Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003 | 9:05 a.m.
Not knowing when they will be able to return home to their families and resume their normal lives is the greatest hardship that the "weekend warriors" of the National Guard and Reserves face as they continue to be pressed into service after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Sgt. Jeff Henshaw, a 43-year-old with the Army Reserve's Las Vegas-based 257th Transportation Company, was married on Dec. 28 before being called to active duty in February, and deployed to Kuwait in April.
"I was basically with my wife for a week before heading into training and shipping out," Henshaw said. "For me this has meant that I can't get on with my new life with my wife and her daughter and son.
"We don't know when we're going to be home and when you're 7,000 miles and two oceans away that just builds stress on your family."
Henshaw said he considers himself lucky because he was granted emergency leave, and has been in Las Vegas since July 1.
Sgt. John Haag, 33, and Spc. Carlos Merel, 35, were also granted leave from the 257th, which has more than 270 members, to return home to Las Vegas, but all three are scheduled to return to Kuwait in the next couple of weeks.
"We've been lucky to get the time we have with our families," said Merel, whose wife has been working and taking care of the couple's newly adopted sons, ages 2 and 4. "My wife's kind of at the border of sanity and insanity at this point. Her frame of mind is 'why can't this be over.' "
There are no guarantees of when tours of duty will end for reservists and guardsmen who were used to giving one weekend a month to the military before the terrorist attacks two years ago and the subsequent war in Iraq.
With the Army stretched thin by the war on terror and the Iraqi war, Guard and Army Reserves stationed in Iraq and surrounding countries have been extended to yearlong tours. There are currently 181,498 Reserve and National Guard members on active duty.
Maj. Gen. Giles Vanderhoof, commander of the Nevada National Guard, said that the tempo of operations for Nevada's units has increased significantly over the last two years.
"We've felt a bump, and if we were to keep going the way we are now we'd be an active duty unit," Vanderhoof said of his forces, which include a military police unit and an engineering unit currently deployed to Iraq.
Nevada Guard officials were still waiting for word on the length of deployments early this week. Officials said they couldn't guarantee how long soldiers would be overseas or how often they would be called up.
Haag said that reservists may have gone into deployments to the Middle East thinking that they would quickly finish their mission and return home.
"I think some people thought this was going to be like (Operation Desert Storm), and we'd be done in a couple of months," Haag said. "Once you got over there and saw the logistics, and the amount of disarray with the people, government and police, you knew it was going to be awhile."
National Guard Capt. Keith Alfeiri has not had to go to the Middle East, but he has been forced to move away from his wife and his newborn son. Alfeiri has been stationed in Carson City, where he was transferred to serve as a liaison between the guard and the deployed soldiers, while his wife remains in Henderson.
"It was kind of stressful as she got closer to having the baby, because I never knew if I'd be able to make it down to be with her," Alfeiri, 35, said. "Finally we induced labor, and made sure I was there."
Those deployed overseas often have their families on their mind, but also have to deal with challenging conditions where they are, Henshaw said.
"The sandstorms suck and the heat sucks, but we don't have any control over that," Henshaw said. "Being from Las Vegas we're used to the heat, but there is no air conditioning in Kuwait or Iraq.
"We carry bottled water with us in our trucks, but it gets as hot as fresh brewed coffee. We can actually take our dry coffee supplements and put them in a water bottle and have a nice cup of coffee."
Henshaw, who was also in the Middle East during Desert Storm, said that some of the conditions have improved since that conflict. He noted additional showers and portable toilets.
Vanderhoof, who is stationed in Carson City, said that he has generally received good reports about the morale of troops in Iraq.
"From everything I've seen they really do feel that they are doing an essential job for their country, but sometimes you wonder if they're telling you that because you're the general," Vanderhoof said. "I've been able to keep in touch with the employers of some of the soldiers, and they say they are hearing good things back as well.
"I do know it's not a camping trip out there, but I don't know of any war that is."
Most of the Guard and Reserve soldiers on active duty have jobs waiting for them when they return from their deployment. Merel is a Citizens Area Transit bus driver, while Haag sells tile and marble.
Henshaw will be looking for work when he returns.
"When I got laid off in November from my construction job I had a good feeling that we'd be leaving soon," Henshaw said. "I figured why get a job only to tell my boss I'd then be leaving for who knows how long."
Even when Guard and Reserve forces return from current deployments, there is no guarantee that they won't be sent back out again within a matter of months.
"I absolutely think that the Reserve forces will continue to be used, but maybe not at the level we are at now," Vanderhoof said. "These forces are designed to be held in reserve, but these are extreme times.
"It's been more difficult for everybody."
Haag said he knew things had changed when he heard about the terrorist attacks as he was driving to work two years ago.
"I got to work and saw what was going on on TV, and I just turned to my boss and told him that I might be getting a call," Haag said. "We're just praying that everyone gets to come home soon."
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