Holding families tight, National Guard soldiers prepare for - Nola.com

?We will test our mettle on the field of combat and take our place with all that have gone before us.? Capt. Frank Spiess

Carrying his 10-month-old daughter Julianna on his right hip, Staff Sgt. Michael Roche, a Louisiana Army National Guard combat engineer from Chalmette, pondered the emotional question of what he?ll miss during the year ahead while he?s in harm?s way. His wife, Josie Roche, quickly thought of the first one.

?He?s going to miss her first birthday,? Josie Roche said of the doe-eyed girl hanging on her daddy's shoulder as she quietly took in the activity around her.

?Her first steps,? Staff Sgt. Roche added. ?Her first words.?

He thought of his? sons, William, and Jalin, a 10th grader on Chalmette High School?s football team. ?All my boy?s games.?

In coming days, Roche and about 180 fellow soldiers in the Marrero-based 2225th Multi-Role Bridge Company are shipping out for 365 days. After training at Fort Dix, N.J., for about two months, they?re deploying to Afghanistan, where their job as bridge engineers is certain to keep them outside the relative safety that military installations offer.

Make no mistake, Roche?s commanders said Friday during a deployment ceremony at the Alario Center near Westwego. They?re going to a dangerous place.

?We know there?s inherent risk,? Maj. Gen. Glenn Curtis, Louisiana?s adjutant general, told the hundreds of soldiers, their families and friends who crowded the Alario Center.

But Curtis tried to reassure the families, saying the soldiers ?will not be put in unnecessary risk? by what he described as their ?great leadership team.?

The 2225th?s commanding officer, Capt. Frank Spiess III of Slidell, echoed the pledge.

?I will do everything in my power to train, prepare and watch over your soldier as we prepare to move forward and make history for the 2225th Multi-Role Bridge Company,? Spiess told the audience. ?We will test our mettle on the field of combat and take our place with all that have gone before us.?

Headquartered in Marrero with a detachment in Slidell, the 2225th specializes in matters of military bridges, from assembling floating bridge components to erecting bridge sections similar to those used to fill gaps in the Interstate 10 Twin Spans over Lake Pontchartrain after Hurricane Katrina wrecked the structure, Spiess said.

The unit?s motto, he said, is ?Bridge Forward.?

The soldiers will be charged with building, maintaining or demolishing all military bridges in Afghanistan, Spiess said. ?We?ll be busy,? he said as one of his two daughters vied for his attention ?It?ll be a constant mission.?

He also knows the emotional burden ahead, as this deployment marks his third combat tour. He?s been to Iraq and Afghanistan.

?I?ll definitely miss a lot with my family,? said Spiess, who leaves behind his wife and two daughters. ?But I look forward to taking my soldiers to Afghanistan and taking them back safely.?

First Lt. Tavalus Lawton of Gretna, who commands the 2225th?s 2nd Bridge Platoon and is Josie Roche?s brother, also knows what?s ahead. A former Marine and enlisted Guardsman, he spent 16 months in Iraq as a civilian contractor eight years ago.

His son, Tavalus Lawton Jr., was months old then, too young to understand. He is now 8 years old and, because he?s having a tough time wrangling with his father going to Afghanistan, he did not attend Friday?s ceremony.

?He understands what?s going on,? Lawton said.

Source: http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2012/10/holding_families_tight_nationa.html

norv turner jerry angelo work it amy chua iowa gop meteor shower tonight annie oakley