By Audrey Levine Staff Writer
She said he has been wearing camouflage and boots since he was in the seventh grade, but that does not mean Mayor Lillian Zuza was entirely prepared when her son, U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Joe Zuza, was told he would be deployed to Iraq in September.
Now Mayor Zuza is just one of several families in Manville who will see a loved one sent overseas in the coming months as a member of the United States military.
”Our family is going through separation anxiety as we are very close,” said Mayor Zuza, whose son is currently in California for training before he heads to Iraq as part of the Marine Corps. “You just put on a positive attitude that he will do his duty to the country and come home safe. He wants to defend his country and do his duty. I am very proud of him, but scared as a mom.”
Mayor Zuza said her son joined the military on Sept. 11, 2002, with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks finally convincing him to join. She said he has always wanted to be part of the military, defending the country, but he just needed direct motivation to sign the papers.
”His father and I supported Joe,” she said. “He wanted to be in the Marines, and they are the best of the best.”
| ‘I am deeply proud of him, but at the same time sad because I won’t see him for a year.’
Kathy Malinowski,
On her husband’s return overseas |
Cpl. Zuza was originally based at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover and is now enduring desert training at 29 Palms in California before going on his first tour in Iraq, the mayor said.
”He was initially called up one week after his father died (in 2005),” she said. “Congressman Mike Ferguson worked to get him off the list then because it wasn’t a good time.”
From his base in California, Cpl. Zuza said he is ready to do what needs to be done in Iraq, but, at the same time, is not happy to be leaving his family.
”Even though it is hard to leave my family, I am motivated to work with my unit in this desert training in preparation for my service in Iraq,” he said. “I am committed to go there and do what has to be done. This affects all of our futures.”
For Robert Kaminski, of Liberty Street, he is just waiting for the notice when his daughter, Staff Sgt. Kimberly Kaminski of the Air Force National Guard, will be redeployed again, after having returned from Iraq about six weeks ago.
”It is inevitable that she will be shipped out again,” he said, noting she spent six months in Iraq during her last tour. “It’s a cold, hard fact. But hopefully it will be later, rather than sooner.”
Mr. Kaminski said his daughter joined the National Guard about five years ago after she saw all the work it did assisting with people suffering after the damages of Hurricane Floyd. He said she always like helping people, and was among the first units sent to New Orleans after the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina.
”It has been a great experience,” he said. “She has matured immensely.”
Still, Mr. Kaminski said, there are very mixed feelings when he watches his daughter ship out to Iraq, from pride in what she is doing for the country, to fear over what could happen while she is overseas.
”After 9/11, everyone wanted blood,” he said. “Now we are saying, ‘oh no,’ but who do you think will fight? I just hope she gets through future tours as well as she did the last one.”
While some are heading out for their first tour of duty and others are waiting to be told about future plans, Kathy Malinowski, of Harrison Avenue, said her husband, Mark, has been preparing to leave today (Thursday) for his second tour with the New Jersey Army National Guard, 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
She said he was last deployed in 2004 as a military policeman, and will now serve with area support.
”I am deeply proud of him, but at the same time sad because I won’t see him for a year,” said Ms. Malinowski, whose husband was not originally supposed to be deployed so soon. “I have to try and stay strong for him so he won’t worry about me. This time, it has been harder than the last because they weren’t supposed to go back until 2010, and he would have been retired by then.”
Ms. Malinowski said her husband, who has been with the Army and National Guard for 32 years, will spend two months training in Fort Bliss, Texas, before being sent to Iraq.
”Mark says that he is anxious to get the mission completed,” she said. “If he tries to remember experiences from his last deployment, that may help him this time and he feels he will be better prepared.”
Mr. Kaminski said that, after seeing his daughter deployed to Iraq once before, he has learned about the best items she should take with her. He said there are often items the soldiers need that people never think to send, such as disposable coffee cups and lids.
”Don’t send them the world because they don’t need it,” he said. “It is the oddball stuff that they need.”
Ms. Malinowski said that when her husband was last deployed, she sent him packages with snacks and other items.
”Last time, I sent him numerous packages with little things from home, and lots of confetti,” she said. “He wasn’t too pleased with the confetti because then he had to sweep up his barracks.”
Ms. Malinowski said her husband also is planning to take DVDs, books, magazines, pictures of his family and a computer to maintain communication with his family and friends.
”I help him get his clothes and equipment ready,” she said. “We both try to check out the house to make sure I won’t have any problems. I try to make sure he knows I will be OK, so he doesn’t have to worry.”
In preparation for her son leaving, Mayor Zuza said, she gathered together family pictures that her son could bring with him in addition to a special memento given to him by Councilwoman Kathy Quick.
Mayor Zuza said Ms. Quick was at Yankee Stadium when Pope Benedict XVI visited in April, and she managed to get a piece of the carpet he walked on, which she passed on to Cpl. Zuza.
Ms. Quick, and the other members of the Borough Council, passed on a different sort of memento to Mayor Zuza at the June 9 meeting, when they presented her with a star to hang on her front door with the words, “Land of the free because of the brave” inscribed on it.
”I admire her strength in separating the emotions of a son leaving and her professionalism in handling the meeting,” Ms. Quick said at the meeting.
In getting through the months while his daughter was away, Mr. Kaminski said it was important to meet other families in similar situations.
”Talk to other people,” he said. “We all became a kind of family.”
At the council meeting, Mayor Zuza asked that residents continue thinking of her son during the seven months he will be in Iraq.
”I was proud of myself that I didn’t cry in front of Joe (when he left),” she said. “I cried when I got home. I’m keeping him in my heart and I hope all of you will keep him in your hearts.”