.Facing the rigors of war at home
Correction
Brenda Rochelo of Pittsfield told The Eagle that she was afraid — not ashamed — about discussing her two sons' Iraq war military service, due to opposition to the war. She was misquoted as saying she was "ashamed" of her sons' military service, as was stated in a story in Tuesday's Eagle.
By Ellen G. Lahr
Berkshire Eagle Staff
Michael and Judy Lyons measure their war-time anxiety in days — in particular, the number of days between phone calls from their son, U.S. Army Sgt. Bryce M. Lyons.
The 21-year-old from Cheshire, who was shipped out to Iraq in August for a second 15-month tour, holds a job his father would rather not dwell upon. He mans a "scout vehicle" for convoys around Baghdad International Airport. It is a security job of sorts in the world's most insecure place.
His superarmored vehicle travels ahead of the others, equipped with electronic gear that sets off roadside bombs in advance of the traffic.
"They have some heavy firepower, .50-caliber machine guns. They're heavily armed," said Michael Lyons, with a small measure of comfort in such weaponry.
But the sound of their son's voice, every three or four days, is the psychic balm the couple wait for.
"That's how I live, waiting for his calls. We're expecting one any day now," Judy Lyons said. "It's going to be a long 15 months."
The Lyons family, as with others scattered in small pockets throughout the county, are absorbing the home-front stress of the Iraq war, spawned circuitously by al-Qaida's terrorist attacks six years ago today.
The effects of Sept. 11, 2001, in the Berkshires were large and small: Friends and relatives died in the World Trade Center collapse or on planes; volunteers from the Berkshires made their way to Ground Zero to help — in the rubble and in the food lines serving workers; and local philanthropy coffers tightened as money was sent to aid victims' families.
Now, although Sept. 11 is an imprinted moment for anyone old enough to remember, soldiers' families say they are isolated by their unique worries over loved ones abroad. The war, they say, is a "back burner" issue for many without military family members.
Deputy Chief Keith Phillips of the Pittsfield Fire Department, who went to work at "the pile" in New York with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said the memories of that day should be remembered in the context of the current war, for the sake of the troops and their families.
"It's time to move on," he said.
For Judy Lyons, fear for her son took her breath away, literally, in an airport in Raleigh/Durham, N.C., when she and her husband were returning from a visit to their son in Fort Hood, Texas. He had recently learned of his pending redeployment.
"I got to the point where I couldn't breathe and couldn't stop crying," she said.
Lyons visited her doctor upon returning home, and he suggested medication for anxiety and a support group. She opted for the latter. She found a program for military families at the American Red Cross in Pittsfield.
For Michael Lyons, the days between phone calls are "good days and bad days."
He has been fairly strong for his wife lately, until watching an HBO special about the war on Sunday night. He cried, watching those bombs exploding on the screen.
Judy Lyons said the support group has been a lifeline. She attends meetings once monthly at the American Red Cross in Pittsfield, with other families and friends of military personnel. Some have soldiers in the war; some have family members who have returned.
Facilitator Kate Hubley said families find the most comfort in each other, and they feel the war is a back-burner issue for most people.
Brenda Rochelo of Pittsfield, who has two military sons, said she was at first ashamed that her sons were soldiers, with opposition to the war so strong. In her pain, she didn't want to hear critical words.
She and another woman sought help together and helped establish the local Red Cross family group. Its members discuss matters "large and small" and are truly connected by the worry and fear unique to families with children or spouses in harm's way, Rochelo said.
Outside that group, however, "(the war) is on the back burner," she said. "People have no idea."
Her son Corey, 25, an Army reservist, served one tour in Iraq and is home now, working at the Hotel Northampton while doing part-time reserve work. An older son, Brian, 28, is on his third three-month tour in the Middle East, in Kuwait; he is due home within weeks.
Rochelo, however, worries that her younger son could be called back. A friend of his recently was sent back to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., his legs gone.
Sandra Albano, Dalton's town accountant, has adopted an attitude against worry and fear — as long as her son's calls keep coming.
Sgt. Thomas Albano, a Marine, called Sunday from Iraq, boosting the day for his parents.
"I've decided not to worry unless there is something to worry about," said Sandra Albano, resolute with faith.
Her husband, Joseph, who teaches health and human development at Pittsfield High School, believes that the Sept. 11 attacks were used to sell Americans and politicians on a bad war, one that doesn't weigh heavily on most people, perhaps because there has been no military draft.
"America is not at war, families are at war," Joseph Albano said. He is the father of four boys, one of whom is attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on a ROTC scholarship. When that son graduates, he will be a Marine lieutenant.
"I think it's a great opportunity," Albano said. "Unfortunately, the leadership in this country is misguided."
Cory Bazinet, 29, of Great Barrington has served four years in the Army and now sells insurance at Wheeler & Taylor. He has a 3-year-old daughter and is engaged to be married.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he was in a dentist's office near his base in North Carolina and was called immediately to his Army unit. Within a few hours, his 82nd Airborne Division in North Carolina was packed and ready to be anywhere within 18 hours.
But it wasn't until 2003 that they went to Afghanistan. In 2005, he was sent to Iraq.
"My attitude that day (Sept. 11) was 'Let's go get 'em,' " he said. "Before, I felt that war was a necessary evil, and now I'm pretty much against war in general. We can't go and kill every Muslim extremist until they see things our way."
He joined the Army at 22, in January 2001, to live out a dream he had. He said the Army made him a responsible, determined and resilient person. He would like to return someday to Afghanistan, in peacetime.
He tried to start a group for returning soldiers in the Berkshires, to rekindle the camaraderie he felt in the service, but it hasn't yet happened.
When he returned from Iraq in 2004, he said, he found that people — particularly young people — were either completely involved in anti-war activity or were completely "disconnected." And it concerns him.
"I still see that," he said. "But there is a war going on. People are there getting shot."
Berkshire Eagle
Brenda Rochelo of Pittsfield told The Eagle that she was afraid — not ashamed — about discussing her two sons' Iraq war military service, due to opposition to the war. She was misquoted as saying she was "ashamed" of her sons' military service, as was stated in a story in Tuesday's Eagle.
By Ellen G. Lahr
Berkshire Eagle Staff
Michael and Judy Lyons measure their war-time anxiety in days — in particular, the number of days between phone calls from their son, U.S. Army Sgt. Bryce M. Lyons.
The 21-year-old from Cheshire, who was shipped out to Iraq in August for a second 15-month tour, holds a job his father would rather not dwell upon. He mans a "scout vehicle" for convoys around Baghdad International Airport. It is a security job of sorts in the world's most insecure place.
His superarmored vehicle travels ahead of the others, equipped with electronic gear that sets off roadside bombs in advance of the traffic.
"They have some heavy firepower, .50-caliber machine guns. They're heavily armed," said Michael Lyons, with a small measure of comfort in such weaponry.
But the sound of their son's voice, every three or four days, is the psychic balm the couple wait for.
"That's how I live, waiting for his calls. We're expecting one any day now," Judy Lyons said. "It's going to be a long 15 months."
The Lyons family, as with others scattered in small pockets throughout the county, are absorbing the home-front stress of the Iraq war, spawned circuitously by al-Qaida's terrorist attacks six years ago today.
The effects of Sept. 11, 2001, in the Berkshires were large and small: Friends and relatives died in the World Trade Center collapse or on planes; volunteers from the Berkshires made their way to Ground Zero to help — in the rubble and in the food lines serving workers; and local philanthropy coffers tightened as money was sent to aid victims' families.
Now, although Sept. 11 is an imprinted moment for anyone old enough to remember, soldiers' families say they are isolated by their unique worries over loved ones abroad. The war, they say, is a "back burner" issue for many without military family members.
Deputy Chief Keith Phillips of the Pittsfield Fire Department, who went to work at "the pile" in New York with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said the memories of that day should be remembered in the context of the current war, for the sake of the troops and their families.
"It's time to move on," he said.
For Judy Lyons, fear for her son took her breath away, literally, in an airport in Raleigh/Durham, N.C., when she and her husband were returning from a visit to their son in Fort Hood, Texas. He had recently learned of his pending redeployment.
"I got to the point where I couldn't breathe and couldn't stop crying," she said.
Lyons visited her doctor upon returning home, and he suggested medication for anxiety and a support group. She opted for the latter. She found a program for military families at the American Red Cross in Pittsfield.
For Michael Lyons, the days between phone calls are "good days and bad days."
He has been fairly strong for his wife lately, until watching an HBO special about the war on Sunday night. He cried, watching those bombs exploding on the screen.
Judy Lyons said the support group has been a lifeline. She attends meetings once monthly at the American Red Cross in Pittsfield, with other families and friends of military personnel. Some have soldiers in the war; some have family members who have returned.
Facilitator Kate Hubley said families find the most comfort in each other, and they feel the war is a back-burner issue for most people.
Brenda Rochelo of Pittsfield, who has two military sons, said she was at first ashamed that her sons were soldiers, with opposition to the war so strong. In her pain, she didn't want to hear critical words.
She and another woman sought help together and helped establish the local Red Cross family group. Its members discuss matters "large and small" and are truly connected by the worry and fear unique to families with children or spouses in harm's way, Rochelo said.
Outside that group, however, "(the war) is on the back burner," she said. "People have no idea."
Her son Corey, 25, an Army reservist, served one tour in Iraq and is home now, working at the Hotel Northampton while doing part-time reserve work. An older son, Brian, 28, is on his third three-month tour in the Middle East, in Kuwait; he is due home within weeks.
Rochelo, however, worries that her younger son could be called back. A friend of his recently was sent back to Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., his legs gone.
Sandra Albano, Dalton's town accountant, has adopted an attitude against worry and fear — as long as her son's calls keep coming.
Sgt. Thomas Albano, a Marine, called Sunday from Iraq, boosting the day for his parents.
"I've decided not to worry unless there is something to worry about," said Sandra Albano, resolute with faith.
Her husband, Joseph, who teaches health and human development at Pittsfield High School, believes that the Sept. 11 attacks were used to sell Americans and politicians on a bad war, one that doesn't weigh heavily on most people, perhaps because there has been no military draft.
"America is not at war, families are at war," Joseph Albano said. He is the father of four boys, one of whom is attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on a ROTC scholarship. When that son graduates, he will be a Marine lieutenant.
"I think it's a great opportunity," Albano said. "Unfortunately, the leadership in this country is misguided."
Cory Bazinet, 29, of Great Barrington has served four years in the Army and now sells insurance at Wheeler & Taylor. He has a 3-year-old daughter and is engaged to be married.
On Sept. 11, 2001, he was in a dentist's office near his base in North Carolina and was called immediately to his Army unit. Within a few hours, his 82nd Airborne Division in North Carolina was packed and ready to be anywhere within 18 hours.
But it wasn't until 2003 that they went to Afghanistan. In 2005, he was sent to Iraq.
"My attitude that day (Sept. 11) was 'Let's go get 'em,' " he said. "Before, I felt that war was a necessary evil, and now I'm pretty much against war in general. We can't go and kill every Muslim extremist until they see things our way."
He joined the Army at 22, in January 2001, to live out a dream he had. He said the Army made him a responsible, determined and resilient person. He would like to return someday to Afghanistan, in peacetime.
He tried to start a group for returning soldiers in the Berkshires, to rekindle the camaraderie he felt in the service, but it hasn't yet happened.
When he returned from Iraq in 2004, he said, he found that people — particularly young people — were either completely involved in anti-war activity or were completely "disconnected." And it concerns him.
"I still see that," he said. "But there is a war going on. People are there getting shot."
Berkshire Eagle
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