gets emotional over the thought.

Johnathan's only response was indeed an emotional lament.

"I want my daddy in my house," he said.

The family squeezed yardwork, Christmas and the birthdays of Maj. Tully and Johnathan into Saturday and Sunday.

Sgt. Jason Davis, 24, of Cape Girardeau spent the weekend relaxing and enjoying the short time with family and friends in St. Louis.

"I support him, I'm proud of him, and I will worry like any other mom," said Davis' mother, Susan Crawford of St. Louis. "He's going over there to do good things."

She will be more concerned about whether he will be clothed properly or eating adequately than about his personal safety, she said.

"His acceptance of it makes my acceptance easier," Crawford said.

Each of the families expressed apprehension rather than fear, mainly because the group of 17 are volunteers, said Jerry Sanders.

"We know what we're getting into," he said.

jmetelski@semissourian.com

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