Photo By Brandon Honig | Leonardo Lagusker, age 14 months, enjoys the day at Joint Forces Training Base Los...... read more read more
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LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - Spc. Jeffrey Denney, a UH-60 Black Hawk crew chief for the California National Guard, said deploying to Iraq in 2010-11 was the best thing he ever did.
“I’ve always wanted to serve my country, and that want was fulfilled when I went over and served,” said Denney, who was a military police officer in 2010 but volunteered to deploy as an aerial gunner with 1st Battalion, 140th Aviation Regiment, part of the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB). “My battalion wasn’t deploying; that’s why I volunteered. I was feeling like I had trained for the Super Bowl but was getting benched during the game. So let me get in the game.”
Denney fell in love with flying and stayed with the 1-140th, which deployed again the first week in October, this time to Kuwait. Denney has the benefit of experience this time, but he said leaving home is harder than it was in 2010 because now he has kids.
“I’m not really worried about the mission because I kind of know what to expect: I know how things are going to go. I trust my training. I trust my buddies’ training,” said Denney, who remarried earlier this year and has a 4-year-old daughter and three teenage stepchildren. “It’s more of the, ‘Let’s rip the band-aid off and get out of here so we can get closer to getting back.’”
More than 1,000 soldiers of the 40th CAB deployed from Fresno and Los Alamitos the first week in October to provide aviation and maintenance support to Army Central Command. But first they’ll endure two months of training at Fort Hood, Texas, which Denney tells the greener troops will be the worst part of the next year.
“I’m dreading going to Fort Hood but excited to continue on after Fort Hood,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Cory Lagusker, a Black Hawk pilot who is on his first overseas deployment. “I’m going to see a bunch of places I’ve never been before, hopefully help out some people who really need it and help out the troops on the ground.”
Lagusker also has a young child, 14-month-old Leonardo, whom he hates to leave behind. But Lagusker said he has always felt a calling to serve, and when war broke out following 9/11, he knew it was something he needed to do. Lagusker’s wife, Jennifer, said she is very proud of her pilot but nervous about his deployment and about caring for Leonardo on her own.
“Cory helps me with everything. He’s a great father and a great husband, and not having him next to me is going to be hard,” she said. “I just hope this year goes by extremely quickly.”
Lauren Patterson said she and her husband, pilot Chief Warrant Officer 2 Mark Patterson, built a support network of friends and family members to pitch in while he’s deployed. The unit also has a Family Readiness Group that brings spouses and children together for emotional support and to lend a hand when the need arises.
“There’s a lot of women out there going through the same exact thing I’m going through, and I think support groups and coming together as one really help,” she said.
Spc. Lourdes Medina of the CAB’s 640th Aviation Support Battalion (ASB) said she thinks the separation from loved ones will be easier on the soldiers than it is on the people at home. The soldiers’ minds will be occupied with the mission, she said, while the loved ones see things every day that remind them of the troop overseas. Medina also said she has a “second family” going with her to Kuwait, which will keep her spirits up.
“Everyone does become like a family here [in the ASB]. It’s crazy — you have a bond with them that you don’t have with other people,” said the supply specialist who is deploying for the first time. “I’m so happy that I have a close group of friends and a support system for when I’m out there.”
Lauren Patterson said Mark has been trying to act like he’s not nervous about going to Kuwait, but she’s not buying it at all, especially because it’s his first deployment. He’s also excited, though, she said, because it’s important to him to deploy and serve his country.
“I think it takes a very special person to take time away from their family to go fight for their country that they love so much,” she said. “I’m very proud of him."
| Date Taken: | 10.04.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 10.04.2015 14:22 |
| Story ID: | 178026 |
| Location: | LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,121 |
| Downloads: | 3 |
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