 Interruption
of lives
By Helmut Schmidt hschmidt@forumcomm.com,The Forum
Published August 22, 2005
If the U.S. Army has an unofficial motto, it’s “Hurry Up and Wait,” and
Adam Gilbertson and Sarah Johnson are the latest poster couple.
The Moorhead pair’s wedding plans are in hurry-up mode, thanks to the
Minnesota National Guard’s coming callup of more than 2,500 soldiers.
Their honeymoon? Well, that’s where the wait comes in.
Gilbertson’s tour of duty, likely in Iraq, will last about 18 months.
“Do we wait two years or do we do it beforehand?” was the question they
faced, he said.
“I wanted to do it after I finished school,” Johnson chimed in.
“So, we’re going to do it two weeks after” she graduates in December,
he said.
Gilbertson, 28, is the captain commanding what will be Company A of the 2nd
Battalion, 136th Infantry, which drills in Detroit Lakes and Bemidji.
Most of the 2/136th, which has its headquarters in Moorhead, is slated to go
to Southwest Asia early next spring after about six months of training.
Gilbertson proposed July 19. He leaves for training in Mississippi in the
next few weeks; the wedding will be on Dec. 30 during a leave.
The last few weeks have been a flurry of preparations -- invitations,
announcements, a wedding gown and bridesmaids’ dresses, church and reception
scheduling.
Gilbertson must train his company; Johnson, 22, must finish her elementary
education degree at Minnesota State University Moorhead.
“I guess from my perspective, it is a lot at once,” Gilbertson said, but,
“it’s a commitment I made.”
“It’s probably not fully hit me yet,” Johnson said, adding that their
decision to marry “makes me stronger. We were planning on being together. That
bond and connection will make each of us stronger.” Shaking up lives
The Guard’s latest call-up is the largest in Minnesota since World War II
and is shaking up lives across the area.
The 2/136th has units spread throughout the Red River Valley, the Lakes
Country and down to St. Paul. Headquarters and Headquarters Company are in
Moorhead and Fergus Falls. In addition to Company A in Detroit Lakes and
Bemidji, troops for the other two companies are drawn from around Crookston,
Thief River Falls, Alexandria and East St. Paul.
For the unit’s citizen soldiers, the call-up creates a unique
double-whammy.
Most of the troops of the 2/136th served for six months as peacekeepers in
Bosnia, ending their tour last spring. Another contingent returned from Kosovo
last August.
So, barely 12 to 18 months after running their Bradley Fighting Vehicles and
armored Humvees through the Balkans, the guardsmen are again juggling their life
plans: Education is put on hold, families must prepare for another long
separation, some couples wed, others go their separate ways. Missing changes
For Maj. Brian Melton, this deployment means saying another goodbye to his
young family.
In the civilian world, Melton is an assistant Clay County attorney. In the
Guard, he’s the 2/136th’s executive officer, responsible for training and
making sure that the thousands of pieces of equipment for the far-flung unit --
from the Bradleys to bullets -- get to the training station, then overseas.
Going to Bosnia meant Melton missed seeing the first steps of his twin
3-year-old daughters, Lauren and Taylor.
This time, he will get to watch is son, Noah, 5, start kindergarten. But he
and his wife, Kim, know that despite video conferencing and satellite phones,
other milestones will be missed.
There are significant changes when you’re gone, Melton said.
He watched Lauren and Noah roll and pound pink and blue Play-Doh in the
dining room of their Moorhead home, while Taylor sat glued to a cartoon.
“I suspect there will be even more significant changes,” he said.
“To see how they change, that’s probably the hardest for him; to see how
different they will be,” Kim Melton said. “It’s hard to see him go. They
know he’s leaving. I don’t think the younger ones know” just how long
he’ll be gone.
Melton has been part of the 2/136th for 14 years, starting in Crookston.
After Bosnia, he’s confident his troops will “have the war-fighting side
covered.”
Although Kim Melton said she understands the mission ahead for her husband,
there is still concern.
“When he was in Bosnia, I said, ‘He was not in Iraq,’ ” she said.
“I’ll worry but trust that he comes home safe and sound.” The crazy life
Rich Eggert is a lieutenant in the Moorhead Fire Department in civilian life.
When he’s wearing his military camouflage, he wears the stripes of a first
sergeant, the top noncommissioned officer for the men of Company C. He brings
order out of chaos.
This last week was a test for the future as he and his wife, Lisa, juggled
schedules. He has to get his company ready to deploy. She had jury duty. The
kids had energy to spare.
As her parents discussed their plans in the parking lot of the Moorhead
armory, Kathryn Eggert, 11, sat crosslegged reading a book by the front door.
Inside the armory, the whine of a remote-control car and bounce of a soccer
ball trace the progress of her brothers -- Joey, 9, John, 8, and James, 5 --
through the gym and halls of the armory.
It’s when the car finally zips onto the asphalt of the armory parking lot
that Lisa herds them back to the gym.
“She has the handful,” Eggert said. It will be her job to make order out
of chaos when he’s gone.
“It’s crazy,” even without the deployments, Lisa Eggert said, talking
about her husband’s work schedule as a firefighter.
“It’s ongoing. There isn’t any system we have. It’s part of our
lifestyle,” she said.
Experience has given the Eggerts some survival strategies. They were able to
deal with his time in the Balkans thanks to technology.
Christmas featured present sharing using a speaker phone. Lisa even gave him
play-by-plays via cell phone during the boys’ wrestling tournaments.
This mission means a lot to Eggert. He wouldn’t dream of letting the men in
his company go without him. As a firefighter, he bristles as he recalls the 343
firefighters who died in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks in New York.
“This is our country. This is what we do to serve our country,” Eggert
said.
It’s a value the couple stress to their children as they prepare them for
the inevitable separation.
“One thing we can do for Dad, we stick together,” Lisa Eggert said. “We
take care of home and we take care of our family. That’s how we serve our
country. It’s not about our own comfort, our happiness.” In time, a
celebration Gilbertson and Johnson managed to get their engagement photos out of
the way this week; one more thing to cross off their list.
Gilbertson’s roommate took the photos at Gilbertson’s south Moorhead
home. Cameras, lamps, tripods and power supplies filled a quarter of the living
room as the couple relaxed on the couch.
Johnson said she understands the wait and the sacrifice involved.
But she also has plans for when Adam gets back.
“I think I deserve a month honeymoon” after he returns, she said with a
grin.
They
joke about where their children will go to college. Will they be Concordia
Cobbers (dad)? Or MSUM Dragons (mom)? Then the mood turns back to being more
serious. Everyone in the 2/136th will have their lives disrupted, Gilbertson
said, but he is positive that he and Sarah will have something special when
December rolls around. “Things get put on hold, accelerated or changed because
the country calls us to service,” Gilbertson said. “This will be a
celebration.”
Readers
can reach Forum reporter Helmut Schmidt at (701) 241-5583
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