Hawai'i-based troops buzzing over capture

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i soldiers lining up for morning military formations at Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter were buzzing as they grappled with the news of Saddam Hussein's capture.

Army Spc. Nathan Stone, right, looks up his mother's phone number on his cell phone, with Pfc. Martin Scafidi, left, and Spc. Michael Moody at his side. The soldiers are from the 25th Infantry Division (Light)'s 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, based at Schofield Barracks. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The Army reservists from the 411th Engineer Battalion heard the news on the radio as they drove to work Sunday morning. The status of the deployment was the first thing to cross their minds.

Yoon, who is from Honolulu, and fellow reservists Spc. Joshua Devera, a 21-year-old soldier from 'Ewa Beach, and Spc. Jesse Dearman, 23, of Hawai'i Kai, said they weren't counting on the deployment being canceled, but they had held out some hope.

"You know," Yoon said, "we're way out here in the Pacific and I thought maybe ... "

Devera said his family members had thought the capture would mean the end of the deployment.

"They were disappointed," he said. "They thought we could just stay home."

The Schofield soldiers had time to digest the news before reporting to work yesterday for the first time since Saddam's capture, and the talk at first was mostly about the details of the operation.

"People were talking about how ironic it was," said Spc. Nathan Stone, 32, who will be going to Iraq next year with the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment — the Golden Dragons of the Schofield-based 25th Infantry Infantry Division (Light). The Dragons lined up yesterday morning, their first formation since the capture.

"They were talking about his appearance, and about here was this dictator who had been so ruthless and they found him hiding in a hole," Stone said.

"I guess he had a pistol," said Pfc. Martin Scafidi, a 19-year-old member of the Golden Dragons, "and some people were wondering why he didn't shoot at all, and others were saying, 'Well, what did you expect? He was in a hole — where did he have to go?' "

Most of the soldiers — reservists and active duty — said they had been in contact with their parents shortly after learning of the capture. The Schofield soldiers said their commanders had pretty much mandated that.

"They told us to keep close to our parents," Scafidi said. "No matter what."

"I've talked to my mom on that day and about six times since," Stone said.

Stone's mother, Loretta Jordan of Ada, Okla., said her son had called her Sunday morning, as promised. He was running in the Honolulu Marathon, and she wanted to wish him luck. He told her to turn on the TV, that Saddam had been captured.

Jordan is a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service, a medical branch of the military that works with agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control. She said she knows that Saddam has become a small player in a much broader picture of the conflict, but it was the mother part of her, not the military or politically savvy part, that asked the next question.

"I said, 'Does this change your orders any?' " she said. "He said, 'No.' "

So Jordan went back to the mindset she had adopted earlier concerning her son's deployment: Watch and wait.

Jordan and Linda Moody, mother of Spc. Michael Moody, a 25-year-old Schofield soldier from Castle Rock, Wash., who will also deploy with the Golden Dragons, said they were concerned for their sons, but proud of the commitment the men were showing.

"My mom is worried sick," Scafidi said. "But I guess that is just a mom thing."

"My girlfriend thinks it sucks," Yoon said of the deployment. "She cries a lot lately."

The soldiers said they thought Saddam's capture would make it easier for Iraqi citizens who were inclined to be cooperative to be less fearful about working with Americans.

They said they thought having reached a major milestone — the arrest of Iraq's most-wanted — would have a good effect on military morale.

But the soldiers — and Jordan — said they also worried the situation in Iraq might deteriorate, at least for a while.

"I think it might make things worse," Yoon said. "The people who were loyal to him might just retaliate and cause more of a threat when we go there. They might try to get Saddam back."

Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.