watch and pray
Worried yet proud, families wait,
watch and pray
By sandi carpello
Staff Writer
Capt. James Harris Jr.
Before fighting began in Iraq in mid-March, the United States had sent more than 200,000 soldiers into the Middle East.
For the families of those men and women, many from our area, an uneasy situation became distressing, as anxiety turned to fear.
It’s a fear they now live with every day.
A mother’s struggle
Pvt. Greg Wilkinson
The last time Cindy Wilkinson received a letter postmarked from the Middle East, it was March 18 — the day before the second Gulf War began.
Her son, U.S. Marine Pvt. Greg Wilkinson, 20, of Shrewsbury, was deployed to Kuwait in early February. For days before the war, the infantry soldier eagerly awaited his mission in Iraq.
"In his last letter, he said he was bored in Kuwait and he was ready to go in and fight," his mother said.
Aside from that, his message was calm and upbeat. With no sign of fear or impending doom, Wilkinson spoke of sandstorms and sunsets, of not being able to bathe for over a week, and of his insatiable craving for American cigarettes.
Sgt. Maj. Nathaniel Simmons
Signing off, he said: "Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be home before you know it."
But for Wilkinson, not worrying about her son is nearly impossible.
"If I’m working all day, I’m OK," she said.
Watching only a little bit of news on television, Wilkinson spends her evenings venturing onto Marinemoms.com — a support Web site for parents of military personnel.
Her husband, Jon Wilkinson, is "hanging in there"; her other son, Rick, 19, a freshman at the University of Richmond, Virginia, is having some difficulty concentrating in school.
"I was fine until last week, when I started to hear about casualties and prisoners of war," said Mrs. Wilkinson, her eyes welling up with tears "Every day I come home and there’s not a stranger on my doorstep, it’s a good day."
A free-spirit with a wild streak, Greg Wilkinson always had a keen sense of adventure.
After graduating from the Monmouth County Vocational School District in 2001, Pvt. Wilkinson, a graduate of Markham Place School in Little Silver, immediately enlisted with the U.S. Marines because it was the "most challenging" branch of the armed forces, his mother said.
Scoring a 96 out of 99 on his military exams in August 2001, Pvt. Wilkinson had his choice of working in any aspect of the Marine force.
"He chose infantry," his mother recalled.
"I asked him, ‘Greg, why infantry?,’ and he said, ‘Because I want to travel, and I want to be a war hero.’
"And I said, ‘Greg, there are no wars.’ "
Two weeks later, two commercial jets crashed into the top of the World Trade Center.
It has been over two months since Wilkinson has seen her son. However, she has a feeling that he will return safely. "I want my son and his uniform home safe and sound as soon as possible," she said.
Back in the battle
When her husband telephoned from Kuwait last week, Shirley Simmons could hardly hear the muffled voice at the other end of the line.
"All I could hear were these sirens in the background, and then we got disconnected. I was a basket case for the rest of the day," she said.
For Logistic Management Specialist Sgt. Maj. Nathaniel Simmons, 46, of Eatontown, life in the war zone is no new endeavor.
A member of the Army Reserve for the past 27 years, Sgt. Simmons, worked as a personnel commander in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War.
"When he returned from the Middle East in 1990, he expected that he would eventually have to go back," said Simmons, a lawyer for the IRS, who resides with her 13-year-old daughter in an Eatontown cooperative.
"When 9/11 happened, I knew he would have to go back."
Sgt. Simmons was deployed to Kuwait in October 2001.
While prior experience has not made the family’s separation any less painful, improvements in communications technology has made their situation somewhat more tolerable.
"In 1990, we had to wait a long time to receive letters, now they have Internet access in Kuwait, so we can send e-mail," Simmons explained.
Sgt. Simmons writes home "whenever he can," according to his wife.
His letters tell of Kuwait’s suffocating sandstorms, overcrowded sleeping conditions, and endless lines to do even mundane tasks such as washing clothes or buying basic toiletry items.
For his family back home, it also is a struggle, Shirley Simmons said.
One of the most difficult things, she said, is watching the news on TV.
"I’m trying not to watch," she said. "The coverage has been terrible. Reporters don’t understand military strategies, and they don’t get the whole picture. [Some of them] can’t imagine what it’s like to turn on the TV and see a loved one on a stretcher."
Instead, she relies on prayer and strong faith in God.
"My daughter said she knows her father is ‘under God’s protection,’ and that makes me very proud," Simmons said.
The family has also sought community support from a Family Readiness Group at Fort Monmouth.
In the meantime, Simmons, who believes in the United States’ war effort, only hopes the soldiers win the war and return home soon.
"I support the soldiers," she said. "That’s the most important thing.
"The only way my husband can come home is to have accomplished his mission."
Second-generation soldier
For Marine Sgt. 1st Class James Harris, fighting for one’s country is an obligation.
His son, Marine Capt. James Harris Jr., 38, who is stationed at Camp Pendleton in California and is expected to be deployed to Iraq "any day now," is following in his father’s footsteps.
A native of Red Bank, Harris Jr. will leave behind a wife and a 2-year-old child when he ships out.
"I’m worried about him. I’m worried about all of the troops, but freedom is not free," said Harris Sr., 69, an executive on the Fort Monmouth Retiree Council, who served in both the Korean War and the first Gulf War. "I believe in what my son’s doing. When you come back from a place like Iraq, you are so damn thankful to be back in this country."
His son already has had the experience; he, too, served in the Middle East in the first Gulf War.
Harris Sr. retired from the service in the early 1990s, after spending his last days in the service in Kuwait.
Recalling arduous conditions like the "tremendous heat," bitter cold nights and sandstorms Harris Sr. said the Middle East is hardly Shangri-la.
Yet, Harris Sr. said, sending troops to Iraq is a necessity.
"Everybody’s irritated that we didn’t get it over with to begin with. Even then, we didn’t feel like we completed the job … Should have done this 12 1/2 years ago."