Departing troops share Thanksgiving meal
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Army Pfc. Robert Busby waited patiently in the chow line yesterday, eyes on the activity around him, thoughts on holiday meals at home.
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
The second brigade dining hall at Schofield was decked out in its usual Thanksgiving finery: the full spread of traditional holiday food and autumn decor, plus ice sculptures. Officers and senior NCOs were snazzed up in their dress blues, scoops in hand to serve the troops.
Soldiers in the Schofield Barracks replacement detachment say grace before sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner. They are in Hawai'i awaiting assignment to their new units, many heading to Iraq or Afghanistan in January.
Early next year, most of the men and women who had an early Thanksgiving dinner in the dining hall yesterday will be among the 8,000 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan.
"I'm going home for Christmas," Busby said. "Then I'll come back and start getting ready to leave."
Home is Murfreesboro, Tenn. Busby is going to Iraq.
"Mom doesn't want me to go," he said. "But she understands it's my job. She'll support me."
That doesn't mean there won't be a few tears shed, he said. Family is family.
"Especially my granny," he said. "Granny cried when I left the first time" (to go into the Army), he said.
She'll cry again. But Busby knows what to say.
"Just tell her I love her," he said. "That's about it:
I love her."
Most of the troops who are going to the Middle East said their commanders had set aside time for them to go home for at least part of the holidays, and encouraged them to see their families.
"Most soldiers will take advantage of that," said Capt. Bill Venable, a rifle company commander, "especially this year."
"We want them to carry home this message: The units are ready," he said. "As far as supplies, equipment, training — we're good."
Staff Sgt. Ricardo Arbois Jr. of Miami, Fla., has passed the message.
"My wife is a little sad," he said . "But she supports me. She says, 'You gotta do what you gotta do.'"
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
Arbois, who leads a squad of eight men, said he tells his wife he isn't worried about making it through the deployment.
Sgt. Moises Gonzalez serves Pfc. Devon Walker while Pfc. Lezlie Axom waits her turn at the Army's early Thanksgiving dinner.
"We are prepared," he said. "We have everything we need. I am confident that my men and I will come home."
Second lieutenants Walter Cartin of Statesville, N.C., Nick Workman of Longville, Wash., and Joshua Grenard of Des Moines, Iowa, said they would be going home for Christmas. All single, they had no question about who would have the most difficult time dealing with the upcoming deployment.
"Mom," Grenard said.
"Oh, yeah," Workman said.
"Caroline Wylie Cartin is going to have a horrible time," Cartin said.
Cartin said his mother, wife of a Southern Baptist minister, would rely on her faith to get her through. Grenard said his mom would have family tradition to fall back on: His father served in Vietnam, his grandfather in World War II, his great-grandfather in World War I ... The list went back to the War of 1812.
"What we've got here," said Workman, "is Lieutenant Dan."
"But none of my family died," Grenard said, ending the parallel to the unfortunate relatives of movie character Forrest Gump.
His ancestors did all get Purple Hearts, Grenard said, but he thought he wouldn't mind if he didn't uphold that part of the tradition.
Spc. Pavy Phangnivong of El Paso, Texas, brought his wife, Dalia, and 3-year-old, Christian, to dinner at the dinning hall.
They'll be going home to Texas to see their families and friends, he said. Dalia will stay in Texas and attend to college while he is gone.
"It'll be fun," he said.
Dalia didn't look excited. Thoughts of home were being overshadowed by thoughts of the deployment, and she was having trouble trying to break a smile.
"I don't want him to go," she said. "I really don't know if he'll be coming back or not."
"But I will be back," he said. "And I'm going to come home with all my body parts. Just the way I left."
Pfc. Devon Walker of Amarillo, Texas, and Pvt. William Schmidt of Clara City, Minn., were eating dinner yesterday in a separate dining area, prepared by the spouses of the "Replacement Detachment," where the new men and women stay while awaiting assignment to their new units.
The two recent graduates of basic training — fast friends and both recently out of high school — said they had figured they'd be deployed soon after coming to Schofield, and had just learned the unit they would join would be taking them to Afghanistan. They thought that sounded all right.
"I didn't really want to go to Iraq," Walker said. "It wouldn't have bothered me much either way, but Iraq wasn't my first choice."
The men said they were glad they would be deploying as friends.
"If you don't have that," Walker said, "I guess it can get lonely."
"We'll be battle buddies," said Schmidt. "It's good to have someone to watch your back."
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
