From carrier at sea

Waman S. Mills of Jay is fighting the war in Iraq from a carrier, the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman in the Mediterranean Sea.

The 24-year old sailor is a parachute rigger on the S-3B Viking, a four-seat airplane that protects the carrier from ocean threats.

He sent the following e-mail last Friday as U.S. bombs struck targets in Baghdad:

“We are operating strike missions from the Mediterranean sea, working with coalition forces to put fused ordnance on specific targets,” wrote Mills, a Petty Officer 2nd Class. “I’m the night check supervisor for our shop. I also launch our planes off the deck as a designated final checker. We have almost 6,000 personnel on board with many different personalities that come together to do a very good job of running and operating this ship.

“The only thing I guess we look forward to is going to the gym after work. We work 12 hours a day every day when we’re out to sea. We have pretty good food compared with other ships I have been on, and the atmosphere is actually pretty good, considering we haven’t had a port since the beginning of February.

“No one I know is scared, most of us feel we’re in the safest place possible. Of course, our aircrew will probably tell you different. We’re all ready to do our jobs, though. I think that none of us feel good about war, but it happens we’re here, and we are ready to fight.

“I really admire and respect our ground troops in Iraq as they march on to Baghdad. Our prayers are with them.”

— Daniel Hartill
Chesterville
Before rally, a call

Maureen and Ross Claire said it makes their daughter Jessica happy to know that people back home are thinking of her.

Jessica, 19, of Chesterville was recently deployed to Kuwait to serve in the medical corps as support personnel. She is a graduate of Mount Blue High School.

She phoned Saturday morning minutes before her parents and 5-year-old sister Autumn were heading to downtown Farmington for a pro-troops rally.

She phoned to let them know she had landed in Kuwait.

“She says she will be fine, and ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back, Mama.’ She’s encouraged to hear about any support from the home front,” Maureen said. “It makes her feel good, and it helps me to know there is all this support for the troops.”

To cope with worry about Jessica, Ross watches the news on television. Maureen says she just tries to stay busy.

Autumn stands at Maureen’s feet in a camouflage, child-sized Army uniform, waving a sign she colored with vibrant markers supporting “all troops.”

“She is on my mind 24 hours a day,” said Maureen. “We are so proud of her, and she is so proud of herself. She’s a tough kid and a brave kid.” says Maureen proudly.

— Samantha C. DePoy
Jay
Couple in war zone

Shiloh Ring’s brother, Eli Ring, is a U.S. Marine in Nasiriyah in Iraq. His wife, Tiffany, also a Marine, is in northern Kuwait.

The couple got to see each other for about an hour total since they were deployed from their North Carolina base earlier this year, Ring said.

They didn’t recognize each other with all their gear on, she said.

Ring’s mother, Paula Ring, has traveled to North Carolina to care for the couple’s two children, Brian, 7, and Tylor, 5.

Eli, 29, a nuclear biological chemical warfare specialist, is in the 1st Battalion, 10th Marines Task Force Tarawa. Tiffany is in a transportation support battalion.

Ring’s mother talked to Tiffany, 27, last week.

“Tiffany misses her children desperately,” Ring said. “This is the last time she’s going to leave the kids.”

Eli’s going to make a career in the Marines, she said, but Tiffany is opting out after this.

Ring said her mother is doing well. There are a lot of wives in North Carolina whose husbands have gone to war, so there is a support group.

“It’s hard on the whole family,” Ring said. “Dad is having a hard time.”

But the family is pulling together to support each other, she said.

— Donna M. Perry