Sunday, December 25, 2011
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
alcorn@vindy.com
YOUNGSTOWN
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” a song recorded by Bing Crosby in 1943 during World War II, with lyrics pining for “snow and mistletoe and presents on the tree,” gives words to the universal dream of military personnel overseas.
Now, with the end of U.S. involvement in the Iraq War, it’s the turn of American military in Iraq to come home for Christmas, or at least get out of that war-torn country. It’s also a time for their loved ones to breathe a sigh of relief.
While the military will be out of Iraq by the end of the year, they are not necessarily coming home — back to the United States, said Army Reserve Col. Dr. Robert J. Marx of Liberty.
Some have finished their military obligations and may be spending the holidays with family in their hometowns. But others, while out of Iraq, have been moved to other countries in the Middle East, such as Kuwait, or are returning to the state-side military installations.
They may not get leave to visit hearth and home at Christmas, said Dr. Marx, who spent the last 10 months in Iraq winding down the Army Medical Corps operation there.
The physicians and nurses and other support staff of the Medical Corps had to stay in-country until all the troops were out, and were the last Army personnel to leave Iraq.
But for those for whom the dream of home for Christmas is a reality, including Dr. Marx and Andrew Straub of Struthers, this holiday season will be especially sweet for them and their loved ones.
DR. ROBERT AND REBECCA MARX
Dr. Marx was deputy commander of clinical services for the 804th Medical Brigade in Iraq for 10 months ending just before Thanksgiving. He was third in command of a team that devised and implemented a plan to withdraw medical personnel from Iraq by the end of the year while simultaneously providing medical care until all other military personnel were gone.
“Our job was to get those kids home,” he said.
Dr. Marx, who received the Bronze Star for “exceptionally meritorious service” for planning the withdrawal, is one of the lucky ones who came, as he put it, “home, home,” from his sixth and probably final overseas deployment.
He arrived in Liberty in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, and he and his wife, Rebecca, planned to spend Christmas Eve and Day quietly together at home and attending services at St. Patrick Church in Hubbard.
Home for just a few weeks, he lost no time in integrating himself back into civilian life.
A general surgeon, Dr. Marx, 58, resumed private practice Dec. 16 under the auspices of ValleyCare Northside Medical Center.
He will remain in the active Army Reserve assigned to Fort Devens, Mass. He said because of his age, however, it is unlikely he will be sent overseas again. He plans to retire from the military in 2013 with nearly a quarter century of service.
During his five previous deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and other parts of the world, Dr. Marx did not have a desk job.
He was on the ground as a surgeon as part of forward surgical teams, which he said consisted of about 20 doctors, nurses, technicians and support personnel, about one-third the size of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital portrayed during the Korean War on the television show “M.A.S.H.”
He almost didn’t have a military career, however.
After earning several degrees, he tried to get in the Army Reserve Medical Corps but was denied because he was told he was too old. Then he got his medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri and “suddenly I was not too old,” he said.
Surgeons are desperately needed in the military.
“We can make the difference between a kid living or dying. You do what you can do and then move them up to the next level of care,” he said.
Rebecca is particularly happy to have her husband home — and safe — for the holidays this year .
“When he is gone, I worry about him. Sometimes the fear is subdued, and sometimes it is overwhelming, but it is always there. But I don’t talk to him about my fear. I’d feel guilty making him worry about me when he has other things on his mind,” she said.
She said his last deployment overseas was only 10 months, and it was a lot easier than the previous one, which was 13 months. During his deployments, he missed three Christmases at home.
When her husband was overseas, Rebecca kept busy doing home instruction for kids out of school for extended periods of time for health reasons and making suicide-prevention presentations to Liberty, Brookfield and Trumbull County Technical and Career Center students. She is also a volunteer for the Yellow Ribbon Suicide Prevention Program and an advocate for the American Osteopathic Association.
ANDREW STRAUB AND HIS MOTHER
Rhonda Gaines of Struthers plans a big family Christmas Day gathering and dinner today to welcome her son, Air Force Reserve Staff Sgt. Andrew Straub, home after a six-month deployment to Afghanistan.
“I try to do something every year, but this year is special because he is home after missing Christmas at home in 2008 and 2010 with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan,” she said.
Straub, 25, who joined the Air Force Reserve in 2006, has had three deployments as a member of the 910th Airlift Wing’s 76th Aerial Port Squadron, two to Iraq and one to Afghanistan.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world that he could be at our dinner table this year and celebrate the holiday with his family,” Gaines said.
She praised The Vindicator’s Operation Holiday Cheer, an annual program in which pictures and addresses of local service personnel are published so people can send letters and care packages to them.
“Andy received a lot of cards and packages from schools and individuals, which he and his buddies greatly appreciated. They looked forward to it,” Gaines said.
“Even though you are working six days a week, 12 hours a day, missing family holidays is hard ... all that good home-cooked food and being able to lay around and watch TV with my family and friends. I even missed the snow,” Straub said with a laugh.
He also missed Thanksgiving Day twice, which he said is his favorite holiday.
“I just like to gather with my friends and wake up and play football together and have a good dinner and watch some football,” said Straub, a 2005 graduate of Cardinal Mooney High School and a member of its 2004 state championship team.
“I’m just excited to be home for the holidays. My brother lives in California and usually doesn’t make it home. That will be nice, all being together at the holidays. It makes Mom happy,” he said.
Straub said he plans to study business at Youngstown State University and also stay in the Air Force Reserve.
Straub said he appreciated Operation Holiday Cheer.
“I got so much stuff from people I have never met — all kinds of packages and cards and boxes of goodies. It was great,” he said.
“It is special that my son is home and safe. I wish they all could be home for the holidays because I know how other mothers feel. There is always that fear, every day,” Gaines said.