"Mother, son off to Iraq"
"by Kathy McCabe, Globe Staff | April 20, 2008
SALEM - On his first two missions to Iraq, Gregory Doyle had to leave his parents and brother behind in Gardner. He said he left feeling a "lot of love in my heart" for his family.
This deployment will be different: His mother is coming with him.
Aileen Iverson-Doyle is being sent to Iraq with her son as part of the 126th Brigade Support Battalion of the Massachusetts National Guard, which received a patriotic sendoff yesterday on Salem Common.
"I'm a little more nervous this time," said Gregory Doyle, a 24-year-old sergeant, shortly after his unit paraded across the wide green before hundreds of cheering family and friends. "Not just because she's my mother. The pressure of having a relative with you just adds to the pressure."
His mother, a master sergeant with 25 years of Guard service, finds their deployment oddly comforting.
"Like any parent, I've worried every time he's gone," said Iverson-Doyle, 52, who was dressed in Army fatigues, just like her youngest son. "But this time, I'll know where he is."
The Doyles are the first mother-and-son members of the Massachusetts Guard who have been deployed together to Iraq, officials said. Fathers and sons, brothers, and best friends have gone together, but never mother and child.
"It's another historic moment for us, " said Colonel Paul Landry, a spokesman at Guard headquarters in Milford.
The 29-member logistics group, which includes four women, is being sent to help train the Iraqi Army. Members hail from five or six different Guard units from across the state. They're specialists in areas such as transportation, equipment, and warehousing. The group will leave this week for two months of training at Fort Bragg, N.C., and then head to Iraq for 10 months, officials said.
"Our mission is to allow the Iraqi Army to become self-sufficient," Major Eric J. Fitzpatrick, 42, of Walpole, the group's commander, said, addressing his troops. "I charge you to make this happen."
The state Guard now has 330 troops serving in Iraq. The mission comes as the conflict intensifies there, and troop withdrawal has emerged as a major issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. But neither bloodshed nor politics was on the mind of proud family members yesterday.
"I don't listen to the news," said Mildred Rodriguez, 45, of Hudson, whose husband, Enrique, a supply sergeant, was leaving on his first deployment.
Then you DESERVE WHAT YOU GET, MORON!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FUCK the American people, 'kay?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rodriguez said she'll rely on her Christian faith to survive a year without her husband of 24 years.
That's if he makes it back, stoo-pid shitter!!!!!!!!!!!
Does being a Christian mean eating shit lies? Then I'll pass!
Time to convert to Islam!
The couple have two children, Enrique, 23, a chef, and Jessie, 19, who is headed to college. The family sat together on Salem Common yesterday, videotaping the sendoff, which was marked by cannon fire and a military marching band to commemorate the 371st anniversary of the Guard's first muster.
"We have never been apart for more than three months. But I trust my faith," Rodriguez said. "I have also talked with friends whose husbands have gone before. They say the first few days are rough, but then it gets better."
She said she was surprised her husband was being sent. "You never think . . . someone at his age would get deployed."
Ahem... then WAKE the FUCK UP, shit-for-brains (you are what you eat)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That goes for ALL of America!!!!
WAKE the FUCK UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carol Fitzpatrick, the wife of Eric, the group's commander, said she had told her two children, Julia, 10 and Liam, 8, not to worry about their father, a 20-year Guard member.
"I told them he's going to teach the Iraqi Army," said Fitzpatrick, 41, as her children waved to troops marching by them. "They seem to understand that."
Hey, lying to the kids, that's cool! :-(
William Doyle, 51, said sending both his son and his wife off to Iraq is bittersweet. But as a former 22-year member of the Marines and National Guard, Doyle said he understands the call to duty.
"It's probably not as devastating to me," Doyle said with his wife at his side. "The bottom line is, I know they're very well-trained and prepared."
And did Sergeant Gregory Doyle have any advice for his mother as they head off to war?
"Um, I told her how to pack," he said, smiling. "But I can't tell her too much. She outranks me."
And she always will, even if she's not military, kiddo!!!!!
