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This photo, provided by his parents, shows Chief Warrant Officer II Geoff Mann of Fredericksburg in the desert of Iraq. |
By MICHAEL ZITZ
Last week Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee the surge of U.S. troops in Iraq will begin the first week of February.
That's exactly the same time Chief Warrant Officer II Geoff Mann, a Fredericksburg native serving with a National Guard Blackhawk helicopter unit near Baghdad, is supposed to come home.
And it's precisely the same time that Marine Corps Lt. Col Rob Curran, a San Franciscan who served at Quantico in the late '90s--and whose wife is a Fredericksburg native--is supposed to return from Iraq.
Both men are stationed at Al Asad Air Base, just west of Baghdad.
In recent days, some American troops and their families have been learning tours were being extended, even as they prepared to leave Iraq.
Mann's family believes he will return as planned next month, but worried that the surge may mean he will be redeployed soon.
A new wrinkle arose yesterday when Mann spoke with his father, Jim Mann of Fredericksburg.
"He said they are starting to 'juggle' units over there," the elder Mann said yesterday evening. "Some units due to go home had their deployments extended. That hasn't happened to his unit, so far, but there is some concern. It changes things a little bit, but not a lot."
Later in the day, the elder Mann spoke with his daughter-in-law, who had spoken with Geoff. "She said he told her that they're all packing up their stuff and focusing on coming home in the middle of February. She said while there was some concern the tour may be extended, she was putting that in the back of her mind."
Jim Mann once flew UH1 "Huey" helicopters for the same National Guard unit as his son. Prior to that, the elder Mann served a year of full-time active military duty in Vietnam in 1967.
As a veteran of both the National Guard and active duty Army, the elder Mann is worried about the toll the war is taking on today's lean, volunteer U.S. military. "This darn war is wearing out the military--and not just the reserve, but the active duty people, the full-time people, too."
Lt. Col. Curran, 42, and his wife, Laura Lee Munn Curran, a 40-year-old, 1988 Mary Washington College graduate, are expecting their second child in March. "Rob e-mailed me and said he's still going to be home on time," she said.
She's convinced he's coming home next month, but she's fully prepared for him to be sent back.
"I'm a Marine wife," Laura Lee Curran said stoically. "That's what I signed up for. We do what we have to do."
That stiff-upper-lip outlook is something she learned early in life, having been born into a Marine family. She's been living in San Diego, caring for a toddler, but is in Fredericksburg this week for the funeral of her father, retired Marine Corps Col. Chuck Munn of Stafford County's Argyle Heights.
Rob and Laura Lee Curran's 2-year-old son, Ian, hasn't seen much of his father in the past year because of this difficult, and increasingly unpopular, war.
"It would be nice for his son to see him," she said, "and for him to be here for the birth of a second child would be nice."
Still, she isn't complaining.
"I'm one of he lucky ones," she said. "He's getting to come home--at least for a little while."
Jim Mann, a Vietnam vet and former National Guardsman who is retired from The Free Lance-Star, has less patience with the war. "This is the kind of thing where you really don't want your kids to follow in your footsteps--going to war," he said.
Last February, Geoff Mann's Richmond-based 2nd Battalion Blackhawk helicopter unit of the National Guard's 224th Aviation Regiment shipped to Iraq. It has spent nearly a year at Al Asad.
The 32-year-old graduated from James Monroe High School in 1992 and from Virginia Tech in 1996. His wife, Becky, and their 2-year-old son, Jackson, are awaiting his return in Richmond. The younger Mann last saw them, along with his father and his mother, Mary, during a two-week leave in September.
During Gates' appearance before the Armed Services Committee, Virginia Sen. John Warner, R-Va., expressed reservations about the surge.
Warner prescribed caution, suggesting it would be better to go slowly in any new deployment. He said America should initially send in a small number of additional troops, then wait to see if the Iraqi military lives up to its promises before committing the full 21,500 service members President Bush plans for the surge.
"Shouldn't we walk a few steps along this line, and then see how quickly, hopefully, the Iraqis begin to take up their responsibilities, rather than this massive plan pushing forward all at once?" Warner asked.
Gates has said he wants to grow the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 members over the next five years, increasing the active duty Army to 547,000 troops and the Marine Corps to 202,000.
But an internal Army document obtained by The Associated Press predicted the military will "break" before any such increase can take effect unless deployment of Reserves and the National Guard increases.
Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, announced that a previous 24-month Pentagon limit on Reserve and National Guard deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan is being lifted. Reservists and guardsmen won't be mobilized for more than a year at a time--but they could be sent back to the Middle East for an unlimited number of tours.
Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., Virginia's adjutant general, was quoted as saying the shift to 12-month mobilizations is "good news. It probably means nine, 10 months in-country and a definite return date. That's going to make our Guardsmen ecstatic."
But Col. Mike Coleman, the Virginia Army Guard's chief of staff, disagreed, telling the Richmond newspaper: "In the past, you had 24 months, and once you'd done 24 months, you were done. Now with 12 months, in four years they may say, 'We need you again.'"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
To reach MICHAEL ZITZ:
Email: mikez@freelancestar.com
