Pride and Worry

[thedrifter]

Pride and Worry
Published: February 9, 2003

By Matthew Taran

The Bulletin

Worry eats at John Marks of La Pine.

His daughter, Jenny, 21, is a corporal in the Marine Corps. She is scheduled for deployment to the Middle East as the United States prepares for the possibility of war against Iraq. "There's a lot of stress as a parent when your kid is on foreign soil and you're not there to protect them," John Marks said. It's difficult "not knowing if she is in harm's way and not being able to do anything about it if she is."

Many Central Oregon families have said goodbye to sons, daughters, spouses and grandchildren departing for the Middle East. They wrestle with pride and concern as the United States seems poised to go to war.

"I've always respected those people who put their butt on the line, but it never hit home until it affected my family," John Marks said. "We worry about it a lot. Our family is everything. It's all we got."

In December, Jenny Marks, a 1999 La Pine High School graduate, returned from a six-month stint in the Middle East.

She spent five precious days in La Pine, Marks said, hunting and visiting with the family.

Now she is expected to return to the Middle East soon. She drives 7-ton fuel trucks for the Marines. The family feared she'd be sent to war before they could visit again.

"You cry," he said, "it's tough."

On Jenny's last deployment, John Marks and his wife Penny talked to their daughter regularly.

Through e-mail, they exchanged photographs and talked about daily happenings. On this mission, they won't be able to communicate by phone or e-mail because Jenny won't have regular access.

John Marks admires his daughter and her peers.

"They're not going for the money," he said. "It's more pride and defending our rights as Americans and other people's rights as human beings."

He knows war could tear his family apart, but he still supports an attack on Iraq.

"We are for whatever the military has to do there. We support that 100 percent."


John Simpson

When John Simpson has time off from his job as a Marine Corps Staff Sgt., the 29-year-old is usually fishing, hiking or camping with his wife, 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter.

"He's a great family man. Every free moment he's got he spends with family," said Simpson's father Craig Johnson of La Pine.

Now, 12 years after Simpson graduated from Thurston High in Springfield and enlisted in the Marines, he's in the Middle East. Simpson is in charge of a 57-member platoon and is preparing to run artillery guidance systems in case of a war with Iraq.

"He's excited," Johnson said. "You can tell his voice is a little concerned, but this is his job."

On Friday Jan. 24, Simpson and his unit left their base in Twentynine Palms, Calif on Jan. 26 for a one-year deployment, at the minimum, to the Middle East.

Johnson, a resident of La Pine who works in construction, said he had been bracing for the news, but saying goodbye over the phone was difficult.

"It's kind of like a death," said Johnson. "I thought I was prepared and I wasn't."

During their last conversation, the two made plans to restore an old truck when Simpson returns home.

"I hope he comes home," Johnson said.

The father and son saw each last in California for Thanksgiving.

Johnson said he's not sure the United States should go to war.

"I'm torn because if we don't do something now and (Saddam's) got weapons we're in trouble," Johnson said. "But if we go in and don't find anything, we got egg on our face. I would like to see our President think this out before (he) starts pulling triggers.


Lottie Rosecrans

Before joining the U.S. Navy two years ago, 28-year-old Lottie Rosecrans worked in a retirement home in Redmond and was a convenience store clerk.

Her father, Jim Rosecrans of Crooked River Ranch, said Lottie used to be more concerned about finding a party to go to than taking responsibility.

The Navy changed her.

She now weighs 55 pounds less. She is more serious, mature and happy, her father said.

"I think it's great," he said. "It's made a different person out of her."

Knowing his daughter could be heading toward a war is a less pleasant result. Lottie Rosecrans, a Petty Officer 2nd class specializing in advanced electronics, was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and Arabian Gulf aboard aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman near the end of December.

"She's kind of nervous. It's something that will work on you a little bit," said Jim Rosecrans, a former member of the Army National Guard. "I'm kind of concerned for her. You never know what can happen."

He said he worries Iraq will use bio-chemical weapons against Lottie's ship.

Lottie Rosencrans is a graduate of Scio High School in Albany. Jim Rosecrans, who works as a plywood auditor, plans to send Lottie letters, because he hasn't spoken to her since her last visit to Central Oregon just before Thanksgiving.

He said she is planning to come home this summer and go waterskiing and restore her old Nissan. For now, Jim Rosecrans is paying close attention to current events and thinks it's time to attack Iraq.

"I think they should go in there and get it done," he said. "I think they should have done it when Schwarzkopf was there."


Matthew Creedican

Not knowing when her son, Navy Seal Matthew Creedican, will deploy or even where he'll go and what he'll do is the hardest thing for Carolyn Creedican.

In fact, Matthew could spend weeks abroad before his family discovers his deployment.

When mail sent to his base in Norfolk, Va. is returned to the Creedican home in Bend with a forwarding address, the family will learn he's overseas, Carolyn Creedican said.

"I feel like I want to hold and protect my son," she said.

The 23-year-old, three-year Navy veteran is about 6 foot tall and weighs 190 pounds, she said.

"He's solid as a rock," she said. "He's our strong little child, very headstrong. He's made for being a warrior."

Matthew, a 1997 Bend High graduate, competitive wrestler and Eagle Scout, is a quiet person that likes his independence, she said. He was different during his two-week Christmas visit to Bend.

"Matthew stayed real close to us, usually he's off and doing things," she said. "I attribute that to knowing he was going to be deployed soon."

Because Matthew's Seal unit spends most of its time training, the family doesn't talk to him often and may not speak before his deployment.

The Creedicans had an emotional goodbye at Portland International Airport at the end of Matthew's visit.

"He turned around and looked me in the eye. It's a look that says yeah you mean a lot to me," Carolyn Creedican said.

And when Matthew's 11-year-old sister Sarah told him she'd see him soon, the Creedicans had an "awkward" moment.

"You don't know that your going to see each other again," Carolyn Creedican said.

She said she thinks about the kind of battles he might face.

"What bothers me is when they go in cities and are in buildings and they have to crash doors down and shoot people," Carolyn Creedican said. "Matthew is going to be changed by this. He's not going to be the same Matthew."


Casey Brock

Casey Brock and his father, retired Marine Col. Mike Brock, have traded places.

Mike Brock, 58, served as a platoon commander in Vietnam, a group commander in Saudi Arabia and an intelligence officer in Somalia.

Friday night, a 25-year-old platoon commander in the 1st Marine Division Casey Brock left Camp Pendleton, Calif., for Kuwait.

Mike Brock said it's difficult knowing his child is headed into a possible war and would likely be on the front lines.

"It won't be me taking the risk. It will be him, and I don't have any control over that," he said. "I think any parent especially like myself who has been in that type of environment has grave concern. The last thing we want for my son or all men and women is to have to go to war."

Whether or not Casey, a graduate of Mountain View High School and Oregon State University, is involved in a war with Iraq, he's ready for what's ahead.

"You are excited about proving you can do your job and do it well," Casey Brock said on the eve of his deployment. "I'm really not nervous about myself. My greater concern is the Marines under my command."

Casey Brock said he made sure to say meaningful goodbyes.

"It's something that never gets easy, but I think it's important to let your friends and family know just how much you care about them," he said.

Bidding farewell to his dad was especially difficult when Casey left Bend at the end of his Christmas visit home.

"I took the time to say things I've thought but never say," Casey Brock said.

His dad, the Bend area Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps instructor at Mountain View High School, vividly recalled playing billiards in the garage with Casey just before his friends drove him to Portland International Airport.

Mike Brock said he still pictures the silhouette of his son's head fading away as he rode into the distance sitting in the backseat of his college roommate's car.

"We had a quick goodbye. I said I have faith in you and that I'm very proud of you and that I love you."


Matthew Taran can be reached at 541-383-0350 or at mtaran@bendbulletin.com.

Sempers,

Roger

[nang]

Sounds like we need to add some more names to our prayer wheel.