Schofield wife bears heavy burden
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
Christina Zwilling was talking on the telephone when the Army officer from Schofield Barracks made his first attempt to contact her about her husband. She missed the call.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
She was playing with her two daughters, Alexis, 5 and Macy, 19 months, when the officer called back at about 10 a.m. and told her that her husband, Pvt. Eric Zwilling, had been injured in Iraq.
Britni Whitlock, left, displays a photo of her husband, while Alexis Zwilling shows off her dad. That's mom Christina and sister Macy behind her.
"It was probably the worst feeling I had ever had," said Christina, a 26-year-old Atwater, Ohio, native.
Eric had been thrown from a Humvee that overturned while his company was on a night raid. He had a concussion, his hip was out of place, his back hurt and he was showing signs of amnesia.
It was the day after Valentine's Day, and it was up to Christina to get the word out, to take whatever action needed to be taken. There wasn't anyone else: She had left her family and lifelong friends behind when she moved from her hometown to join Eric in Hawai'i on Nov. 28. He left for Iraq with the 25th Infantry Division (Light) on Jan. 18.
She needed someplace to turn.
She called her father-in-law, but because she was crying so hard it took him a while to figure out who was on the phone. He told her to call back when she knew more.
She talked to her mother-in-law, who was still upset that Eric, moved by the events of Sept. 11, had joined the Army knowing he would be sent to war. And she was still upset that Christina, knowing that Eric was scheduled to deploy, would move herself and the children far away to Hawai'i.
"She was hysterical," Christina said.
Alexis would have to be told. That wouldn't be easy.
She took the news, when Christina gave it to her, like a 5-year-old. She got angry. She lashed out.
"She blamed me," Christina said. "It's her way of rebelling. She just wanted her daddy home."
Then, Christina decided to call her new friend, Britni Whitlock. The two met shortly after Eric deployed — at one of the first functions of the Family Readiness Group: a baby shower for a deployed soldier's wife.
Britni, who was close to her age, had also left her family behind and moved to Hawai'i shortly before her husband, Cory, deployed. She lived in a nearby housing area at Schofield.
"I figured she was probably feeling the same way I was about our husbands being gone, so I asked her if she wanted to come over and watch movies," Christina said.
"I needed another adult to be with."
But Cory Whitlock was in Eric's unit — Company C, 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment — and another soldier had been hurt in the Humvee with Eric. What if it was Cory? What if Christina tied up the phone when the officer from Schofield was trying to call Britni, or when Britni needed to be on the phone with her family?
"So I waited a little bit," she said.
That night, at about 10 p.m., with Britni at her side, Eric called.
"He had some amnesia — some loss of memory," Christina said. "He didn't believe them when they told him he was in Iraq. He thought he was in Hawai'i, doing training. He remembered Hawai'i and me and the kids, but I had to remind him about his brothers."
Eric didn't remember the accident. He didn't remember all the guys rushing to help him as he slipped in and out of consciousness. He didn't know what caused the Humvee to flip. He did remember one thing: the voice of one man, talking to him, coaxing him back. A co-worker who had become a close friend.
The voice belonged to a man named Cory Whitlock, Eric told her. He said Christina probably didn't remember him.
Christina said: "Guess who's sitting right here?"
Eric had first been taken to a medical unit at Kirkuk Air Base but was moved to the Army hospital in Baghdad. He has recovered, and is scheduled to return to his unit later this month.
The other man was more seriously injured, and was returned to Hawai'i. Christina said she talked to him recently.
"He wants to be back with the guys," she said.
Christina remains active with the Family Readiness Group, socializing, trading information and sending gifts to the soldiers.
Recently, one of the other wives said her husband had visited Eric in the hospital.
"She said he looked good," Christina said.
Britni and Christina have become close friends. The girls love Britni, who reads to them and helps them learn their letters, Christina said.
"We're together almost every day," she said.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
