Iraq: Now It's Personal
Today, Navy Seabee Colby Ryan McCarville Stuck will begin deployment to Iraq as one of the military construction specialists assigned the task of helping rebuild that nation city by city, bridge by bridge, road by road, building by building.
His deployment makes the war in Iraq very personal for me; Colby is my 20-year-old grandson.
I have seen the war become personal for others. My friend Jerry Bohnen, news director at Oklahoma City radio station KTOK, and his wife, Mary, watched their West Point graduate son John for more than a year as he trained Iraqi soldiers and patrolled the "Highway of Death," the Baghdad highway to the airport. I watched John grow up; used to meet Jerry and Mary to watch John play basketball for the Yukon Millers, saw their pride as he attended, and graduated from, West Point. Felt their anxiety from time to time as John shared some of his wartime experiences in carefully-couched emails. And rejoiced with them as John and his bride exchanged their vows in Yukon after his safe return.
Now, the war becomes personal for me, for Ann and for our daughter Cheryl, Colby's mother; for his brother Mike and sisters Faye and Courtney; his companion Maegan; his father, Alan Stuck and companion Kelli; and for his extended family including Shelli and Howard and Kevin; Connie and Mike and TJ and Kayla; Grandma Becky and Grandma Jane; and a lot of other relatives and friends. Now, the news from Iraq will have special importance. Now, I'll jump when the phone rings early in the morning or late at night. Now, I'll be even more angry over the reporting from Iraq that virtually ignores the good and magnifies the bad. I'll search, probably in vain, for the stories about how our military has rebuilt roads, bridges, schools and mosques and restored electricity and water and sewer service, or built it in some places for the first time ever. I will flinch over every new report of an IED explosion or ambush. Now, I'll check the official Seabee site every morning. Colby will share his Iraq experiences with us via a regular diary as his time and security considerations permit. Colby was a wrestler at Yukon High School before injuring a shoulder. He graduated from Yukon High School and joined the Naval Reserve 18 months ago. He was trained at the Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, and at the Seabee base in Gulfport, Mississippi. He has worked with his Dad in home construction in the Oklahoma City area.
Like so many whose family members serve our nation in harm's way, we'll begin and end each day with a prayer for Colby's safety, and for the safety of those who serve with him.
His deployment makes the war in Iraq very personal for me; Colby is my 20-year-old grandson.
I have seen the war become personal for others. My friend Jerry Bohnen, news director at Oklahoma City radio station KTOK, and his wife, Mary, watched their West Point graduate son John for more than a year as he trained Iraqi soldiers and patrolled the "Highway of Death," the Baghdad highway to the airport. I watched John grow up; used to meet Jerry and Mary to watch John play basketball for the Yukon Millers, saw their pride as he attended, and graduated from, West Point. Felt their anxiety from time to time as John shared some of his wartime experiences in carefully-couched emails. And rejoiced with them as John and his bride exchanged their vows in Yukon after his safe return.
Now, the war becomes personal for me, for Ann and for our daughter Cheryl, Colby's mother; for his brother Mike and sisters Faye and Courtney; his companion Maegan; his father, Alan Stuck and companion Kelli; and for his extended family including Shelli and Howard and Kevin; Connie and Mike and TJ and Kayla; Grandma Becky and Grandma Jane; and a lot of other relatives and friends. Now, the news from Iraq will have special importance. Now, I'll jump when the phone rings early in the morning or late at night. Now, I'll be even more angry over the reporting from Iraq that virtually ignores the good and magnifies the bad. I'll search, probably in vain, for the stories about how our military has rebuilt roads, bridges, schools and mosques and restored electricity and water and sewer service, or built it in some places for the first time ever. I will flinch over every new report of an IED explosion or ambush. Now, I'll check the official Seabee site every morning. Colby will share his Iraq experiences with us via a regular diary as his time and security considerations permit. Colby was a wrestler at Yukon High School before injuring a shoulder. He graduated from Yukon High School and joined the Naval Reserve 18 months ago. He was trained at the Great Lakes Naval Station, Illinois, and at the Seabee base in Gulfport, Mississippi. He has worked with his Dad in home construction in the Oklahoma City area.
Like so many whose family members serve our nation in harm's way, we'll begin and end each day with a prayer for Colby's safety, and for the safety of those who serve with him.
Labels: Iraq, Iraq: Colby's Diary
posted by Mike McCarville @ 4:45 PM
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