Without anyone desperately clutching his arm, wiping tears from his eyes or stealing one last kiss, Dave Jefferies looked out of place.
Alone, the lieutenant from Washington surveyed the scene of collective hearts breaking ? the families of 140 Iraq-bound soldiers saying goodbye. A survivor of tours in Iraq and Kosovo already, he calmly waited to board the bus.
“It?s not as nerve-wracking as it is hard to leave my wife, but she doesn?t like these types of ceremonies,” Jefferies said. “I just feel bad for the younger guys.”
In the largest combat mobilization of civilian soldiers in the state since World War II, the first of about 1,300 troops from the Maryland National Guard left Thursday for yearlong tours in Iraq. Soldiers leaving in three phases will first train at New Jersey?s Fort Dix before relieving soldiers already overseas.
Gov. Martin O?Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and U.S. Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin attended a send-off at Guard headquarters in Pikesville, promising political support and wishing Godspeed.
Brown, an Army reservist deployed to Iraq in 2005, called the day particularly emotional.
“I?m going to tell you what they said three years ago when I was standing where you are, about to deploy to Iraq,” Brown told the troops. “You stay focused on your mission and your assignment, and you keep your head on a swivel. Don?t worry about your family, your job or school, because we?ll take care of that for you.”
Not including the latest group, about 380 Maryland civilian soldiers are deployed in support of the war on terrorism, and more than 5,200 have been mobilized since Sept. 11, 2001. Families Thursday discussed a possible end to combat in Iraq under a war spending bill approved in both chambers of Congress this week that includes a withdrawal timeline.
“As a citizen, I have to support it because I support men,” said Bill Dehaven of Reisterstown, whose son, Jeremy, left two infant children behind. “But it hasn?t gone the way I want it to.”
The mobilization includes companies from Pikesville, Dundalk and Annapolis, along with guardsmen from California and New Mexico.
Family members said they?ve had since February to prepare for the departure. They gripped fistfuls of miniature American flags and each other as the buses took off Thursday.
“If he were there, he would want someone else to come help,” said Baltimore resident Verdena Jones-Hurt of her son, Walter “Randy” Hurt. “Selfishly, I wish it were someone else.”
