Hawai'i's military families wait, hope

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

As hostilities increase in cities throughout Iraq, families of deployed soldiers wait in Hawai'i, hoping that when the phone rings, good news awaits them on the other end.

For four O'ahu families, good news is sometimes a loved one's voice on the phone or message in an e-mail. Sometimes, it's just hearing through the military grapevine that no one they know has been injured or killed.

Christina Zwilling, wife of Eric Zwilling, a 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldier who was recently promoted to private first class, said Wednesday that she last heard from her husband when he called on Monday.

"He's in Mosul now," she said. "That's all I know. He really can't tell me much."

He told her not to worry.

"He always tells me not to worry," she said. "I'm scared."

Zwilling knows what the bad news sounds like; her husband was injured when a Humvee overturned a few weeks ago. He recovered and was sent back to his unit, now temporarily assigned to a Stryker brigade that is trying to keep the increasingly volatile Mosul area under control.

Leilani Kerr's husband, 1st Lt. Chris Kerr, left for the Middle

East last month with the Hawaii National Guard's Company C, 193rd Aviation. The Guard members have almost finished reassembling the Chinook helicopters they shipped and are poised in Kuwait, ready to move into Iraq in the coming days.

"It's scary for us," Kerr said. "We know they're OK right now, but we're getting really anxious about them moving in."

Some of the Guard members will fly the helicopters into Iraq. Others will drive in convoy.

"The anxiety is increasing," Kerr said.

Jason Reber was online last week, exchanging instant messages with his wife, 1st Lt. Angela Reber, who is with the 25th Infantry in Kirkuk. A rocket exploded on the air base where she is stationed, injuring 11 Schofield soldiers.

"Something has happened," she wrote. "I'm OK."

"I know she is a long way away," Reber said, "but I know she is coming home — and I just wait."

Teresa Revay's husband, Sgt. 1st Class Kevin Revay, is in Balad with Schofield's 84th Engineers, building foundations for tents that will house a MAST hospital.

"He tells me he's in a safer area," she said. "He says there are times when they hear small-arms fire on an almost daily basis, and sometimes there are mortar attacks, and then nothing for a while.

"There have been no casualties," she said. "By God's graces."

Revay's husband hasn't called for a week or so, but that is only because he is busy, she said. He's OK. She stays informed of the unit's activities through the military's family readiness group, and through regular e-mails from the rear detachment of her husband's unit at Schofield.

"I got this one ... about a half an hour ago," she said. "It's an update. It says they're finishing their jobs on the foundations and are getting ready to start a new mission. They're not allowed to tell us what it is until they are under way."

News filtering up through the rear can be a little sketchy. The violence she has seen in recent days on television can be overwhelming.

"It's all over," she said. "Fallujah, Hawijah ... I'm horrified for everyone who is putting their life on the line, for all the families. ..."

Revay said she tries to keep her access to the news under control. All-news cable stations are off limits, she said.

"I'd just sit there and watch and watch," she said. "It makes me sick."

Zwilling said she reads or watches a little of the news each day, but tries to keep it under control for the sake of her best friend, Britni Whitlock.

Whitlock's husband, Cory Whitlock, also is deployed to Iraq.

Whitlock doesn't want to hear any more than she has to about the fighting. Zwilling has a hard time pushing it out of her head.

"I'm afraid I'll slip and say something to her," Zwilling said. "I did it one day, and she said she'd rather not know."

So Zwilling, like the other spouses, does what she can to keep herself busy. She works with the Family Readiness Group. She's on the homecoming committee. And she joined a gym.

"I've lost three inches off my hips," she said.

Kerr has been organizing a bowling night for the Guard families on Armed Forces Day, the third Saturday in May. Revay said she enjoys family game night on the base.

Reber stays close to his family, his friends and his church.

"There is not much more anyone can do," he said, "except take it day by day, and hope for the day she gets home."

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