They hugged briskly ? he grasped her leather purse instead of her arm. If she cried, dark, oval sunglasses shielded her tears.
Flossie Rollhauser, of Severna Park, has sent one son off to fight in Iraq. The second goodbye was no different.
“Lots of prayer,” she said. “Prayer took us through the first time, and prayer will take us through this one.”
Her son, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Rollhauser, was one of nearly 400 troops from the Maryland National Guard on Tuesday to board buses for two months of training at New Jersey?s Fort Dix before deploying overseas for yearlong tours.
The group of civilian soldiers stationed in Glen Burnie, Eason and Annapolis was the last of three mobilization phases for 1,300 members of the 58th Infantry Brigade Combat Team ? the largest deployment of the state?s National Guard since World War II.
Troops from armories including Pikesville and Dundalk have deployed. Private Curtis Spoon said his cousin in Iraq couldn?t attend his wedding, squeezed into the days after he learned of his own deployment in May.
“The wedding was set for September, but we said, ?You know what, we?ll just speed it up,? ” said Spoon, a father of two. “I just want to go over there, do what I?ve got to do and come back home.”
Gov. Martin O?Malley attended a send-off ceremony at the Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, promising political support and care for families left behind.
He gave the squadron a Maryland flag and demanded they return with it.
“These are uncertain times, but you not only have my confidence, you have my gratitude and the gratitude of every Marylander,” O?Malley said.
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.
