Isle soldiers to get holiday from desert war training
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Training for Iraq duty in the near-freezing desert nights of Texas and New Mexico since early October, soldiers with the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade soon will be back to the warmth of Hawai'i, home and the holidays for a nearly two-week stay.
More than 1,500 of the citizen soldiers are expected to fly back to Hawai'i Dec. 20 to Jan. 2 for the break in training.
Ame Frey can be contacted at smfrey1@hawaii.rr.com. Donations to the Home for the Holidays fund can be made at any Bank of Hawaii location.
Others are meeting family and friends in Las Vegas and California. Kapeela Diaz, who's meeting her husband halfway on the West Coast, said it's a needed break because the year Hawai'i National Guard and Reserve soldiers will spend in Iraq won't even start for at least another two months.
Airfare fund
"They have to come back to family and realize it's worth it to go back and do the year (in Iraq) without family," Diaz said.
Guard Capt. Jose Diaz, 39, who was teaching part-time at Kalihi Waena elementary and pursuing a master's degree, now commands Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 2nd Battalion, 29th Infantry Regiment. The soldiers have been living in tents, barracks and shipping-container-like shelters.
Kapeela Diaz, who lives in Pearl City, said it's only been a couple of months since Jose left, "but it's already taking its toll."
"I was like, 'When you go to Iraq, what's it going to be like then?' " she said. "As it is, it's hard with him away, but he's still in America. But knowing he'll be gone a whole year, it will be harder."
Approximately 2,000 Hawai'i Guard soldiers and 700 reservists with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment are part of the 29th Brigade, along with units from California, Oregon and Minnesota.
Following the holiday break, the soldiers will return to Fort Bliss in Texas and then shortly after fly to Fort Polk, La., for combat certification before heading to the Balad area north of Baghdad in Iraq in February and March.
Guard spokesman Maj. Chuck Anthony said "everyone but a handful of soldiers is going to be meeting with their families either here or on the Mainland."
A few have decided to remain at Fort Bliss. By doing so, they'll get a higher priority for 15 days of Rest & Recuperation leave from Iraq that many of the soldiers also will receive.
Ame Frey, a Kane'ohe Bay Marine Corps wife whose husband is a helicopter pilot in Iraq, organized a Home for the Holidays campaign to help make sure the 29th Brigade soldiers could be with family. Before leaving for Texas and New Mexico in October, some soldiers said airfare was too expensive to fly home.
Jesse Dubrall, a 34-year-old private first-class from Saipan with the 100th Battalion, booked early and paid $1,004 for round-trip airfare from Fort Bliss. Some from Guam and Saipan spent over $2,000.
Frey, 30, has been able to purchase 74 round-trip tickets, spending almost $60,000 she's raised and using donated air miles.
"I'm doing this because I really want these people to be together for Christmas," she said.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
